Does Kindle stop you buying a book by its cover?
I confess I have not yet been warmed by the kindle of Kindle.
Somehow, the presence of yet another machine in my already messed-up world might make me entirely unserviceable.
However, an increasing number of literate beings are finding themselves rather aroused by their Kindle experience.
Tuesday, seated at a rather friendly bar sipping something Spanish, I was regaled with the story of a rather happily married couple who believe that Kindle has changed not only the convenience of reading but actually their choice of books.
The wife, a suave, cool lady of aristocratic bearing, decided to buy her more bullish husband one of Amazon's little inventions.
"Here's what I learned," he explained. "I really did used to buy a book by its cover."
I must admit that, for a nervous second, I looked his wife's way. She is a handsome woman, and I feared she might have sensed too great an allusion to her own self in the husband's words.
Thankfully, she didn't even flinch as he explained that he was so influenced by the way books had been designed in the past that he would ignore certain tomes if their superficial tones didn't appeal.
"Now, I just choose on the basis of what sounds good, not what looks good," he said. "Any covers on Kindle are black and white and grainy. They just don't seem significant when compared to the book's content."
I'm sure I caught the wife giving a look that suggested she had longed to smarten up her husband a little. I didn't have the guts to ask, but I'm sure he only used to buy books about macho detectives who murder people mindlessly and sportsmen who have recovered from alcohol dependency and significant injury.
Still, now he has discovered, or even dis-covered, his literary freedom.
Before I could pause for Spanish sustenance, he also explained that he used to stand in bookstores and see if he could read a couple of pages without ruining the book.
Now, Kindle offers him a sample chapter, which is enough to decide whether to buy or flee, without the risk of guilt through the accidental fracture of a spine.
I wonder how many people have not only fallen for the sheer alleged convenience of Kindle, but because it has filled their minds with works they would not otherwise have touched.
Could Kindle be a way to re-educate the world? Could it help us to bypass those scheming, artsy book designers and finally be true to our own genuine interests?
Could it really make me try Danielle Steel? You see, those gaudy pink covers have always put me off.
Chris Matyszczyk is an award-winning creative director who advises major corporations on content creation and marketing. He brings an irreverent, sarcastic, and sometimes ironic voice to the tech world. He is a member of the CNET Blog Network and is not an employee of CNET. 
It's "you're"...as in "you are"
you would think that after countless english papers I would stop making the mistake of using the wrong type of your or you're depending on what the conversation is about.
Seriously, it does get away from artwork/content mismatch. That's where the cover artist obviously never read the book he's supposedly illustrating. The old Laser Books science fiction were infamous for that.
An I am not joking either.
I wonder if anyone done a environmental comparision between tradition books/mags, newspapers and ebooks yet.
With most ebooks making the money from selling things rather than the ebook. Plus we are just hitting the second generation of ebook readers.
How long did it take mobile phones to become common place an affordable to the average consumer, at least 15 years may be even 20 years, ebooks will become a lot more common an a lot quicker than that, I suspect five years before they are seen everywhere.
I recently bought a Kindle DX, and I have to say I love it! For me, it's still a wonder to order a book and have it DL to my Kindle before I can turn around twice. Just amazing! I feel the prices are reasonable, too, especially when you consider no shipping or gasoline costs. And, remember, you can DL a "sample" of a book without buying it. That nicely takes the place of plopping in a chair at the book store and reading.
The experience is fine. It is not the same as reading a book but it suits my purposes very well.
- by hekhalot August 21, 2009 7:18 PM PDT
- I recently bought a kindle to save me carrying a lot of books on a long journey. and downloaded a fair amount of literature. A waste of money and effort: it has given up the ghost. Battery is empty, it says, even after being connected for hours. Look at the return policies: easier just to forget it! Kindle is for people who may enjoy the experience of losing their entire library because of some faulty connection somewhere!!
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