Sunday, December 27, 2009

Kindle-ing the flame for reading

In November, my wife asked me what I wanted for Christmas. Ironically, at that exact moment, I was on Amazon.com and getting bombarded by ads for its Kindle electronic reader. It was one of those moments that make you stop and say, “Hmmmm.” I made a passing mention of it, but let it go and really didn’t think a lot about it until Christmas morning when, amongst all of the presents, there was a book-sized gift with my name on it. Sure enough, under the wrapping paper was a box with the familiar Amazon smile on it and a white Kindle inside. I pulled it out, flipped the switch and officially stepped into the world of electronic reading.

Granted, I have been reading newspapers and magazines online for years, but this was a little different. This was the next step, if you will. A step into the future. The idea of electronic books has been tried unsuccessfully before, but Amazon seems to have gotten it right—or right enough—and is moving the world in a new direction from which there's no turning back.

My understanding is Apple is creating a tablet computer that will make the Kindle almost immediately obsolete—perhaps as early as next year—and I wouldn’t be surprised by that. Apple not only has a tendency to do that, but that’s the typical evolution of all things electronic. My Commodore 64 somehow morphed into my MacBook Pro. PacMan an Atari became Wii. My collection of vinyl record albums evolved into eight-tracks and then cassettes and then CDs before finally settling into my iPod.

The Kindle may, indeed, be a relic in a few years, but that’s for the future to determine. Now is now. So after the Christmas chaos subsided and the girls set about learning how to be guitar heroes, I connected with the Kindle store and browsed the collection. I downloaded 10-page samples from a number of books I’ve been considering reading and gave it a test ride.
And I like it. Mostly. It’s certainly different, but that’s not such a bad thing. Graphically, it could use some work, as the photos are simply shades of gray and hard to view. But when compared to pages on a book that are nothing but text, there’s no real difference. Instead of flipping a page, you just click the “next page” button and read on. What I also like about it is that it’s searchable and you can make notes and highlights on the pages. I must admit that when I read a book, I keep a highlighter and pen nearby so I can underline passages and take notes in the margins for parts I want to remember. Weird? Perhaps. But I can’t help it if the rest of the world is messed up.

What I also like about it is the price. Because of cost or convenience, everything is shifting to the digital world, and this is no different. Now, instead of paying $30 for a New York Times bestseller, the books are $9.99. And why not? The publisher already has the text in an electronic format, so by pushing a button and sending it to Amazon for distribution he saves on paper and production costs, and that savings can be passed on to the consumer—me.

What’s even better, for books in the public domain, that means the price is even cheaper. I found the entire works of Mark Twain for just $1. I was pretty happy with that. More than 300 pieces of Twain’s writing for a buck.

But as I was downloading those works, I glanced over at one of the bookshelves in our living room, which is filled with nothing but Mark Twain books, including some 100-year-old first editions. It seems to me that there’s just something about holding a book in your hands while you are reading it that is going to be hard to duplicate with the Kindle. Or how you relive a part of the books each time you see them on the shelves. Maybe that’s something I will get over as I venture into this brave new world. Or maybe not. Perhaps I’ll be the last holdout, preferring ink and paper until the day I die. Like I said, the future will determine all of that. Now is now, the Kindle is pushing the world in a new direction and I’m on board. I’ll have to see how I enjoy the ride.