The Kindle

Last week a friend of mind had a birthday. Her family went in together and got her the Kindle for her present. I've heard about the Kindle for a couple of years now and had seen it on amazon. My friend was so excited and she brought it to church yesterday for everyone to see. In case you don't know what a Kindle may be, it is a device sort of like an iPod but a much bigger version. It comes with a USB cord and you can link it up to your computer and then download hundreds of books. My friend so far had downloaded The Bible, The Twilight Saga books and some others I didn't recognize. She said she will be using this as her Bible now since she was able to download her favorite version on it. It really is a pretty cool invention. But of course, I have my reservations about it.

For one, if you bring it to church what's stopping you from reading the other books during the sermon instead of trying to listen to what the Lord might want you to hear that morning. I don't know. It would be too much a distraction for me during the services.

Another thing is I love books. Plain and simple. I love the way they feel and the way they smell. You just can't beat the smell of books...especially old books. I guess I like the way the smell takes me back to my childhood. I just get very nostalgic when holding a book in my hands. It's a comfort. I can't explain why it's so comforting. So please let's save our childhood memories (or actually the things that trigger our childhood memories) and not resort to another techie gadget.

A third thing is....why do we need another technological gadget? Why does everything have to be computerized and, in their terms, made simpler? I don't need everything done for me. I'm a lazy person but I'm not too lazy to turn a page. Not everything on God's beautiful Earth needs to be transferred to the tech world. Now I love technology. I love my TV, my computer, my iPod, my indoor plumbing but when it comes to books, I want to feel the pages between my fingers. I love knowing that I am controlling the story with my speed of turning the pages. Besides, what would happen to the bookmark world if everyone went to the Kindle? I love bookmarks. That would be a tragedy if the world didn't have bookmarks anymore.

I know that using the Kindle instead of purchasing an actual book will save trees and blah blah blah, but I love the challenge I feel when I hold a book, a big fat book, and it dares me to try and finish it within a short amount of time.

I know the Kindle has it's advantage which are very very good, I might add. You can take it with it's hundreds of downloaded books with you on vacation or a road trip. It's perfect to take on a plane or to the beach and not have to worry about lugging 10-50 big fat heavy books around everywhere you go. That is a huge plus and that right there is why I would purchase a Kindle.