I won a Kindle. Now
what?
I have been eyeing those electronic reading devices for
quite some time but have always resisted because of a predisposition towards
paper books. Paper books have shiny
covers that announce to the world of passersby how well read you are. They collect on the shelves of your home like
participation trophies in a house league academic competition. “Yeah, I read that. 500 pages dude. And I understood it.” Translation – I am the World’s Most
Interesting Man. When engrossed in an
e-reader, you could be indulging in Tolstoy or Keats, or surfing Break.com for
pictures of cars in unusual places. One
will never know. I want people to know.
I might have been more tempted to purchase my own e-reader
years ago if my work schedule required more airplane travel. Lugging three hard cover books from the
library in my carry-on luggage is a back breaking exercise. Carrying the equivalent of three hard covers
books on one medium sized device with adjustable font size sounds less
painful. Less painful sounds more my
speed with every passing year.
Despite my love of the ancient art of printing words on
paper, I was excited to win my new Kindle.
I wanted to tell the world and started with another less fortunate
attendee at the event. I let him feel my
enthusiasm for winning (which by comparison meant my enthusiasm for his NOT
winning) and told him about all of my hope and dreams with my new space age
device. I will download books from the
library. I will read without my glasses. I will be a member of modern society and not
a relic of some lost civilization of paper book readers.
He tempered my enthusiasm with his congratulations to
me: “That’s great, Joe. Welcome to 2005.”
That retort stung. It
stung so much that my Kindle sat unopened for about 3 weeks. I was intimidated. I was no longer deserving of this ticket to
the future of reading. Maybe I wasn’t
ready for the 21st century.
Maybe I am destined to remain a prisoner of printed words in fonts that
grow progressively smaller. Maybe I am
not the World’s Most Interesting Man, but instead the World’s Most Antiquated
Curmudgeon. Maybe I really am Larry
David. Is there a gift receipt in the
box, I wonder?
This weekend, I pushed beyond my limits and opened the
box. I will configure this device and I
will read on a screen for pleasure. I
will do this without my children explaining the Kindle functionality in their
condescending text language filled with confusing acronyms.
The Kindle set up was so easy, even an adult could do
it. Once I got past the frustration of
having to enter our wifi password 5 times before the system recognized it – it
was NOT user error - I was in full control of my new toy. Turning pages was a revelation. Surfing the Amazon bookstore was a
breeze. I even downloaded my first book
without assistance from my skeptical children.
I am now the proud owner of a free copy of The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne, required reading in 11th
grade AP English.
Truth be told, we already own the paperback version and it
is light enough to carry on an airplane without toting along a power cord. The paperback cover proudly advertises to all
the other passengers that I choose to read the classics. I didn’t really need another gigabyte version
of the book but it was a way to dip my toes into the digital waters.
It’s been 3 days, and at this point, I can’t see how my life
has changed for the better. I should
have known that any electronic device without a lower case letter ‘i’ in front
of it had no hope of changing my life. I
own a functioning Kindle but I am the same man I was yesterday. I do look forward to reading my new/old book
on a flat glare-proof screen however, even if the book itself is a bit dated. Clearly, so am I.
Welcome to 2005.
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