What I’m reading…on!

I will always be a “paper copy” man when it comes to certain books. I love books: the smell of them, the experience of different treatments, their familiarity.

As such, I was always skeptical of eReaders. They seemed too sanitized to offer the same experience, but as more people bought Kindles and began to express “love” for them, I realized that Amazon had created something that admirably dovetailed with the experience of paper books. I got a Kindle Keyboard as a gift and quickly realized the charm.

eInk is an amazing technology. It recreates the book page in an updated form: easy to read, familiar, and all the versatility of a screen. The lightness and size of the Kindle reminded me (I should probably be a little ashamed to confess this) of the readers on Star Trek: The Next Generation… The future is now! But, compared with my smartphone, the interface was clunky: no touchscreen, awkward menu system.

Recently, my Kindle stopped holding a charge so I looked into replacement options. I just got the Kindle Paperwhite and it is amazing! It has all the charms of the original with crucial additions. It keeps the eInk screen and wireless connectivity. It adds the touchscreen and improves the menu system. It also adds a backlit screen, which is a huge plus (and another impressive eInk technology)!

The only thing I miss is the button on the edge of the device; as a lefty, I have to hold the Kindle differently than most readers, and the forward & backward buttons being available on both sides of the device made it easier for me to page through my reading with one hand. I also splurged on a model without “special offers”; what a shame that Amazon would consider such a cheap tactic.

Overall, I am thrilled by this device. I was concerned that Amazon had lost that original “bookish” aesthetic as it moved into touchscreens and became more of a tablet than an eReader. I am so glad they decided to offer both styles for readers to choose!