Thursday, April 10, 2008

Do I Like the Kindle?

kindlesk Well, yes, in a word, I do. As a matter of fact I like it very much. I suppose whether or not you would like it depends on what kind of reader you are.

For those who are unfamiliar with the Kindle, it's an electronic book reading device from Amazon.com. It's kind of pricey at $400 but, if you are the type of person who likes to make connections between many disparate sources as you read, and if reading makes you think and if thinking makes you write, then you should absolutely own one.

The main reason is that you can carry all of your reading materials with you in one slim volume, along with all of your clipped articles, highlighted paragraphs, notes in the margin, lists of books you want to read, periodicals that you would typically heap on the recycle pile-- just about everything you need for a reading-centric intellectual life.

I won't prattle on about the feature set, I don't want to be mistaken for a gadget-obsessive. This isn't about technology, it's about how electronic books can become the binding glue which sticks together the shifting collection of ideas that constitutes one's inner evolutionary process. Sure the "digital ink" is great, and way better than LCD, and it's true that the Whispernet content delivery and backup is fabulous, but the main thing is: the Kindle is a platform for consolidating your thought process and pinning it down to the dissection board. And doesn't that sound appealing?