Thoughts for Thursday: Amazon Kindle and Electronic Reading Devices

I have made it no secret over the years that I am an avid reader.  I love to read and I have been a bookworm my entire life, you can see the long list of books I have read in the past few years in my sidebar or even see some of my book talks here. I love BOOKS, I have hundreds of them and yes, they do take up a lot of space.  Despite all of that, I don't think I could ever replace my beloved printed books with a digital reading device such as Amazon Kindle or Sony eBook or  Papyrus or any of the other devices currently out there.

I can see how these reading devices are convenient, especially if you travel a lot, but I would genuinely miss the action of turning the pages, the smell of a book.  I know it might seem weird but some of my best memories as a kid are of reading Little Golden Books and the smell they had.  There are so many wonderful picture books out for kids now that I cannot even think about how these devices would be used with children.  All I know is that it would be a travesty if picture books ever disappeared.

What do you think about electronic reading devices? Do you have one or would you like one? Or are you a traditional printed-book-person like me? Do you think these devices will increase in popularity in time and eventually put printed books out of business or will man-kind return to the simple things liking reading real books after this craze has ended?

Other TFTs this week:

Kim on Inadequacy

Comments

[Kaye]

an e-reader can't replace a book. But my husband surprised me with a kindle for my birthday and I love it. It is actually easier on my eyes than regular paper and I love how compact it is--no longer lugging big heavy books around. There's also the little perk that if you're bored in a meeting you can pull it out and read and nobody knows if it's something to do with the meeting or if it's entertainment! I really enjoy it. I even like the fact that I don't have to find storage space for books. I'll always buy books that I want to keep, but now I can be more selective about what goes on the shelf.

[anne]

I think the disappearance of print media is very, very sad. I could never give up my books either. There's just something about holding that book and turning the pages. But, I bet a kindle would be really handy for travel or vacationing, so you wouldn't have to haul a stack of books along with you!

[Hope]

I use the kindle software on my iPhone. Nothing can replace the experience of reading an actual book, but it's nice to have options when you're traveling or get stuck sitting around waiting. I still mostly read real books, but I don't mind having more options!

[Robyn]

I love books too and could go to reading exclusively on a reader. I can see the handiness of them though.

[Robyn]

I meant could NOT go exclusively to a reader.