It is worth noting that the Kindle version of Dan Brown’s much-hyped book The Lost Symbol sold more copies in the first few days than did the printed version. Of course, the Kindle version was considerably cheaper (.99) than the retail price of the hardback (.95). Yet we must agree that this is indicative of the fact that eBooks are daily increasing in popularity.

In case you don’t know, the Kindle is an electronic device put out by Amazon to download and read just about anything you can think of from its 350,000 volume library of books and magazines. The book can then be read at the reader’s leisure. The unit is not large, just five by eight inches, .3 inches thick, and with the ability to go days without a battery recharge.

Though initially it cost a whopping 0, in spite of this, Amazon is now predicting that as many as 200,000 units will be sold by the end of the year. It will help that the price of the Kindle dropped 35% to 9, and 9 for the unit that works abroad. And if you are concerned that the mini-computer could crash and you would lost all your book investment, Amazon keeps a record of all you purchased and you can download them again at no cost.

Though the type size of the Kindle can be adjusted, Amazon has now come out with the Kindle 2, the larger version of the eBook reader. The screen is 9.7 inches diagonally, close to the size of a sheet of notebook paper. It too is but .3 inches think, has enough memory to store up to 3,500 books, and boasts an equally impressive battery life. The Kindle 2 sells for 9 at present. Both Kindles can read the books to you audibly though it sounds computer generated and is far below the quality of a professionally read audiobook.

Both Kindles use a 3G network like a cell phone, and are therefore not dependent on being near a Wi-Fi network to have access to Amazon’s library. Literally, as their ad states, a reader can go from hearing about a book to owning and reading it in 16 shades of gray in less than a minute. You can actually get magazines or newspapers before they are on the newsstand. A nifty feature is its access to an online dictionary. If the reader comes upon an unfamiliar word in a text, he can use the scroll wheel to select it and look up the meaning.

Apple has entered the competition with a free iPhone or Touch application called Stanza with which an owner has access to a number of book sources including both free books and best sellers. Barnes & Noble eReader does the same through their store though, at last report, overprices the books. A Kindle for iPhone (and Touch) application is also available. The Touch and iPhone are smaller than the Kindle but they have color monitors (helpful for maps, charts, or pictures in books), the type size can be changed, and the Touch, for the same price, can do much more that just provide e-Books.


On the negative side, e-Book readers do have disadvantages. For example, though you paid for a book, you are not allowed to share it with others as you could a printed book. Though having many books at your fingertips is great, you can’t write in the margins or give them as presents for special occasions. You cannot be too far from an electrical power for when the battery dies, you can no longer read, and you lost far more than the cost of a book if it is stolen. You never again need to buy a large print version of anything, but neither can you pass on priceless volumes to future generations. (Imagine this: Princess Bride begins with the grandfather reading a Kindle version of the story!)

I predict that, though the printing of books may decline, purists will be slow to give up a book in hand or on the shelf. The smell and feel of a book is simply not replaceable by an electronic machine.

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