More of my friends are getting Kindles. I suspect that people like me who enjoy reading tend to think of the e-reader side of the Kindle, the one that stores many books in about 12 oz. (if you include the weight of a protective cover). Mine currently holds 182 items but I have 793 waiting in the archives of my purchases if I want to add them into this reader. I don't give those figures from conscious pride but to give a base line to those who feel they are going to lose control of their Inner Wanter and buy too much.
But some of my friends move deliberately or are lulled slowly into the other side of the Kindle, which involves the tablet version of a computer, the Kindle Fire or the very famous iPad. When a busy and engaged wife, mom and full-time employee looked with delight on a Kindle Fire, I was puzzled. What was so attractive about it? She wanted to play! Angry Birds! Where's My Water? Pipes! Boggle! Words with Friends! Scrabble!
You can see the fears break out. Money and morality are probably foremost although envy (I want what he has) and jealousy (I want to be him or where he is, not me or where I am). Money: what if my few pennies get spent unwisely on stuff I "shouldn't" buy? What if I buy malware that secretly steals my accounts or my soul? Morality: what if these games take over my life? People get addicted to gambling, alcohol, hard drugs, tv, sex, arguing -- what if I get addicted to Solitaire or Sudoku or Farmville?
I know that various approaches are being tried to be able to bring addiction under control. But I am interested in what equals adequacy. If I were illiterate, I might be surprised to learn how much of people's lives are spent decoding letters into thoughts. I might say that being illiterate was a blessing (as many of the world's 30% populace who are illiterate no doubt suspect, even though I don't agree). We used to have 23 shelves of books in our office and now we have 7. (Many books and other printed resources are not available in Kindle format). But we have about 1000 books in Kindle form and I have a list of 1000 others that I keep adding to, a list I try to use to collect books I think I may want to get to some time.
The Kindle as well as any computer can download books very rapidly. Many books, especially older classics such as the memorable Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne are free. So? What's the big deal? It's free in the library, too. True, the books there are free to borrow. There is the matter of getting them and returning them and lugging them about. The Scarlet Letter is instantly available now and it is mine. I don't have to go get it, watch over it and keep it away from water, shelf it, remember its location, its deadline and return it before being charged a fine.
Now that I think of it, I always got hot under the collar at Rev. Dimmesdale, that slime, and I may want to revisit the pig. Should I download that book now? No, since I have about 100 other books I have learned I do want to work with and Hester and her condition are going to have to wait. Yes, I can get Kindle books quickly and yes, I can have more titles in my devices and their archives than I have time for, even years left. Sokay! Same is true of food in the freezer, letters I could write, places I could visit. A first try at deciding what is adequate might be "if I don't use them or read them, I don't "need" them". A more refined try might be my judgement, item by item. For reasons I don't care to bother with, "The Laws of Thermodynamics" by Peter Atkins and "Not Your Typical Scantily-Clad Virgin Sacrifice" by H. Jones Rhyynedahll interest me now and I am going to focus on them until I don't want to. That might be a short time or weeks, depending on my reaction and the authors' skills.
--
Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
But some of my friends move deliberately or are lulled slowly into the other side of the Kindle, which involves the tablet version of a computer, the Kindle Fire or the very famous iPad. When a busy and engaged wife, mom and full-time employee looked with delight on a Kindle Fire, I was puzzled. What was so attractive about it? She wanted to play! Angry Birds! Where's My Water? Pipes! Boggle! Words with Friends! Scrabble!
You can see the fears break out. Money and morality are probably foremost although envy (I want what he has) and jealousy (I want to be him or where he is, not me or where I am). Money: what if my few pennies get spent unwisely on stuff I "shouldn't" buy? What if I buy malware that secretly steals my accounts or my soul? Morality: what if these games take over my life? People get addicted to gambling, alcohol, hard drugs, tv, sex, arguing -- what if I get addicted to Solitaire or Sudoku or Farmville?
I know that various approaches are being tried to be able to bring addiction under control. But I am interested in what equals adequacy. If I were illiterate, I might be surprised to learn how much of people's lives are spent decoding letters into thoughts. I might say that being illiterate was a blessing (as many of the world's 30% populace who are illiterate no doubt suspect, even though I don't agree). We used to have 23 shelves of books in our office and now we have 7. (Many books and other printed resources are not available in Kindle format). But we have about 1000 books in Kindle form and I have a list of 1000 others that I keep adding to, a list I try to use to collect books I think I may want to get to some time.
The Kindle as well as any computer can download books very rapidly. Many books, especially older classics such as the memorable Scarlet Letter by Hawthorne are free. So? What's the big deal? It's free in the library, too. True, the books there are free to borrow. There is the matter of getting them and returning them and lugging them about. The Scarlet Letter is instantly available now and it is mine. I don't have to go get it, watch over it and keep it away from water, shelf it, remember its location, its deadline and return it before being charged a fine.
Now that I think of it, I always got hot under the collar at Rev. Dimmesdale, that slime, and I may want to revisit the pig. Should I download that book now? No, since I have about 100 other books I have learned I do want to work with and Hester and her condition are going to have to wait. Yes, I can get Kindle books quickly and yes, I can have more titles in my devices and their archives than I have time for, even years left. Sokay! Same is true of food in the freezer, letters I could write, places I could visit. A first try at deciding what is adequate might be "if I don't use them or read them, I don't "need" them". A more refined try might be my judgement, item by item. For reasons I don't care to bother with, "The Laws of Thermodynamics" by Peter Atkins and "Not Your Typical Scantily-Clad Virgin Sacrifice" by H. Jones Rhyynedahll interest me now and I am going to focus on them until I don't want to. That might be a short time or weeks, depending on my reaction and the authors' skills.
--
Bill
Main blog: Fear, Fun and Filoz
Main web site: Kirbyvariety
