Several pressing work projects and two vacations (of sorts, one was a family event) have kept me from posting here as much as I would have liked. Both the time away and the traveling, however, have allowed me some time to further evaluate my Kindle (for earlier discussions, see here, here, and here). Some thoughts:
1) Traveling with the Kindle solves one of the great challenges I always face while away: What books to bring and how many can I pack without overloading my luggage? If you’re like me (and if you’re reading this you probably are), you read several (if not many) books simultaneously and when going away you want to be sure you have enough reading material, not so much to be sure you won’t run out, but rather to be sure you have a book for whatever mood might strike. The Kindle solves this problem almost perfectly: dozens of books in a the space it takes to fill one.
2) Similarly, the ability to buy a book while zooming down the highway at sixty miles an hour or (as happened in Oregon) when visiting a town with no bookstores after reading a great book review is wonderful and terribly convenient.
3) An unexpected benefit of the device? Privacy. Without a cover, no one can tell what you’re reading.
4) I’ve read in all kinds of conditions: at the beach, by the pool, in the car. And, as advertised, even in full sun the screen is just as readable as a traditional page. It’s true, one perhaps needs to be more careful with it than a book while outside or near water, but no more than with a cell phone or other small electronic device. It is solidly built and the screen does not seem particularly prone to scratching.
5) Another unforeseen benefit? Not having to have a second “reading” copy. This is an area where the Kindle may be a boon to collectors. I recently received a signed first edition of the recent bestselling phenom through Powell’s INDIESPENSIBLE program (something I’ll write about here soon). But I didn’t especially want to read that copy, perhaps esp. while traveling. Normally I might wait to read the book only at home or try and find a cheap reading copy. I also recently
5) My six-year-old daughter took to it immediately. I’d put a few books on it for her to read in the car, mostly because I wanted to gauge her reaction. Interestingly enough though, there was not much of a reaction. I to a minute to explain how to use it and she was off.
6) A negative: still some formatting issues. Certain characters, margins, and the like occasionally are displayed incorrectly. Though it never prevented me from understanding a passage, it was sometimes distracting and annoying. I imagine this will improve as time goes on.
7) Another: it is often more difficult to read the back matter (notes, bibliographies, etc.) on the Kindle than in a regular book. Not an issue for novels, but for certain types of non-fiction, this can be a real loss. Sometimes, there are links to the notes and switching between them is no problem. But other times, not. I got to the end of Omnivores Dilemma before I knew there were notes on the entire text I would have loved to have read while I was going through the first time.
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