So, I’ve been enjoying the hell out of the mock furor over Sherman Alexie’s anti-Kindle comments and interview of a couple days ago, mainly because everybody’s so bent out of shape (check the comments). I’ve got no bones to pick with the Kindle, but it has absolutely nothing to do with my reading experience, nor that of anyone I know, and I don’t foresee a time when that’s gonna change.
I consume somewhere between 75-100 books a year. Some of those are audio books I borrow from the library and put on a $20 Wal Mart .mp3 player that I listen to in the car and on walks, but most are of the paper variety. Almost all of those are also borrowed from the library. Those that aren’t borrowed are either ordered online for a buck or two, purchased from a used bookstore, or passed along to me by friends. Occasionally, I’ll read a free ebook if it’s impossible to find a hard copy, but only if I have to.
Most of the non-fiction I read is in the interest of whatever nonsense obsession I’m currently on. It usually necessitates me tracking down obscure books that I would never pay more than a dollar or two for. With fiction, I keep a running list of shit that I want to check out and there are always free or cheap copies of something on that list out there — the stuff that isn’t, I can wait for, with rare exceptions. I’ve got nothing against new hardcover books, I just can’t afford them — at least not in the quantity at which I consume books. Also, I’m usually reading three to four books at any one time, and often cross-referencing between them. In other words, nothing I read, absolutely nothing, would a Kindle be able to provide that would be even remotely worth the cost.
Then there’s the physical quality of printed books, which I would never give up. And, again, I don’t mean the aesthetics. I mean the sturdiness and the readiness. I’m hard on books. I throw ‘em in the back seat of my car, litter ‘em with post-it notes, set coffee cups on ‘em, toss across rooms, stuff ‘em in bookbags and pockets so I can always have one handy, and sling ‘em around bars, hiking trails, firing ranges, city busses, and etc. I have two small children, a full time job, and a writing hobby which eats up almost all my set free time, so most of my reading’s done on the fly: at lunch at work, while the kids are watching a show or playing in the bath or at a park, in post office lines, during insomnia attacks in the middle of the night, and the like. There’s no way in hell I’m gonna fiddle with buttons, worry about batteries, or deal with glitches and crashes. If someone were to give me a Kindle for free, I wouldn’t use it except at home on the couch or for a little light reading before bed — the kind of shit I almost never do. Otherwise, it’d be useless.
Is it possible that someday Amazon will come out with a totally non-proprietary, absolutely indestructible, instantly ready Kindle, with an infinite battery life, at a price point of almost nothing, on which I could borrow library books, which was universally available so I could easily share with friends, with the option to buy/sell used books, and which was clonable so I could have several books going at one time? Sure, anything’s possible, though I sure as hell doubt I’ll see it in my lifetime. But even if that were the case, it would only make the thing the equivalent of the printed word. There still would be no advantage to me.
So, is the Kindle elitist as Sherman Alexie called it? Absolutely. It’s a yuppie toy, just like iPods and %99 of the other electronic shit that’s out there. That’s not a moral indictment, it’s just a fact. I will always scrounge up enough money for a computer, ‘cause it’s worth it to me. I will sometimes scrounge up enough money for an electronic toy for my kids, ‘cause I like ‘em. I will never scrounge up hundreds of dollars for something inferior to what I’m already getting for next to nothing. The thing looks like it’d probably be good for people who have money to burn, and read one bestseller at a time, always in a comfy environment during a set reading duration.
In other words, people who have nothing to do with the way I read. Or, for that matter, live. God bless ‘em, I’m glad they enjoy the thing, but I have no interest.
Update: This picture of Amazon’s Jeff Bezos with a Kindle pretty much sums it all up, doesn’t it?
