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January 24, 2008
Take your Kindle to the beach
Just after Christmas I got away for a few days to Jamaica. All I did for 5 days was read. I read by the beach, by the pool, in bed. It was lovely.
But unlike every other vacation I've ever taken, I didn't take a large pile of books. Instead, I took my Kindle. And a small pile of books. (I wouldn't want to end up in another country with nothing to read. Heaven forbid!)
Understand, even if I don't have time to read more than a few books, I like having choices. And I like to be able to leave off a book for a while and try something else.
The lure of the Kindle is instant gratification: you get bored with a book, you can download another one in less than a minute. But that doesn't apply if you're outside the US. So the night before I left, I bought five more books. Ah, choices.
I did end up finish four books over my little vacation:
I read more than I have in years. And I think I know why: no internet!
But unlike every other vacation I've ever taken, I didn't take a large pile of books. Instead, I took my Kindle. And a small pile of books. (I wouldn't want to end up in another country with nothing to read. Heaven forbid!)
Understand, even if I don't have time to read more than a few books, I like having choices. And I like to be able to leave off a book for a while and try something else.
The lure of the Kindle is instant gratification: you get bored with a book, you can download another one in less than a minute. But that doesn't apply if you're outside the US. So the night before I left, I bought five more books. Ah, choices.
I did end up finish four books over my little vacation:
- Pride and Prejudice, which I have been trying to finish for years ..
- Founding Brothers
by Joseph Ellis, about John Adams, George Washington, and others from that generation;
- Punching In: The Unauthorized Adventures of a Front-Line Employee
- Wild Fire
I read more than I have in years. And I think I know why: no internet!
Sometimes I'm convinced that the internet is more of a replacement for books than it is for television.
I've been reading John McPhee, who writes essays more than books. What's notable about his writing is that I rarely feel like I want to jump up to Google to pin down some detail that's missing from the text - it's as though he has anticipated the next detail and the next and is thus captivating.