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The curious case of the disappearing Kindle

Monday, April 20th, 2009

By Dennis Hays

Welcome to TeleRead’s latest contributor, Dennis Hays, owner of Photo News Today. His bio appears at the end of this post. The Kindle photo is from Amazon. – D.R.

When I was a child, my mother said I became so engrossed in reading books that I ignored everything around me—including her. I loved reading then and still do today.

Behind me, as I write this, I have hundreds, if not thousands of books on shelves lining two walls of my office and another dozen boxes of books in the closet, unable to be displayed due to not having the room. Upstairs, there are books in every room of the house, some stacked behind the couch and others on the many bookshelves.

imageMany years ago, I joined Fictionwise, an online Web site selling digital books in all major genres. At that time I purchased books from Fictionwise and read them on my first color PDA, a Sony Clie N760C. The experience was somewhat enjoyable, but I never forgot I was using the PDA, nor did I find it a replacement for or adjunct to reading a book. Most of my purchases from Fictionwise were short stories, as using the Sony for extended periods was tiring.

I soon put down the "toy" reader and reclaimed my library, bought additional books from local resellers and gladly purchased through Amazon.com. I wanted the experience of sitting down for a while in a comfortable place, with quiet and munchies close by, and becoming part of the author’s world. At the end of a session, I’d turn a page down, use a bookmark or, as I do today, remember my page number so that I could re-immerse myself later.

An auspicious moment

The Kindle 1 release was an auspicious moment for me. I saw the potential of an electronic reader, but the reported problems with inadvertent page turning and my small bank account kept me from acquiring one.

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