I received my replacement Kindle yesterday. All the inconveniences with this new bit of technologies have reduced my unbridled enthusiasm. First, it ran out of batteries while I was waiting for my return flight home last week, which meant I couldn't finish the novel I was reading (frustrating!). Then, almost as soon as I got home, the screen malfunctioned and I had to get a replacement, which took nearly a week. Okay, so the thing is not perfect.
In the meantime, a few friends have asked why I like it, the uses I have for it and the extent to which it rules over my life. But the final blow came when my friend C. Wess Daniels Tweeted a link to a scathing social critique of the Kindle which ended with the irenic sentence, "The Kindle is the devil." Now, I love Adbusters and it pains me to have any disagreement with their author's analysis, privately harboring feelings that these folks are Ludites. So, after calming down, I think I can hazzard an explanation for my continuing, though tempered, affection for my Kindle.
First, you should read the Adbusters critique entitled, Melt Your Kindle. It's brief. But, in case you won't read it, for whatever reason, allow me to excerpt the main points:
Argument one: The Kindle destroys the trace of the author.
Argument two: the Kindle destroys the community of readers which books engender.... The Kindle is a prison for words....
Argument three: the Kindle denies the call to deep, meditative reflection.
The first thing to say is that in large part, I agree with this critique. The second thing is to point out this article represents an all-or-nothing approach to the subject. I'm sure many commentators said (and continue to say) that the internet is destroying TV, or reading for that matter, or that "video killed the radio star." This is typically overwrought.
I am a bibliophile. Anyone who has been in my home or office knows that my most prized and cherished material possessions are my books. Recently a friend was in my office and made a remark about how many books I have. I replied, "They are my friends." I mean that seriously. And I love books not just for the ideas and imagination they contain. I also love the feel and look of a book. I love collecting them, even if I haven't read them. Just today I bought a hefty philosophical tome that I may never read in its entirety.
So, please don't say I don't care about books.
I too was skeptical - and remain skeptical - about the Kindle. But I look at it like a tool. Like any other technological tool, one does not need to sell one's soul to it. Just as email, Twitter and instant messaging does not replace physical human contact in concrete place, it is a wonderful tool for staying in touch when we can't be near each other. So, here's what convinced me that the Kindle was a worthwhile tool.
1. I am increasingly asked to read book manuscripts and lengthy articles before they are published, to offer critique, commentary and to write an endorsement. If you've tried to read a 250 page manuscript on 8 1/2 x 11 paper you know how clumsy this can be. The Kindle is perfect for this and for carrying around your own writings all in one place.
2. There are many free works of literature and philosophy out there in eBook format and the Kindle gives a wonderful format for reading this in a very economical way.
3. Magazines and newspapers clutter my house and my office. If I can keep some of my main subscriptions in one place, this is really valuable for me, to say nothing of the paper we save.
4. Frankly, there are just some books I want to read and I don't need them to take up space in my library. These are some novels (I know the author will say these are typically "trashy novels" - I don't ready trashy novels. Who has time for that). I will continue to purchase serious works of theology, history, biography, philosophy and fiction in print form.
5. On a lighter note, it's very easy on the eyes. I really enjoy reading it.
6.And here is the biggest surprise benefit: when you're reading while eating or drinking, it just sits on your lap without closing. I seem to always have lunch in front of me or a coffee or tea in my hand while I'm reading. Holding a book open while trying to highlight and drink coffee is challenging. The Kindle just sits quietly on your lap. It's dreamy.
7. Finally, it's wonderful for travel. It's light, compact and holds lots of stuff.
Frankly, I haven't been to a library in years. I support libraries in principle and I understand their importance. But I hardly think the invention of the Kindle is going to make libraries, let alone print material, obsolete any time soon. After all, books didn't destroy oral story telling and the internet seems to not have been the death of reading that some of us thought it might be.
Ryan,
Can you highlight or make notes on what you are reading?
Posted by: Chad Stuart | May 02, 2009 at 03:24 PM
wow...interesting. you actually make me want to check one out further. I too have a great love for my books....so it would definitely be a change for me to go digital. Thanks for the insight, though.
Posted by: Rodlie Ortiz | May 03, 2009 at 04:12 PM
To answer Chad's question:
Bookmarks and Annotations
By using the QWERTY keyboard, you can add annotations to text, just like you might write in the margins of a book. And because it is digital, you can edit, delete, and export your notes. Using the new 5-way controller, you can highlight and clip key passages and bookmark pages for future use. You'll never need to bookmark your last place in the book, because Kindle remembers for you and always opens to the last page you read.
Posted by: Ron | May 03, 2009 at 06:15 PM
Good post. I've had to defend my purchase of a Sony digital reader lately to some friends whose arguments seem to be similar to those in the Adbusters critique. Personally, I think if these people had lived in the 2nd century and were introduced to the codex, they'd be bemoaning the loss of the scroll, the lovely tactile experience of unrolling it and seeing the text appear, line by line ... I mean, get over it. It is, as you said, a tool. The essence of a book is words, not pages or bindings.
Posted by: TrudyJ | May 04, 2009 at 07:46 AM
Will it kill a person or completely wipe out one's entire library if it falls into a bathtub?
Posted by: Michael Peabody | May 07, 2009 at 08:45 AM
No, I don't think it would be any worse than if you dropped any other battery operated device in the tub. All the documents and ebooks you buy from Amazon are archived on your account on Amazon.com. Other documents you load onto are presumably backed up on your computer HD.
Posted by: Ryan Bell | May 07, 2009 at 02:36 PM
I don't think the Kindle would survive the baptism, though. This was actually a big concern for me with the digital reader because I do read in the bath a lot, and in the summer I read a lot by the pool or river while my kids are swimming.
Posted by: TrudyJ | May 09, 2009 at 01:57 PM
These are great points Ryan. Thanks.
Posted by: wess | May 09, 2009 at 03:22 PM