Fired Up by the Kindle

I read four or five books a week and have no patience for libraries. I don’t like waiting for new releases. When I get the urge to read something, I don’t want to wait a month for some slowpoke to return it.

I purchased my Kindle two days after Amazon announced it. I wanted to try it. The binding and paper aren’t the important part of the book. The words are the only element of the book that really matter. Books were piled in every nook and cranny in my house before I purchased my Kindle. Now I have a few stray paperbacks and a couple of autographed Vonnegut books stored in my closet. This device has changed my life.

I can now sit outside on a breezy day and enjoy a book without fear of the wind blowing my bookmark away. I can change the font size of small-print paperbacks, making them easier to read. That is great, since I am extremely nearsighted and have problems with tiny words.

Jeff Bezos, founder of Amazon and the man responsible for the Kindle, never claimed he wanted to replace the book. That is not his intention at all. He wanted a device that would improve the reading experience. I feel that the Kindle does that, and it does it well. As Mr. Gulley states in his anti-technology propaganda [Sept./Oct. ’08], many people never crack the cover of a book. Why, then, should we criticize a device that promotes this practice? Why get inflamed over the invention of a gadget that might just bring the world of literature to a score of non-readers?

Perhaps Mr. Gulley should try one with an open mind before he continues whining that it will make cave drawings a thing of the past.