Kindle

A week back I was gifted a 10th generation Kindle by my girlfriend, Akshita. My first e-ink reader. Here is a small note on what I think about it and how I go about using it.

I had contemplated buying kindle for years now and always the conclusion was “maybe later”. I’m a fan of physical books. I appreciate their tangibility, the complete sense of ownership they produce and their social aspect — you could place them on display, pass them on to someone else or just plain share a book. The Kindle ecosystem is like an island in those aspects. One can’t easily share books, donate them or put them on display. Having books available for a quick grab and to be able to go through them at a whim is really important for me.

Anyhow, when I was gifted one I was excited. I wanted to buy certain books which, in their paperback or hardcover version, quite expensive while their Kindle counterpart quite cheap. Reading on Kindle is a pleasure, the form factor is comfortable, easy on the eyes and carrying it around is not a task. Something which could not be said for most of the physical books I read.

The biggest game changer for me is that I can read articles I have saved in my Pocket account via services like p2k. Now, I get an indexed e-book of 20 newest articles saved in my Pocket account on my Kindle - daily. I don’t necessarily have to buy books to use my Kindle and neither do I have to procrastinate reading a long-form online article because reading them on a traditional screen is an effort for my eyes. The p2k book covers are ugly as hell though and for that reason alone I might become a paid subscriber to their services.

On a side note, I bought a nice third party case for the Kindle which has The Starry Night printed all over it. The official ones are incredibly expensive.