Tuesday, March 10, 2009

It's The End of the World As We Know It.....

.....and I do NOT feel fine.

We are certainly living in the Era of Technology, and don't get me wrong, I simply couldn't live without the Internet or my iPod, but I think that things are going just a little too far when we are trying to get rid of books. Books! The center of life! [ok, maybe just my life, but the center of my life!].

Amazon has introduced a new digital book reader [this actually came out, I believe, sometime last summer, or at least that was the first time I saw one in person, but lately it's been getting more attention] the Kindle.

As in "Go ahead and kindle that fire with all those books we don't need anymore"????? Rude!


I mean, I guess I see how this could be a good idea, but tell me, what truly is the difference in The Kindle and an actual book? You still have to carry it with you, you still have to reeeeead [gah, what a chore], you still have to pay for the book, etc etc. i totally get the "books on tape" concept [and maybe i'm ok with it b/c it's "technology" from like the 80s or something], but I'm completely lost on the allure of reading a book on a gadget!

With this contraption, you lose the benefit of being able to judge a book by it's cover! I know, I know, you're not supposed to do that [but i think that rule really only applies to people- books were just the best anaolgy that some mother could come up with], but I probably choose 85 percent of my books based on the cover! You can almost always tell whether a book will be funny, psychological, whimsical, or depressing- the cover art gives it all away. With the Kindle, you're going to end up reading Niche because it seemed like a good idea- and then you are going to hate yourself. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Addtionally, the screen on this guy is super weird. I'm not sure if it's supposed to be better for your eyes [or worse], but remember when we were in like third grade and the first round of laptops came out, but they were really just electronic typewriters, and the screen looked super funny in comparison to the computers of today? That is what this looks like. And I do not like it. But I'm sure you've already picked up on this by now. 

To be clear, you will NEVER see me with one of these. While you are drinking your double foam half cap cappucino at Moondollars reading Niche on some stupid portable book device, I will be roaming the aisles of McKay's filling a cart with .10 cent books that I will possibly never read and have selected based solely on their covers- but boy will they look good on my bookshelves.

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