Kindle Thoughts

I am reading such a lot more since I got the Kindle. Of course, I know it is partly due to the newness of the new toy but {here speaks the teacher} reading anything is better than reading nothing…

Things I like:

• I LOVE being able to download a couple of chapters of the book free. And, yes, this has seduced me into buying a couple of books I might otherwise have not bought, but, on the whole I would say I have NOT bought about 80% of what I have downloaded. And knowing I have two or three of these samples to read is like having  a couple of little gifts to unwrap.
• When I am reading the Kindle and switch away to something else, I am returned to the same page I stopped. This is a Good Thing. However, a couple of times I have had to page back to find what, exactly is going on so now I have taken to stopping at the end of a chapter!
• Incidentally, it doesn’t confuse me at all to have two or more books on the go. This is actually the way I have always read. It is a superior book that makes itself the total focus of my reading time.
• In some ways, the Kindle is well thought out. I like the cursor-moving wheel also being the click button. I REALLY like how easy it is to look up a word as I am reading. I like it that there is a "cancel this order" button right under the "buy this book" button.
• At the bottom of each page is  the word "menu."  Right by this is the default home of the cursor. A click on this takes you to another menu where you can access your home page among other choices. When you open this menu, the cursor is on the first choice which is "close." I like this because a couple of times I have opened the wrong menu and one click closes it for me. Also at the bottom of each page are two tiny graphics–one for the battery and one to let you know if you have a good connection on what Amazon calls "whispernet."
• I LOVE the different pictures that come up when the Kindle is put to sleep. I have so far seen pictures of Agatha Christie and Emily Dickinson, pages of medieval lettering and pictures of old printing presses. I found the Kindle had a sleep mode when I left it for a while and came back to find it had automatically gone into sleep mode.

What I don’t like:

• I am like the majority of readers in complaining about the buttons. On the right, there is a long bar "button" for next page. Under that is a smaller bar for back which takes you back to the beginning of whatever it is you are reading. {This is very helpful when you are reading a magazine because it takes you back to the list of articles instead of having to page forward or click on the "skip this article."} On the left are two bars also. The top one is previous which takes you back one page. The bottom one is another next page bar. Like most readers, apparently, I am finding that I press the back button when I really wanted the previous button! It is also VERY easy to find yourself on the next page before you have finished the page you are on! But although it sounds as if this is a big inconvenience, it really isn’t. I am trying to train myself to us the bars on the left side as much as possible.

So, any questions?

QUOTATIONS:

"Step by step. I can’t think of any other way of accomplishing anything."

Michael Jordan

None will improve your lot If you yourself do not.

Bertolt Brecht, 1933