I initially had an interest in the Amazon Kindle after seeing the following xkcd.com comic strip:
http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/kindle.png
All joking aside, it proved to be very rewarding to borrow the NEKLS’ Kindle for our trip to New Zealand. Whenever I had a few moments of downtime (naps for Soren, bus rides, etc). I would pull the Kindle out of my bag, and read a few pages here and there. In preparation for the trip, I attached my Amazon account to the device and in less than five minutes, had access to over a dozen books I had pre-purchased just for the trip.
I spend a lot of time in front of a computer screen. I find that using any sort of computer or device before going to bed usually extends the time it takes for me to relax and fall asleep. Since the Kindle doesn’t use a backlit screen, (it tends to read more like paper) it was a great deal more friendly on my eyes, and didn’t cause further sleeplessness.
It turned out to be the perfect supplement of entertainment for our trip. By the end of our two-week period I had read 9 out of the 12 books I had purchased, and after returning to the States, asked Liz to buy me a Kindle+3G for Christmas.
I have some concerns with respect to Amazon’s policy on remotely deleting books off their customer’s Kindles, but if it proves to impact me personally I’ll simply stop buying books on the device, and use it in the manner described in the comic. Simple enough.
-Author, Thatcher Rea.