Entries tagged with “Kindle” from Paul Holbrook's Weblog

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:

• 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, a quick read about a guy who takes jobs at UPS, StarBucks, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, the Apple Store, and the Gap;
• Wild Fire, a Nelson DeMille novel

I read more than I have in years.  And I think I know why: no internet!

I was paying close attention November 19th when Amazon announced their Kindle reading device.  In the morning, you could order the Kindle for next day delivery, but as the day went on, the delivery date starting stretching out.  That evening I wasn't sure if I wanted one, but I decided to put my order in to hold a place in line.  With 2 day delivery, Amazon said I would get my Kindle Tuesday December 4th.

I'm an Amazon Prime member, so changing the order to overnight delivery is only an extra $3.99, so I decided to change the Kindle order to see if it would change my delivery date.  I expected Amazon to immediately come back and say I'd get it one day early - next Monday - but instead, Amazon said to check back later for a delivery date.

I check this morning, and it says my delivery date is November 29th - tomorrow!  Changing to overnight clearly moved me up in the queue.

Techdirt reported last week that Amazon has a patent on juggling delivery dates based on the value of orders they expect you to place. Interesting ....