I just finished a 4550 location book on my Kindle.
While “kindling” Clay Shirky’s “Here Comes Everybody,” I “highlighted” more than 250 locations. I can now quickly search that file for any notation I’d like to recall. I was pleased to know that every single word I read was backed up by a definition. As I moved the “stick” to ready a highlight, I took comfort knowing that “user” was “a person who uses or operates something” and that “want” was to “have a desire to possess…”
As I progressed towards the final location, I began clicking the “Next Page” button a little too hastily. I was anxious to finish. With a book book, I would have been able to skim the last two chapters, picking and choosing, flipping ahead pages to scout out interesting tidbits, varying my pace to read only the juiciest morsels.
With Kindle, I paid too much attention to Shirky’s Meetup examples and not enough attention to the three key marketing aspects: what were they? something, something and bargain. Ok, I can search for it. I type “bargain.” I get 62 results. There’s no way to search for “bargain” beyond location 3000 and no way to just “dip” into the book. And the little chicklet keys on the Kindle make my Blackberry keys seem like landing pads.
This is the third book I’ve “kindled.” One was fiction (Lisa Genova’s “Still Alice,” which I’d lend to you, but, ahhh, wait, can’t really do that!) and one was nonfiction (Chip and Dan Heath’s “Made to Stick: Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die.”)
I’ve kindled enough now to say that I’m disappointed. Sure, disappointed in the way that Oscar Wilde said he was “disappointed in the Atlantic” after his first crossing in a oceanliner. I love the idea of the Kindle, the iPad, the whatever else comes along to improve my life. I love the portability. I love the instant access to any book. When a friend recommends a book, I pop on over to the Kindle Store and check it out. (I have more samples of books on my Kindle than actual books!) I love that I can mix magazines, newspapers and books together. But for all Kindle’s virtues, I still prefer an old-fashioned book.
After all that kindling, I’m feeling the urge to visit a bookstore.
I don’t have a kindle. I absolutely love sitting down with a book or magazine, having the tactile feeling of pages. A former co-worker would go on vacation, and she would tell me about how she would just load all the books onto her kindle, sit on the beach and read. From her kindle. Yes, I understand that it’s more green and less of a schlep than lugging books…but kindle on the beach? I’ll stick with my books.
I’m with you — I have a Kindle but don’t love it. Have returned to buying regular ol’ books.
For me, it’s the ability to share the book with a friend. Also, it’s somewhat liberating to be able to leave a book on a table and go to order a coffee and not worry much about my book getting stolen. Kindle costs too much for that kind of freedom.
Great point about someone stealing your “library!” I can’t even leave Kindle in the car . . .
I have a kindle but still have not got the courage to read a book on it yet…