Kindle Review

I received a Kindle for Christmas as a gift from my parents. Since I’m an avid reader this gift was right up my alley. As I mentioned in a previous post The Picture Of Dorian Gray became my inaugural book on Kindle. Along the way I discovered some of the good and some of the bad of life with a Kindle.

Good – The Kindle is smaller than your average book (especially a hardcover book). This makes it incredibly easy to hold while riding to work on the train. And being able to hit a button as opposed to turning a page when you’re holding onto a pole on a crowded train while holding a lunch bag and wearing gloves is a big plus.

Bad – I don’t know how long the book is in pages. How can I be proud of myself for finishing a 600 page novel? It’s been hard to get used to saying I’m 74% of the way through a book, not “on page 128”. It’s a little like reading a really long internet article.

Good – No one on the train knows what I’m reading with the Kindle, which means no more embarrassment over Jane Austen novels (or movie poster book covers).

Bad – There is something a little impersonal about every book I read looking the same. Hey, I like the covers of books; it’s at least 35% of why I end up reading a book.

Good – It was really easy to download the book I read. It took a few minutes to find it on Amazon, download it to the computer and upload it to the Kindle. Could have done it in my pajamas (and who’s to say I didn’t?)

Bad – How does someone borrow a book from you if you have it on Kindle? How does someone give me a book as a gift? I suppose it will be like i-Tunes where I just get gift cards now instead of CDs.

Good – Free books. There are tons of out of copyright older books that are free downloads. And a lot of these are classic novels that I’m interested in reading. So now they’ll be free. And while the library is also free, you still have to go to the library, hope they have the book (which will most likely be a hardcover with a coffee stain), and return the book, but only after renewing it several times.

Bad – Does this mean the eventual end of bookstores? That would make me sad because I love browsing book stores. This already seems to be putting Borders out of business, and I still have gift cards to use!

Good – No losing your page with the Kindle. It turns on right where you left it.

Bad – The user manual said to slide and hold the power switch for 7 seconds to turn off. It seems like mine takes more like 10 or more seconds, but either way I think turning off the Kindle should be easier.

Good – It has a built in dictionary. I may never use it, but it’s nice to know it’s there to look up words I don’t know.

Bad – It’s not as easy to just flip back to see a previous chapter as with a book. Or to flip ahead to read the ending if you are Mrs.

Good – It seems to have a really long battery life. I charged it once and a month later it is still going strong.

Bad – The battery will probably die without warning when I’m on vacation and without a way to charge it. A book will not die on a long transatlantic flight.

Good – On vacation it’s much easier to bring a Kindle loaded with several books then to drag several books around in a bag.

Bad – Do I need to turn it off during take-off and landing? I’ve never been told to close my book.
Good – I’m embracing technology and finally feel like I’m part of the in crowd – although I’m not (as my Razor phone can attest to).

Bad – I might be perceived as part of the in crowd – noooo!

Good – Our bookshelf can look like this:




Bad – Or this:





Overall my first Kindle experience was pretty good. The positives definitely outweigh the negatives. I’m not sure I’m ready to completely give up hard copy books (I still have about 15 unread on my bookshelf to get through anyway), but I do plan on starting to integrate books on Kindle into my reading life. Here’s to embracing technology. Bring on the flying cars!