Kindle, My Impressions

I've been going through quite a number of books since my last post. Some new, and re-reading some old favorites. Let's see, I read "Stand On Zanzibar" by John Brunner, "Watchman" by Ian Ranken, and "People of the Book" by Geraldine Brooks. The last book was excellent and it's been suggested that I read her previous book, "March." I also re-read "Watchers" by Dean Koontz and the first book of Orson Scott Card's The Homecoming Saga, "The Memory of Earth."

This morning I had the opportunity to read the book that I had purchased on the Kindle, "Cauldron," by Jack McDevitt. I've spent a lot of today reading from the Kindle in several stretches (minutes to hours). This book didn't get the best reviews on Amazon, but I like it so far. It's an easy read and well written. So here are my impressions of the Kindle:

• You never lose your page.
• The text is easy on your eyes no matter what the lighting is like (indirect sunlight or halogen lamp).
• It's light enough so you can read it one handed without getting tired.
• Contained within it's folder, it's definitely right-handed, which is isn't a problem for me.
• The limited amount of text on the screen makes for a lot of paging.
• As noted before, there isn't a good feeling for where you are in a chapter.
• There is a tendency to page back to ensure continuity.

My assessment at this point is that it is a good electronic book reader. It does exactly what it was designed to do. The wireless purchase and downloading of books, newspapers, and magazines is very clever. (I haven't tried the newspaper/magazines yet. I'm waiting for The Economist to come out in Kindle format before I decide.) There are certain books and authors whom I will still purchase in paper format. However, assuming that I am allowed to use the Kindle again, I will definitely purchase additional books.