By Susan Shinn
sshinn@salisburypost.com
Do you Kindle?
Some folks in Rowan County do.
Kindle is the new electronic reader sold exclusively by Amazon.com. It can hold up to 1,500 books. You can receive your daily newspaper on it every morning, as well as magazines and other documents.
It’s another part of the brave new world of our digital age.
Can Kindles and books peacefully co-exist?
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The Revs. Doug and Beth Kearney are voracious readers. They love the Literary Bookpost, the local bookstore ó and they’re a two-Kindle family.
They’ve been more than happy to show off the gizmos to friends since purchasing them the beginning of March. Their Kindles came just about the time Beth’s mom was hospitalized.
“I was just really happy to have it in the hospital,” she says. “When you’re sitting there all day, you can read one book and then pick out another.”
Kindle lets you download a chapter for free so you can decide whether or not you want to purchase a book.
Amazon currently offers more than 250,000 titles for the Kindle. The second incarnation of the device is priced at $359. It’s 1/3 inch wide and weighs just 10.2 ounces.
It slips easily into a purse or briefcase.
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Beth says she doubts she’d buy a book on Kindle that she already has in hardback.
“A decent amount of what we buy is not on Kindle yet,” she says.
She likes the highlighting function, and the search feature.
“I write all over books,” she says.
Since both of them have a Kindle, the Kearneys can share titles. They have to share an account, however.
“We both pretty much keep a book going all the time,” Beth says. “We share work-related titles.”
Beth, 57, is a member of the bishop’s staff of the N.C. Lutheran Synod, and Doug, 56, is an interim pastor at St. James Lutheran Church in Concord.
So far, Beth says, the device has been fun to “play with.”
“The bigger reason we bought them is space,” she says. “Our bookshelves are full.”
And she loves the portability of the Kindle. She’s typically gone at least one night a week, and just attended a conference in San Francisco.
“It was great for reading on the plane, and when the speaker at the conference quoted from Luther I discovered on the spot that a significant selection of Luther’s works could be instantly downloaded for 99 cents,” she says. “I’ll not be giving up books, but the Kindle is going to be a useful tool.”
She also notes, “Doug especially likes the fact that the Washington Post now fits on the elliptical trainer at the Y.”
“It’s very convenient,” Doug says. The bookmark function “knows where I am.”
The battery, he adds, “goes forever ó a week or so on a charge.
“For an electronic piece of equipment, it’s very convenient. You don’t have to babysit it very much.”
It’s also very readable, and does not cause eyestrain the way a computer screen can, he says.
The electronic ink, Doug says, “makes for a clean look.”
Doug doesn’t want the Kindle to be just another computer, though. “I don’t want other stuff on there to distract me from reading like e-mail.”
He feels that it would eliminate buying paperback books when he’s doing casual reading.
Ironically, he sees himself buying more books ó for gifts.
“I’m really delighted to have a local bookstore,” Doug says, and he wants to continue to support it.
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So does Ketti Overcash.
Ketti reads about two to three books a month ó and travels frequently ó so she was fascinated by the idea of the Kindle.
“Cool technology intrigues me,” says Ketti, 49, who lives in China Grove with her family.
She also loved the idea of being able to increase the point size of the type.
But she was unsure about the initial outlay.
When the Kindle application became available for the iTouch, she chose to buy one of those instead.
She’s been very pleased, she says. “It’s very portable and it has so many more features. It’s one-tenth the size of the Kindle and I can do reading at night without turning on a light. It works out in the sun.
“It was the right choice for me.”
Ketti feels like she’s reading more over short periods.
“I’ve got it with me all the time,” she says.
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Judy Adams of China Grove also has Kindle on her list.
After reading reviews of the Kindle on Amazon, she’s anxious to buy one.
But she won’t do so until she finishes a book she’s currently reading.
“I guess it’s a new form of Lenten denial,” she says. “I should have the book finished by Easter.”
Judy, 62, also doesn’t like the fact you can’t share books on Kindle like you can with hardbacks.
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Another Kindle fan is Don Hesprich of Salisbury.
Don visited the Kearneys to look at their Kindles.
“I suffered a vision loss due to a reaction to medication and as a result, have low vision,” he says. “I am 20/200 in the right eye and 20/100 in the left.
“The Kindle has given me great hope. I am going to order one as soon as I can.”
Up to now, Don, 52, has relied on large-print books.
“The pickings in large-print books are pretty slim unless you like romance novels. This device opens up a world of books to me now,” he says. “The read-to-me feature is even more important as with low vision, eye strain can become very troublesome and it’s wonderful to have the book read to you.”
Unfortunately, that function is no longer available.
“I cannot, for the life of me, understand this,” Don says.
He hopes that decision will be rescinded.
“All in all, I think the Kindle 2 is a great step forward for low vision sufferers,” Don says.