I purchased a Kindle two months ago and I really love it. I travel a fair amount professionally, although thankfully not as often as I used to. The Kindle is perfect because I can read whatever I feel like reading whenever I want to read it. I'm the type of person who when I'm in reading mode, I have three or four books going. Invariably the one I take with me is not the one I want to read.
People have asked me about it a lot since I've purchased one – more than my iPhone. The biggest 'objection' to the Kindle appears to be its' electronic nature. If you are someone who reads a lot, you probably get a lot of joy from the act of reading – turning the pages, the smell of paper, the artwork, marking it up etc.
I admit that I'm an electronic fetishist so I'm always looking for gear that replaces something in the physical world. But I think electronic books are so much more convenient. They weigh less than books. No trees have to be sacrificed for my enjoyment. I can have many books with me at once. With the Kindle, I can get a book almost instantly, thanks to the built in net connection.
I have tried the eBook on the iPhone thing and it doesn't work as well for me. I wish I could turn the accelerometer off sometimes because I like to read lying down on my side. I can't do that on the iPhone since it rotates automatically. That said, I've downloaded Stanza and will see how I like it. I don't take my Kindle everywhere so Stanza seems like it can be a decent substitute for short periods of time – e.g. the subway. I can't really use it as a full-time reader since battery life is just too precious.
Back to this article. I do have to say that I prefer to read books and upload documents on my Kindle. I haven't really gotten into the newspaper thing and I'm not sure why. One morning this week, I will take myself to a cafe with the Kindle and see if I get into the 'paper' and breakfast thing. I'll let you know.
A sample of what I'm enjoying right now on my Kindle:
Warren Buffet's The Snowball
Obama's Dreams of my Father
Malcolm Gladwell's Outliers
