Getting to know the Kindle

By HD Silversmith

So far, so good!

Since yesterday I've read two series romance novels on my Kindle (second generation), and I'm loving the experience.

• The display is extremely easy on the eyes, and you can adjust the size of print -- which is a real boon for  middle-aged people like me with rapidly changing vision.
• The navigation buttons are few in number, intuitively placed, and easy to use.
• The overall design is sleek and lightweight.
• The battery charge (as long as one has turned off the wireless system -- which you don't need when you're actually reading) appears to be phenomenal. Despite reading two novels (for approximately five hours), I see no decrease  in the charge indicator so far.

I was a little surprised to discover that the display isn't backlit in any way (so, in other words, in whatever situations you would require light to read a hard-copy book, you'll require light to read the Kindle).  On the other hand, that's one of the things that makes it much gentler on the eyes than, say, a computer screen or an iPhone display.

After the first half hour of reading and being very aware that I was reading on Technological Device, I moved past that awareness and into the book, and now it feels totally normal.  In other words, the technology does not interfere with my ability to enter the world of the book.

If anything, it may make it easier.  I'm a fast reader, and I think I may be reading even more quickly because the reading experience is more comfortable.  I'm not squinting at the pages as I do after hours of reading because the Kindle screen doesn't give me eyestrain.  That right there makes it totally worth buying for me.

I'm getting used to the various capabilities of the Kindle as I need them rather than trying to grasp them all at once, but agaain, its functionality seems relatively intuitive.  You don't have to slog through a manual to get up and running.

One quibble so far: it would have been nice if it had come with some kind of sleeve or cover -- no matter how cheap -- to protect it.  I already know I'm going to be slipping the Kindle into my purse on a daily basis, and I don't want it to get scratched.  As a result, I ponied up another $14.95 -- not to Amazon but to a third-party seller -- for a ruby red patent leather book-style cover that should arrive in the next few days.

Next? I'm going to do some online exploring of Kindle-compatible file sources -- above and beyond Amazon's, I mean.