Okay, I’ve had my Kindle for a couple of weeks now and here’s what I think of it.
I like it a lot but it’s definitely NOT like reading a dead tree book and in some ways that’s a shame. The tactile experience is missing. You don’t get to actually turn the pages, and while playing with font size makes the page you’re reading about the same size and word count of a paperback book it’s just not the same thing.
Since I got the Kindle I’ve been doing a LOT of reading. I actually wander away from the computer, dig out the Kindle and read a book. I read Teddy Roosevelt’s account of the Rough Riders. Not only was it an interesting story but so well written that you’d never guess it was penned a century ago. Reading the Roman histories by Tacitus and Caesar’s Commentaries, books I’ve wanted to read for years but just didn’t want to spend the money on to buy even in paperback.
While my literary tastes may run towards detective stories like the Dave Robicheaux series by James Lee Burke and the Prey series by John Sandford or the complete Butch Karp saga by Robert K. Tanenbaum I’ve been absolutely delighted with a couple of free books I downloaded by some female authors: Talk of the Town by Lisa Wingate (when it was available free) and Charlotte Figg Takes Over Paradise by Joyce Magnin. I enjoyed Charlotte Figg so much I had a hard time putting it down the first night so I could get some sleep and finished it off the next day.
One thing I like about the Kindle is the included Oxford Dictionary of English. Occasionally I come across a word I’m not sure of and you simply scroll down to it and it’s defined for you. A great feature.
I naturally bought a cover for the Kindle to protect it from getting scratched up just through the process of daily reading and carrying it around in my knapsack for my trips down the mountain to do my shopping. Holding it open with the unit on the right hand side and the cover to the left it’s almost like reading a real book except you only have a right-hand page.
My only real objection to the unit is that the little thing-a-ma-doodles that you press to “turn” the pages happen to be right under your thumb as you hold it and the slightest pressure flips you to the next page. However, you can configure the screen in several different ways but I’m just too lazy to do that.
I’d give it 4-1/2 stars and am glad I finally caved in and bought one.
One More Good Adventure 
Hello Richard:
I’ve been anxiously waiting for this review. Thank you for sharing your experiences with the Kindle.
Best Regards,
Omar.-
Neat that it has the included OED – I’d not heard about that before.
The page turning business just seems weird to me. When I’ve read magazines or journals online, it’s easy enough to do, but it “feels funny”. There’s no good reason that should be so. I suspect it’s just some sort of ingrained pattern that would get changed if I started using a Kindle or whatever.
I still can’t get around not being able to scribble notes in the margins, etc. And if I’m looking for something in a book, there are all sorts of clues to help me find it, from the chapter headings, to the especially broken binding in that place I go back to all the time. I know, I know – but the “substitutes” I’ve read about and heard discussed just don’t seem as satisfying.
Still, I’m glad for the report and glad you’re so happy with yours. In your situation, I’d be a lot faster to make the move to one, I think.
The page turning thing is a bit odd but being accustomed to reading stuff on computers it’s not that great a challenge.
The people who dreamed up the Kindle must have been note scribblers themselves because there is a provision for doing that. It’s in their user’s guide, but that’s not something I did with dead-tree books so I haven’t tried to figure it out. You can highlight any section of a book you’re reading, you can write notes (there’s a QWERTY keyboard built in). And you can put bookmarks all over the place.
One thing that’s neat is when you turn the book off after a session the next time you turn it on it automatically loads to the last place you were in the book without having to bookmark it.
One thing that’s neat is when you turn the book off after a session the next time you turn it on it automatically loads to the last place you were in the book without having to bookmark it.
Now, that is neat! I’d have to try that note-making function, though. I just can’t conceive of it being as satisfying as marginal notes. For one thing, with a favorite book, I can go back and see how I responded to the same passage in successive readings, etc. I’m just going to have to try one of these things, some day, to give a fair judgement.
I enjoy mine too. I like that can bring 100s of books with me on a trip but not be weighed down. The kindle and my iPod touch mean I don’t end up having to bring a laptop and a dozen books with me when I’m away. I can travel for a week with just a small bag now. It’s pain that you airlines make you turn it on for take-off and landing as that’s the time I really want to be lost in a book.
I had the original kindle given to me as a gift when it first came out so I guess I have been using it for about 3 years or so. I would say that I now prefer it to regular books. Especially now that we live on our boat most of the time. I would bet I have read about 5 or 6 hundred books on it so far. After a while you get over it isn’t a physical book thing and start to really like it. I am now thinking about getting one of the cheap digital ink Nooks. with the touch screen and lighter weight I think it will be a winner. It uses Epub as its standard. With the below software you can convert your mobi books to epub to use on that device. there is even a plugin that allows you to remove the DRM of the books you have bought for your kindle so you can read them on other devices. It only works for the books you bought for you kindle though.
One thing that has made using it much much easier is getting the free digital book software calibre. It is a library management software for ebooks of all formats and can convert books from one format to another. It will also directly allow you to manage books on your kindle from you computer.. http://calibre-ebook.com/
not an add… just stuff I have used 🙂
Scott
Thanks for dropping in and leaving a comment, Scott. I took a quick glance at your blog and it looks real interesting to me. I’ll have to check it out further this afternoon when the rain sets in. There’s a REASON they call it the “rainy season” down here in Panama.
lol.. did training in panama in the late 80’s with the army.. remember it well.. 🙂 lots of rain 🙂
Scott
This year’s rain isn’t as bad as last year when records were set. Check back in the archives and see what I mean. I think it was in August or September last year when we had EIGHT FEET of rain in one month.