My daughter now has a Kindle

[patrickt]

I live in Mexico and read in English. For thirteen years I had to read what I could find. Then when I got my first Kindle in 2009 I could read what I wanted. I, too, benefit from inexpensive books and I enjoy giving new authors a shot. They used to have pulp magazines to use to break into the business but they're gone now.

[GlenBarrington]

Originally Posted by barryem

I just helped a neighbor get a Kindle Fire during the sale and I set it up for her yesterday. We sat on her sofa as I showed her how to do a few simple things with it. As soon as I turned it on she realized her overhead light was off and wanted to turn it on so she could see the screen. I explained that it has it's own light just like her TV. She said it's obviously nothing like a TV and got up and turned on the light.

People react in funny ways to things they don't understand yet.

Barry

Well, to be fair, I prefer to read with the lights on too. She may well not completely understand how eReaders work, but it could still be a preference for her.

[barryem]

Originally Posted by GlenBarrington

Well, to be fair, I prefer to read with the lights on too. She may well not completely understand how eReaders work, but it could still be a preference for her.

It may become a preference when she learns to use it. What i was showing her was how to watch some videos I had copied to it when I set it up for her. This is a Fire tablet, not a Kindle. She reads a little and she may also read with this but she'll mostly be watching TV shows. I have a lot of old shows from the 50s and 60s and she wanted it to watch them.

She does watch her TV without the light on a lot of the time.

Barry

[Pizza_Cant_Read]

Originally Posted by Ksane

Great for your daughter!
I grew up in the 60's, books overflowing everywhere in my room. I'd have so loved an Ereader back then. I used to spend hours at the library all my life until my 1st Ereader 8 yrs ago. My son and I would take empty boxes to the used book store and lug books home by the trunkful. I do NOT miss those days. I hear people all the time saying they want *their kids to read "real" books. Getting kids to read anything at all is a win-win situation. Who cares if it's an Ereader?

I do miss browsing used book stores, getting lost in the shelves, picking up books and flipping through them. One reason I bought an ereader is because finding English books is a pain in China and I never really enjoyed reading on a computer. I do have books here but I never have to lug them around anymore. I hate lugging around books, and the idea of carrying bag of novels around while traveling sounds absolutely miserable nowadays. A reference or textbook would be more reasonable, but to be gone on a trip for a month or more I would have 5-10 books at least and now I can actually carry clothes or a smaller backpack :-)

I also used to constantly give away books at hostels (take a book/leave a book) and random places, so I'd have room for new ones...but now I realize how much I hated losing books. I would rather commit the unspeakable sin of sharing a digital copy than lose access to it forever.

Not that I would do that...

One day when I settle down and have a house or a more permanent place to live I will fill it with books. I will bask in their warmth, breathe in their nostalgic scent...and likely only use them to browse and select what I will read next on my ereader.

[sian]

kindle e reader have really helped me.

i cant hold a book so really missed out on reading . but im sure making up for it

it so much easier then having some one else hold the book for me

i love it

and it helped in hospital to keep away the the boredem

plus over 2000 book and games would have filled the ward.

[montalex]

Originally Posted by spindlegirl

I see a lot of that book snobbery all the time on some Facebook groups (for people who enjoy reading) that I frequent. The same old tired arguments get heated ad-nauseam.

Raise your hand if you've heard any of these at least once:

• "I could never read from a screen! So impersonal"
• "Nothing can match the feel of a REAL BOOK!"
• "You can't curl up with a Kindle!"

I used to get caught up in defending e-readers (I love them!) but now I just grab popcorn and watch the show. ;-)

"I much prefer stone tablets," is what I tell those who turn up their noses at my Kindle, as if it were terribly low-brow and somehow anti-intellectual.

[NullNix]

Originally Posted by montalex

"I much prefer stone tablets," is what I tell those who turn up their noses at my Kindle, as if it were terribly low-brow and somehow anti-intellectual.

But of course! With a stone tablet, you know that what was written there *matters*. (Compare to those horrible newfangled clay tablets the Assyrians recently started using. Invoices, shopping lists, whines about debts, they'll write *anything* down. It's unseemly.)

[DuckieTigger]

Originally Posted by NullNix

But of course! With a stone tablet, you know that what was written there *matters*. (Compare to those horrible newfangled clay tablets the Assyrians recently started using. Invoices, shopping lists, whines about debts, they'll write *anything* down. It's unseemly.)

Reminds me of that old joke:

I was visiting my granddaughter last night when I asked if I could borrow a newspaper.

"This is the 21st century," she said. We don't waste money on newspapers. Here, use my iPad."

I can tell you this. That fly never knew what hit him.