I bought Kristie a Kindle for Christmas. She was fascinated by the idea. And I know no one who consumes -- maybe that’s not the right verb - devours? inhales? absorbs? Maybe all of those? -- books the way my wife does.
So I thought last Christmas that the Kindle would be the perfect gift. I got it delivered to school plenty early and then I loaded it with a number of books that I thought she’d enjoy.
To say that she has enjoyed it is an understatement.
She recently finished Dan Simmons’ The Terror. In fact, she finished most of the final chapters on the way back from Minneapolis two weekends ago. There we were heading north on 32 through Rollag, Twin Valley, Fertile, and a host of other tiny little hamlets. Somewhere in there Kenzie finally fell asleep and there was peace in the vehicle. Kristie sat up front next to me, but as we got farther along 32, the sun began to set. Kristie tried turning her overhead light on but that bothered Kenzie. And there was NO WAY we were going to wake up her.
So we drove that last bit of highway with Kristie reading her Kindle by the light of her Blackberry. How 21st century!
I thought about those stories I read about Honest Abe when I was a kid where he read his school books by candle light. And here was Kristie reading an ebook by cell phone light.
Kristie learned that the Kindle doesn’t show a book the same way a computer does. Her e reader has some kind of ink in the screen that reforms every time she ‘flips’ the page.
Interesting.
I’ve said it since the Kindle came out that this is the future of textbooks. Why throw kids’ backs out carrying our English text (which is in the 5-10 pound range) and all the others when teachers could download all the books - and who knows how many other supplemental books and materials to a single Kindle or e reader?
As a book lover - and non e- reader owner (at least for now) - I know there is something wonderful about going to Waldenbooks or B. Dalton and rummaging around the stacks. I bet there aren’t more than a handful of times out of the thousands of times I’ve been to Columbia Mall that I haven’t stopped in at the bookstore. Ever since I was little that was one of my first stops. Even when Mom got groceries at Hugos in Crookston, I spent the entire time in front of the magazine and book section totally absorbed.
Then when I got into high school, Mom introduced me to the inter-library loan system. I couldn’t wait to get to town and head to the library to find that stack of new books awaiting.
And what about libraries as places? The BSU library is one of my favorite places on earth. Don’t you just feel smarter for walking through a university library and their mountainous aisles of books?
Do Kindles and Sony Readers threaten this?
As much as loved the trips to the bookstore and library (and still do) when I started shopping on line with amazon or half.com, I found a new realm. As much as I loved the inter-library loan system, it had its limitations.
But the web? If it’s out there, you can get it.
Suddenly, I was buying more books than I could ever hope to read. And most for pennies!
So the thrill of seeing that stack of inter-library loan books was replaced by the thrill of seeing a package from UPS in my mailbox or sitting outside my door.
Why wouldn’t I extend that same thrill to seeing a new book download to my Kindle?
The same is true for music.
After our weekly trip to Hugos, Mom and I would head over to Pamida. She’d shop and I’d lurk in the cassette area deciding which one to pick out (Iron Maiden? Motley Crue? Judas Priest? Krokus?).
But then when I bought my first laptop and iPod when iTunes was established, that pretty much killed my retail thirst for music. Now I almost exclusively purchase digital music.
But has it changed my appreciation or love for music? No.
Will e readers change our appreciation or love for books? No.
A colleague of mine left a great article by Anna Quindlen (from Newsweek) in my box yesterday. It’s Quindlen’s take on e readers.
She hits upon a great point - America has an ‘either or’ mentality. Why does it have to be either books OR e readers?
Why can’t it be books AND e readers.
Kristie right now, as a matter of fact, is reading an actual book, The Help.
But whenever a new technology is introduced, it seems to me human nature to predict that it will lead to the end of the world as we know it.
James Burke recalls in a Dan Carlin podcast how he read about some bishop in the middle ages declaring that this new fangled printing press will make reading the business of those who have no business reading!
He was right about that. And thank God!
There were those who proclaimed that TV would be the end of radio, yet radio is still in existence - and thanks to satelite radio - it has transitioned pretty well to the digital age.
There were those who proclaimed that movies would be the end of the stage. Or that digital music would be the end of concerts. . . and on and on and on.
Even when a new media replaces an old one, is it such a bad thing? (Thomas Friedmann says the new ‘flat’ world has one iron clad rule - “Change or Die”). And look what email has done to the US Postal Service. Somehow UPS and FedEx have adapted, but will our Postal Service? How about those who proclaimed it impossible to type on a noiseless keyboard as opposed to the clattering of a type writer (nuts, right?). Or what cell phones have done for our convenience and connectivity? Will local phone companies adapt (ours has wisely branched out into wireless internet services) or die?
I think e readers will enhance our reading experiences, not necessarily kill books.
And even they do - so what?
Quindlen ponders that too -- “What is a book really? Is it its body, or its soul? Would Dickens have recognized a paperback of A Christmas Carol, or, for that matter, a Braille version? Even on a cell-phone screen, Tiny Tim can God-bless us, every one.”
* - Best selling novels in Japan in recent years have been on cell phone books!
5 comments:
Oh, I hope books never become out-moded. I love curling up with a friendly book. Though I haven't tried it, it seems to me curling up with an e-reader wouldn't be the same. Certainly more uncomfortable to fall asleep on!
I use the Internet for references and truly appreciate the audible dictionary.
Still, I often go to our old Oxford English Dictionary. Why? Because I have always loved dictionaries, and when looking up a word, I go to surrounding words. Often a better understanding comes from looking at related words - and sometimes that leads to reading several pages.
But each media has its merits, and as I mentioned, the audible dictionary is wonderful!
I smiled at your description of reading a Kindle by the light of a phone. Amazing world, isn't it?
Apparently the Kindle isn't backlit. How does it work outdoors? Does it glare?
I just may "go modern" one of these days, but I'd like a backlight and a non-glare screen.
OOOO - I loved "The Help." I can't wait to hear what Kristie thinks of it.
How 21st Century! - love that~!
I love the idea of the Kindle as far as school text books go. Schools are trying to figure out ways to keep kids from breaking their backs with 50 pound back packs by installing thousands of dollars worth of lockers, ones that most kids won't use . . . The Kindle would definitely help with this problem. I would consider buying one myself, even though I prefer the reading material (scratchy paper, hard covers and all), if they upgraded. I want the ability to write in the margins of my text books. If they arm the Kindle with a stylus and writing capabilities, I'm all for it!
In response to EDK's question about back-lighting and glare, you actually don't get either one because it's not like a computer monitor. Kurt mentioned the e-ink and I found a great description of how Kindle makes it work: http://www.pcworld.com/article/159218/amazon_kindle_2_its_all_about_the_e_ink.html
Here's the great thing about the Kindle. I just finished The Terror. It was over 14,000 "locations" on my Kindle. I was curious to see what that translated to in actual pages and the book is 784 pages long! I read Drood in hardcover and that sucker was a doorstop (Dan Simmon's sure is loquascious, isn't he?). It wasn't great fun reading on my side in bed (as I usually do) trying to hold that massive thing up. It was very convenient for me to throw my Kindle in my purse and take it out and read The Terror at my leisure. It would've been a pain to lug the hardcover around.
Another great asset: I read a review of Bloodroot by Amy Greene. I told Kurt about it. He jumped on his computer and 60 seconds later there it was on my Kindle ready for me to read.
As a book lover, the downside is that lack of a sense of accomplishment when you're done. And you don't get the satisfaction of setting it on your bookshelf and walking by it and seeing it. I guess what I'm trying to convey is that there's just something gratifying about the "phyciality" of a book.
And I do agree with Kriss about the annotating aspect. The Kindle is very clunky in that regard and for people like Kurt, who are armed with a pen whenever they read, the Kindle wouldn't suffice.
But, as Anna Quindlen asks, why does it have to be one or the other? It doesn't. In fact what I'm realizing I'm doing is alternating my reading between my Kindle and actual books. We now can just have the best of both worlds.
Thanks, Kristie. Your thoughts and opinions are very helpful.
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