That’s what I wondered when my wife asked me if I would like the Amazon Kindle reader as a birthday present. My wife is more tech savvy than I am. I guess I do not embrace change or new things and prefer to carry on using things that have worked for me and continue to do so. I don’t own an ipod, an ipad or an iphone or the latest mobile phone accessory, whatever that may be. I do own a mobile phone, its a hand me down from my wife as she has to have the newest model as it comes out. I own a mobile phone in case she needs to contact me.
Therefore in answer to her question about whether or not I would have liked the Amazon Kindle for a present for my birthday, I thought about it for a couple of seconds and my answer was a resounding “No!”.
Now I don’t know about you but I like my books to be made of paper and I like to hold them in my hands. I like the smell of new books, the crispness of each untouched page and the as yet unsoiled and brand new look of the cover. I like to turn the pages as I move through the book and go onto the next page.
I like to be able to read without a lamp or reading light when there is enough daylight and I like to turn on a reading lamp when it starts to get dark enough that my eyes strain a little to make out each word. I don’t want to worry that the battery will die just as I am getting going with a good book.
No, I don’t think the new ebook reader from Amazon is going to make paper books obsolete any time soon.
There are enough old dinosaurs around, just like me, I suspect, to keep our beloved books going for the next few decades. I hope so anyway.