The battery in my (second generation!) Kindle is growing old; it doesn’t last as long as it used to. I can foresee a time when I will have to decide …
No, no. No decision. I’ll get a new Kindle, no doubt about it. I love my Kindle.
This wasn’t always the case. That is, before I owned one, I used to say I’d never own one. Feel of the book in my hands, yada yada. But then the Irishman bought me one in anticipation of a long vacation, and I learned to like it. Love it.
I’ve been using it in earnest now for almost four years—for traveling, certainly; to read books I just couldn’t wait for or that were offered at rock-bottom prices (see: Kindle Daily Deals); to carry with me so I always have reading material; and on my treadmill. It’s great for the treadmill, actually, because I’ve learned flipping physical pages is awkward.
It’s good for more than that, though. I’ve already got a book-storage problem, and I intend to live a lot longer, so if I’m trying out a new author or a book I’m otherwise unsure of, I usually buy it for the Kindle. Sometimes Kindle books are on deep discount the first week of the title’s release, so I definitely take advantage of sales.
But I’ve also learned the limitations of my Kindle. I no longer buy electronic nonfiction, for example, because I am not a linear learner. I want to mark pages, underline, come back and look at something again, compare it, read the footnotes in place, and so on. But you just can’t do that easily on the Kindle I own. Lack of page numbers is only the beginning. It’s all so linear. And with a physical book I can remember the passage I am looking for was on a left-hand page at the top, say—but all that is lost with an e-book.
I read a book the other day that was so nicely crafted in terms of character development that I wanted to go back and reread and mark passages and really study how the author’d done it. But I’m going to have to buy the book in a paper version for that, because e-books weren’t really made for studying, in my opinion (and others’). So I’ve quit purchasing nonfiction in e-book format.
Again, I’ve learned how to highlight passages on the Kindle, and I’m aware that I have the capability to annotate, too, though I haven’t bothered to learn because the keyboard is not really user friendly. (This may be improved in newer versions. In fact, I’m certain it is.) Nor have I learned how to access the passages I’ve been highlighting; and if I do, the passages will be plucked out of the surrounding text, which is a far cry from flipping quickly through paper pages to search for passages I’ve marked in situ.
Here’s a recap:
Love my Kindle
• lots of books in a small package; cuts down on book-storage problems
• small, lightweight, great for travel; easy to read in bed too
• no backlit screen; easy on my eyes at the end of the day
• fabulous for the treadmill: easy to turn pages
• good sales on some titles
• instant gratification
• great for fiction, which we read in a linear mannerNot so much
• highlighting, annotating are not the same as writing in the margins
• footnotes—fuggedaboudit
• going back to look for something is unwieldy; no page numbers
• nonfiction is a no-go for me
• you don’t actually own the book; you’ve licensed it
• you can’t loan your books to friends
• you learn better with paper (see here too)
• can’t read it in the tub 🙂
So, much as I love my Kindle, there are limits to my love—it’s fine for some but not all reading activities. I feel the same way about my iPad—it’s a fine tool for some digital activities, but all things considered, I prefer my laptop. Except for size and weight. How about you? Do you love an e-reader—or not? Why?
UPDATE: There’s more on this subject here.
Tweet: I’ll get a new Kindle, no doubt about it. I love my Kindle. But …
Tweet: Much as I love my Kindle, there are limits—it’s fine for some but not all my reading.
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