Comment by edw519 | Hacker News Reader

Comment by edw519 | Hacker News Reader

To beat the book, to be better than the book, Amazon...

This is a classic case of a solution looking for a problem. I imagine that a Kindle would be a great companion on a plane, a train, or in a backpack, but other than that...

I can't imagine using one of these things at work or at home, where I do 90% of my reading. I love books. I have shevles full of them in my home and office. I love the feel and smell and the little notes I have written in them over the years. I love to see all of them on my shelves or just a few spread out on the bed or table. I love the manual process of leafing through them to scan, to retrieve, or for no reason at all. They are my friends, old and new.

If the purpose of the Kindle was to augment personal reading for travel, then great. But to be "better" than books, never.

People forget the emotional attachment we can have to things like books, works of art, etc. I have books that are over 100 years old (gotta love sales at old libraries!). I love feeling the paper and wondering about all the people who have read those books, deciphering the little notes on the pages and thinking about who wrote them. They're my little bits of history. Not to mention that rummaging through old used book stores is a great way to spend an afternoon.

Even for travel I don't see the worth. I tend to avoid taking expensive things on trips and even then, travel is an opportunity to see what there is to read and learn about the location I arrive at rather than what I can take with me.

The Kindle surely has applications, but for me they are severely limited.

"I can't imagine..." but you won't really know until you try. I thought the same way you did, but, since I bought the kindle a year ago in preparation for some long term travel, my perspective has changed completely and I don't think I've bought a physical book since. Not saying that you will necessarily have the same experience but, for me personally, it certainly has achieved the goal of "being better than the book".

I'm sure you can make a better book if you try. The Kindle isn't, though. It's just very, very good.

Today I'm buying the new Dan Brown book because it's so convenient to purchase via Kindle. I'd never buy Dan Brown books physically. They're not worth that. But they're incredible thrillers.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com