Eating My Words

Well, I thought the day would never come when I'd say this, but here it is:

I am crazy for the Kindle!

Yes, this is coming from the same person that not long ago mourned the advent of digital reading and the loss of the printed word. (I went on and on about how it just wouldn't be the same if there were no books to snuggle up with, to dog-ear, to write in the margins of...blah, blah, blah, etc., etc.)

Well, now I have to admit that I've been officially won over by the Kindle. I didn't actually plan on converting to a digital reader, but the Hubs and the kids got me one for Mother's Day and it's pretty much become my best friend ever since then. Every night, after the kids are asleep, you'll find me cuddled up not with a book any more, but my Kindle. And, interestingly, the features work well with my (sometimes uptight) personality.

Here are some of its awesome features:

1. No need to dog-ear the pages or write in margins and thereby mar the beauty of the writing--you can just bookmark it or write a note or highlight the text that you want to revisit someday.

2. You can download a book and have it available to read a minute after you decide you want to buy it. Who needs bookstores anymore?

3. I also love the "sample" feature, with which you can read the first chapter or two of a book before actually committing to buying it. (I can pretty much tell in the first few pages of a book if it's something I'm going to be able to enjoy reading or not.)

4. It's better for the environment.

5. It has a built-in dictionary. No more reading with a dictionary at your side.

6. It's thin and light and easily portable--the size of a single book, but it can carry the contents of thousands of books.


There are, of course, a few downsides, though:

1. First, it's so easy to download a book that I can see I'll probably be spending a whole lot more money on reading material now than I did in the past. I might have taken some books out from the library, or borrowed some, or waited until I went to the bookstore to see what I thought, but now, with such easy and swift access, I'm probably going to be shelling out a lot more cash on e-books. Plus, they recently increased the price of their new e-books to $12.99, when they were only $9.99 in the past. (Arghh...)

2. Second, I'm a little concerned about my eyes. I heard from an eye doctor that reading on a screen is worse for your eyes than reading from an actual book, so I worry about my already bad eyes. My vision is minus 5 in both eyes and has been climbing. I keep worrying that I'm going to wake up one day blind with both of my retinas detached! (It doesn't help that I missed an appointment with the opthalmologist to get my eyes dilated this past week.) I hear the screen is different than a computer screen, though, more like "paper", so we'll just have to see what the final verdict is...til then, I'll be playing Russian roulette with my eyeballs...

3. Selection is still limited. When I first went to the Kindle store, I just started searching a few authors and books to see what was available, and was disappointed that I didn't find everything I was looking for...granted, I look for weird stuff sometimes...

4. The Kindle will spoil you for books. My old pile of books is collecting dust as we speak because I now only want to read with the Kindle!

5. Already, someone has told me that I should check out the iPad because it's much better...does anything ever stay current these days??? Pretty soon, the Kindle will go the way of VHS, 8 tracks, cassettes, CDs and the like...