My son and daughter-in-law gave me a wonderful Christmas gift this past December, an Amazon Kindle 2 e-reader tablet with a 6” screen. My son was smart enough to ask me before Christmas if it was something I wanted since it costs $259. I thought I might like it, but I asked him to let me do a little research before he plunked down his hard-earned dollars.
I did my research and settled upon the Kindle as the one I wanted instead of the Barnes and Noble Nook, or the Sony E-reader. At one point, I was fortunate enough to see a Kindle side-by-side with the Nook to make comparisons. For me, it was an easy choice and went with the Kindle.
But, of course, the big question was…would I use it and like it enough to warrant that kind of investment. After using it now for a month, I can answer an emphatic YES! I love the Kindle and use it daily. I still have paper books to read, but I find myself downloading more and more Kindle-based books all the time. It is small enough to carry it with me wherever I go and have it loaded with different kinds of books so I can read whatever I want, wherever I am.
But here was the unexpected bonus…almost all the books I download are free! There are thousands of books available whose copyrights are long since passed or whose authors or heirs have chosen to give them away. Check out manybooks.net, just one site that offers free books. Many of them go back a century or more, some are early to mid 20th century. I have always had a passion for British murder mysteries and have discovered a treasure trove of them from long-forgotten British authors. Not all are good, but most are gems that keep me more than entertained with memorable on-going characters.
Many other types of books are also available from some well-known authors like Edgar Allen Poe, Jules Verne, H.G. Wells, and Thoreau, to name a few. Also, Amazon puts up some 70-80 free books every month by current authors. Some good, some bad, but all easily erasable from my Kindle if I don’t like them. And before you order a book that costs money, you can download the first chapter for free from Amazon to try before you buy.
But as for the using the Kindle itself, I find it as easy to read as a regular book (otherwise known as a “dead tree edition”). The screen is crystal clear and can be read indoors or out in bright sun (its in black and white, no color). It is as easy on the eyes as reading a regular book. The screen is not backlit, so you cannot read in a dark room. You need some light, but there are specially-made portable lights you can attach on to it if you need it. I strongly recommend a case also.
You can change the type size so it is easier to read. Pages are turned by pushing a button, either forward or back. You can go to the table of contents or other locations in the book. When you turn your Kindle off, it remembers where you where and goes right back to that place. In fact, it knows the current location of every book you are reading. There is also a built in dictionary that will look up any word you highlight. This has really helped me out with some of the British authors who use long-discarded words in their text (I have found all of them in the dictionary).
Another fun thing about the Kindle that it has a wireless connection so you can go on-line to Amazon and shop for books, then download them direct to your Kindle. There is no additional charge for this. You can also go to Wikipedia to do additional research and make notes on any book using the built-in keyboard. They are automatically saved and linked to the paragraph in the book you are reading. And, you can set the Kindle to read to you with it’s built-in voice. There are many more features too numerous to name here.
So, if you like to read a lot, I heartily recommend the Kindle. Do your research first to learn more about e-readers as there is a ton of good information available about this kind of product. Drop by a Barnes and Noble store and look at the Nook to see if you like reading from it. Drop me a note if you have any questions.
