On Jan 6, 5:56*pm, "Russell D." wrote:


I love books. Always have. I grew up in a home without television. So
books were our escape, our entertainment. Especially during those long
Idaho/Wyoming winters.

I love to have books. I like their smell, their look, their heft. I love
to see rows of them on my bookshelves.

When I first heard of the Kindle a few years ago I considered it a
damnable object to be scorned. I saw it as a threat to those books that
I loved.

But, the more I learned and the more I thought about it the more I
realized that as much as I love books, I love more the words in those
books. I came to realize that the Kindle is a great way to carry around
those words. Lots of those words.

August 1st I preordered the new "Kindle 3" and it showed up the first
week of September. In short, the Kindle is a great reading tool. I have
read more books since September than I have in the last year and a half.
The simple reason is because I always have it with me and find all kinds
of opportunities to read. That dreaded forty-five minute wait in the
doctor's office is now a pleasant escape into some book until that
annoying nurse pops out and says, "The doctor will see you now." It is
much easier to carry around than a book (or books--I'm always reading
several books).

So congrats on the new Kindle. I think you'll enjoy it. I highly
recommend getting a cover for it. Not only does it protect it, it makes
it seem more bookish. The Amazon.com covers are very well made, but
there are lots of others out there.

I love my Kindle.

Russell

Great stuff, Russell.

I can find only one minor point to disagree with; "It is much easier
to carry around than a book...". My Kindle (with cover.....thanks for
the advice on that, I'd have followed it, but my sister is nothing if
not thorough) is roughly the size and weight of an average trade
paperback.....actually, a bit thinner, but otherwise very similar.
Not particularly "easier" to carry than a book.....but certainly AS
easy.....and, yes, most certainly easier than several books, an
affliction we share.

Meanwhile, the jury is still out as to whether these things are a
genuine damnable threat to our shared love. A year ago I'd have said,
hell no. Actually, I did.....although not so moderately. Now, I'm
not so sure, for various reasons that would bore the vast majority
here. In any case, the extinction of the book (if, indeed, it occurs
in the not too distant future.....as seems ever more likely) will be
brought about, primarily, by other more sinister agents than a device
which, after all, preserves the words you and I love so much.

Wolfgang
read on bruthas and sistas!