Curling Up With Bookman's Kindle

Sometime last century (I just love writing that), I was part of a group of tech company leaders assembled by a market research firm to explain the internet to them. This was in the early days of the Netscape-Microsoft browser wars. My big contribution to the discussion was in answer to the moderator's question: "Will people read books online?" I said, "It's hard to curl up with a good computer." It got a good laugh, and the marketers loved it because it was short and sweet and they understood it.

A bit later, the same firm asked me to give them my opinion of a device that was not yet on the market. It was a gadget with the sole purpose of reading electronic books. Though the identity of the manufacturer was kept secret, I was told that the thing would be called The Bookman. This time, my big contribution was to tell the very serious Japanese interviewer that it was a bit ironic that the device and I had the same name. He expressionlessly ignored that comment. When Sony later released The Bookman, it proved to be a device ahead of its time.

Which brings me to the Amazon Kindle. When my son gave me one as a gift nearly a year ago, I was a bit skeptical. I recalled how clunky the Sony Bookman and other equally unsuccessful clones were. But I was willing to give it a try, and now I'm sold.

The first generation Kindle is almost great. It is the right size (that of a large paperback), light, and has great battery life. The screen is incredibly crisp and readable in varying light conditions. It can store more books than I'll ever need to carry around at one time. The Amazon Kindle store makes it a cinch to order and instantly (I mean in a few seconds) download books without hooking up to a PC or doing anything to connect to a network except turning on the network switch (which you otherwise keep off to save battery life). This is truly like magic. You can also order Kindle books on a PC if you wish and then flip on the Kindle to download them. And you can upload other documents, though I have never done so.

I now prefer reading an e-book on my Kindle to a physical book. But there are some limitations. You really cannot give an e-book to someone else to read. The controls for turning pages are too big, which means it takes some practice to learn how to hold a Kindle without accidentally turning pages (this, I am led to believe, will be fixed in the next generation Kindle). And I'd love a button to press to get the time (I don't want the time displayed all the time, that would be distracting, but when I read I get absorbed and it'd be great to be able to do an instant time check).

But these are minor gripes. On the other hand, it's great to have instant, automatic bookmarking. And to be able to search in a book. And to have all the books I might read on a long international vacation in one light device.

So, yes, this Bookman now curls up with his Kindle. And loves it.