For me the Kindle was not going to be an easy sell. I love books; no, I mean I really love books. I am one of those people who are constantly reading. I only buy hard covers – the feel, the experience, the paper, the binding, I love it all, and this is why my experience with the Amazon Kindle began with both excitement and more than a little irrational fear.

I have a very large library full of hard cover books. What if the age of the printed book is really coming to an end? Could I live happy ever-after with an eBook? The entire reading experience is different in so many ways. None of the attempts at eBooks had worked for me so far. Reading on a notebook computer or similar device is abysmal. Only with a printed book, did the reading mechanism totally vanish from consciousness as my mind absorbed the words and then the dreams of the author.

I am a scientist, engineer, and entrepreneur. I am no stranger to technology. I am also a novelist with four books completed, two published and many more in various stages. Over the past decades, there have been many attempts at developing what we now call eBooks; and every attempt failed. From a purely technical standpoint computers should be the perfect means of reading books; the evolutionary triumph of human tool building ingenuity. So, why have all our modern attempts failed to best a 5th century invention called a book?

I am drawn to eBooks because they're a much more socially conscious and responsible way to read. Reading eBooks saves trees and slows global warming. This may sound silly to some. After all it is just a small difference per book, but what if hundreds of millions of people switched? The difference could be huge – no shipping with fossil fuels, no manufacturing of paper with heavy machinery and chemicals; just a single reusable manufactured computer tablet, a small amount of electricity to transmit each eBook, and a small amount of juice to read it.

So what is using the kindle really like? After having read novels and newspapers and blogs on it for months, I can sum it up in one word, “invisible.” When you are reading a book on the Kindle, it really does disappear as your mind is absorbed by the story. The experience is almost as good a printed book! You don't notice the mechanics of reading and disappear into the story.

I'd give the Kindle a 4.5-star review. It is a gutsy move by Amazon but it is also not without problems. To understand the Kindle, you really have to think about it as a “book service” AND not an eBook reader. It is really and truly meant to be an extension of Amazon's store. The Kindle is packaged and marketed to be the iPod + iTunes solution for eBooks.

Surprisingly, many people have panned the Kindle without having held one in their hands, let alone used it for months. Some people have condemned the Kindle because it doesn't have a full featured web browser or support competing DRM ebook formats. The Kindle is an Amazon ebook reader service, not a computer. It needs to be evaluated as an alternative way to read books from Amazon, not open MS Word documents, watch a movie, or email a friend! These critics are missing the point. The critical question is whether the Kindle a great way to read books? The answer is a resounding YES.

My Kindle arrived at my door a week ahead of schedule at the end of November. I know, I know, I got lucky. I opened the very fancy box and the first thing that struck me while the plastic-wrap and cardboard were strewn everywhere was how small the Kindle really felt in my hands. The next thing that hit me was this screen is amazing; it really is almost as easy on the eyes as a piece of paper. No eye strain, no problem reading in any light suitable for a printed book.

The first thing I did with my new Kindle was buy my latest novel, Immortality. I promise, Amazon, I did not do this to boost my Kindle sales stats by one. I purchased my own book because I wanted to see how it looked and read on a living, breathing Kindle. Up until now, I'd only seen the Kindle edition of Immortality on a Kindle eBook simulator which ran in a web browser. So what better book to begin my Kindle experience than with an ebook I've known so intimately as a hard cover. It was a pure thrill to see my novel on that paper perfect screen. Is this the dawn of the eBook revolution I have been both longing for and fearing since the idea of eBooks was first suggest so many decades ago? I'm afraid I am beginning to think so….

Over the ensuing months, I've actually re-purchased Kindle editions of hard cover books that are now collecting dust on my “to be read” shelf. That's how good the experience has been. I was willing to buy second copies just so I could read as much as possible on the Kindle.

The question about Kindle's possible success may be answered by looking at why eBooks have failed to catch on until now. Think about eBook generation 1.0, a.k.a. the notebook computer. You can't curl up with a whizzing, heat generating, heavy, eye-blurring LCD screen-machine that washes out in bright light; and then somehow ignore its nagging presence as your read. The single most important factor in writing a successful novel is the author must get the reader to suspend disbelief and dissolve objective reality. That's hard for a person reading a novel to do with a distracting screen-machine in their hands that could be as hot as a toaster and maybe running out of juice just when they get to the exciting bits.

After many years of wandering in eBook wilderness, eBook generation 2.0 came into camp promising to solve all usability problems by going to a dedicated device that did only one thing, display eBooks. While these new devices were a big step in the right direction, most were still hard on the eyes, had poor battery life, and complicated DRMs making books purchases a challenge at best. eBook proponents grew dispirited as this generation of machines came and went with little substantive improvement.

Today we have eBook generation 3.0. Many of these dedicated eBook readers finally deliver all needed usability. But another key piece was still missing until the Kindle. eBook success was only possible when offered with a wide variety of reading material. All models of eReaders that cleanly jumped the “usability hurdle” now stumbled on this second hurdle. They can be so limited in book selection that you lose interest fast. What good is an eReader if they don't offer lots of books you want to read? Maybe the reader would make a nice secondhand gift to a friend once you've polished off the four books that interest you, but secondhand gifts are what toaster-ovens were originally invented for….

The Kindle does in fact excel in all the areas needed to be a successful eBook reading service; and because of this, Amazon has a good shot at turning a very stubborn page in writing and written history.

The Kindle does become invisible as you read. It really does. It disappears differently than a printed book, but is almost just as invisible. I'd give it 95% on the old invisibility scale. I agree the Sony is a prettier package but once invisible who is really going to care how pretty it is? Don't judge an eBook reader by its cover.

With the Kindle there is no worry about batteries running out or needing a stronger reading prescription after using it for a week. The screen is a gem, a little too small for my preferences, but a gem. For my tastes, I'd like the screen to be the same 9 x 6 inches as a hard cover book but if you're used to paperbacks then jump right in the water is fine. The selection of books is large and growing every day. Being able to download from almost anywhere does really change the way you enjoy reading. You can be impulsive about which book to read next, you don't have to plan which books to throw into the bag for the next trip; maybe even surprise yourself and try a totally new author.

Field note: I have done a lot of travel with the Kindle and was out of Sprint network range only once. The network loss occurred at a 5-star resort nestled in Boynton Canyon in Sedona, Arizona. In fairness, my Verizon cell phone also lost signal. If you are going to remote locals without Sprint cell phone access, you may have to use a notebook computer to buy and download new books.

I strongly suspect the price will not go down on the Kindle any time soon (same as the early iPods). I suspect, the higher price is an integral part of Amazon's strategy. Here's what I think. At the time of writing this article in February 2008, the Kindle is still sold out, and units are on eBay selling at a 30% premium; so price does not seem to be factor in unit sales. Amazon wants the Kindle to be expensive enough so that you won't be inclined to loan your Kindle to friends. The ultimate strategy is to charge less for each book and in return make it unlikely for people to share their books. In this vision of the future, everybody buys their own copy of every book.

If the built-in experimental web browser worked better, the $400 price would be an even bigger bargain since you get free EVDO high speed wireless Internet access. Were you to purchase EVDO wireless from a telco, you'd pay $40 to $50 a month. So the price of a Kindle could be amortized over ten months if you were already planning on buying an EVDO wireless device for web browsing.

Some people bitch about DRMs and how DRMs are wrongheaded and unfair. How can all those paranoid writers fail to entrust their livelihood to the benevolence of all 6 billion people on Earth? Do these writers honestly think that anyone would pilfer their work, their livelihood that they have sweated blood over? Maybe I am prejudice since I'm one of those “paranoid writers” but I really don't mind the Kindle DRM; its presence is, well, invisible. Your purchases are safely backed up for you at Amazon and stored in your Kindle and optionally on your computer; so you will never lose them unless Amazon goes out of business and your Kindle breaks and a meteor strikes your notebook computer. So who cares… DRM… smeeRM? I want to support my favorite authors so they can afford to write more and better novels; and give up that second job at Burger King. I want a DRM that works and does not interfere with my reading. So the Amazon DRM is fine with me. It accomplishes those goals. In a perfect universe where billions of honest people are always honest, we would not need DRMs, bank account, or secret passwords but we do not live in that universe, and so, we are sentenced to DRMs for life. They keep honest people honest. For those who are worried by DRMs, stop worrying about it; I promise it's nothing, it doesn't hurt, has no calories, and the Amazon DRM is invisible… and I hear rumors that it will soon come in designer flavors like strawberry-mist and coconut-dream. If you really need to worry about something, how about global warming? Enjoy reading a good eBook on melting polar icecaps and save a tree in the process.

Will the Kindle and its yet to be born serious competition revolutionize the publishing industry? I actually think so but it will probably do it in ways no one has quite dreamt about yet. Who would have thought in the early days of the Internet that this geeky network would be used to buy and sell stuff? Only a madman would have thought such a thing when the Internet was newborn and email was this new fangled thingamajig that would never go commercial or be used by granny.

Do not be duped and then disappointed with wild ideas that eBooks will make the publishing business so profitable that books will sell for less than a buck. Remember there are still a lot of starving authors out there and Kindle eBooks are not more profitable for publishers than print; at least not right now. Given the royalty and cost structures involved, most large and small publishers will make a smaller profit per unit with eBooks on Kindle than printed books. The same is then true for authors; since we receive a percentage of what the publishers receive. Now, this could very well change in the near future if more people start reading and their medium of choice is eBooks on Kindle like gadgets.

So with a tear in my eyes, I look over my library of hard cover books…. Let the revolution begin. Viva la Kindle! Buy an eBook and put a dent in global warming to boot.

This first generation Kindle is not perfect. For one thing I would like to see real web browsing to augment the subscriptions to blogs. There is a baby web browser that comes with the Kindle but it doesn't work well on many websites. Even if the baby browser worked well, the bigger obstacle is the Kindle does not have a mouse-like pointing device. Kindle's screen selection device is clever but only one dimensional. The type of pointer used on the Kindle is a reflection of the limitation of the refresh rate of their liquid paper screen. This energy efficient screen design cannot update fast enough to show any kind of animation such as a mouse pointer.

Long battery life is critical for an eBook reader. I have been using the Kindle for months. As a novelist, I read a lot, about 4 to 5 hours a day of novels and about an hour of downloaded newspapers and blogs. I have yet to see the battery indicator display less than a full charge under my normal heavy use regime which includes plugging the Kindle in at night when I go to bed.

After months of never seeing a low battery reading, I began to grow curious about the true battery life of a Kindle. Was the indicator broken or had Amazon built a form of perpetual motion into the Kindle? I decided to do a real world test to see how long I could without charging. I started on a Friday morning and went through to the following Wednesday morning before the indicator dropped to one bar above empty. That's five days of use with some battery power to spare; more than enough juice for my everyday reading habits.

Okay, so what else is not to like? The Amazon bookstore inside the Kindle is well… How can I say this kindly?... It's a difficult to use, anemic stepchild of the Amazon website everyone knows. There are over a 100,000 Kindle eBooks, more eBooks than anywhere else, and increasing daily. The built-in bookstore desperately needs to mature and grow into its own. For now, you are much better off on a laptop browsing the Amazon website when buying Kindle eBooks THAN using the bookstore inside a Kindle. It is this Amazon website which will save Amazon's bacon and keep the Kindle cooking until they can upgrade its built-in store into something useful. Right now the built-in store is for emergency use only when you do not have access to a laptop and the regular Amazon website.

In contrast to the built-in bookstore, the Amazon website for buying Kindle eBooks is very easy to use. You buy the book with one-click and it is automatically wirelessly sent to your kindle. It's hard to imagine it getting any easier!

What else is there not to like? I am going to get picky here, but the screen does not justify text the same as a typeset page. You will find some justified lines with distractingly wide gaps between words. These wide gaps can break the reading spell; the mechanics of reading loses its invisibility for a paragraph or more. Books are artwork painted with typeface. To not be able to correctly typeset a page of text lessens the art and the reading experience.

Kindle Screen Specifics. The screen is absolutely wonderful but, “please sir, may I have some more.” I would like a larger screen, one that is almost twice as large so that it could display close to a full page of text from a standard 6x9 hard cover book in a comparably sized font. I'd like to see two editions of the Kindle; small and large screen, we can call them the paperback and hard cover Kindle editions for reasons of nostalgia.

The Kindle's screen is 600x800 pixels and measures 3.5 x 4.75 inches. With the default font size of 3, the screen will hold approximately a 2” column of text from a standard 6x9 hard cover book; or approximately 26% of a full hard cover page. With font size 2, the screen will hold approximately a 3” column of text from a standard 6x9 hard cover book; or approximately 40% of a full hard cover page.

After reading a few novels, I have decided that font size two is too small and that font size three is right for me.

The screen is called Liquid Paper; no, not that whiteout stuff used for typewriters. The interesting thing about Liquid Paper Technology is that according to Amazon, it does not require power to display a page once it is rendered. It's kind of like an etcher-sketch. Once the page is drawn, no more power is required. This type of technology is ideal for a portable device that need long battery life.

Pros (in order of importance)

1. Excellent book reading experience
2. Wonderful screen; just like a piece of crisp clean paper (exactly as advertised)
3. Excellent physical ergonomics, a lot thought went into the physical package. There's room for improvement, but not worry about the negative stuff you may have read.
4. Easy to use in terms of figuring out what to do (but a little quirky, just like an iPod)
5. Very long battery life (just as advertised, it will run for days between charges)
6. EDVO Wireless is kickass, books download in about a minute.
7. Small size
8. Light weight
9. Nice folding book cover which helps to keep your fingers from accidently pressing buttons and makes a great place to hook on an itty-bitty book light.
10. E-Mailing documents or even books to your Kindle's secret email address for display on your Kindle is a smart idea but more thought needs to go into it. They need to support more formats like Word 2007 and they need to process the content of an email, not just attachments.

Cons (in order of importance)

1. Drilldown category browsing in the built-in Amazon store is frustrating. You are better off using the Amazon website to buy Kindle books. This is a surprise given Amazon's mission to make the Kindle an extension of their e-store. On the Kindle built-in store, you might be forced to wade one page at a time through a category with 5,000 books in it; and with no way to bookmark. The next time you come back to the category you have to start all over at page 1, page 2, etc. to get back to where you left off. It is an awful design.
   • Drilldown category browser very badly needs filters and sort options.
   • The browsing function desperately needs the basic navigation found on every website but is mysteriously missing from the Kindle. There is no goto page #, no go to end, no go to beginning.
   • Without options a & b, book browsing is slow, cumbersome, and as a result almost useless.
2. "Try a sample chapter" is missing on many books. Amazon says you can try any book before you buy it, not true. If the book was released by a publisher using Amazon's DTP service, there will be no "free sample." Amazon really needs to fix this omission.
3. Very limited management of your book collection; it's almost as if the Amazon development team never tried the kindle with more than a few books in memory.
4. You cannot easily manage bookmarks. There is no function to delete bookmarks from a list. You must go to each bookmark in the ebook then hit delete. This is a very slow process.
5. There is no global list of bookmarks. You must open each book to see a list of the bookmarks for that book.
6. You cannot manage MyClippings. You cannot delete entries or edit entries. It's more like a "landfill" than a collection.
7. Slow processing speed causes keyboard typing to lag; could use a bit more CPU power but a slower CPU is part of what gets you days between battery recharges and that's a reasonable tradeoff in my book.
8. Build quality is about the same as a middle tier noteBook, that is to say, made in China and not as good as I like to see it, but comparable to the competition.
9. Can't read PDF or HTML files; even my Palm Treo can do this! The Kindle can only ready Amazon and MobiPocket book file formats.

My wish list

1. Ability to e-mail links to blogs and newspaper articles to friends.
2. Automatic deletion of old newspapers and magazines.
3. Shrink the keyboard and enlarge the screen.
4. Create your own book categories and move books into your categories
5. Switch to a touch screen keyboard; I know, I higher screen refresh rate is required.
6. Make the next page button on the right and the previous button on the left shorter then add a nonslip area to grip the Kindle without also accidentally pushing those buttons.
7. A luxury model with an aluminum case and integral screen cover. You need to make it as cool as an iPod to become the iPod of eBooks.
8. A real web browser and x/y pointing device; I know, I higher screen refresh rate is required.
9. More sort and filter options on the books & periodicals list; ditto for the content management list.
10. Add a menu option for every book (sample or full) to go to the book's product page in the built-in store. This seems like a no brainer. It will sell more books.
11. Ability to mark books as read and then have a filter option so read books do not show up in the list.
12. A bright white screen instead of the gray screen. Don't get me wrong. The gray is great, but the added contrast ratio from a white background would be even better; especially for older eyes.
13. A limited "MyFriends" list with whom you can share ebooks but only one person can read the same book at the same time. Maybe three or four people max. Add a small fee for each sharing; maybe a $1, so the authors and publisher do not get ripped off because of the very low per unit profit margin.
14. "Try it Free" samples available for all books. Need I say more...
15. More blogs… we need a lot more blogs. Sign them all up!
16. More out of print books... I never seem to be able to find Kindle editions of the out of print books that are available in used bookstores.
17. Built-in solar battery charger... may as well go as green as you can!
18. A good hard-case for travel; preferably a thin shell made of aluminum.

Epilog.... At the end of many months of use, all I can say is everyone should buy a Kindle and let the future of reading enjoyment begin... and Oh yeah, one more thing, save a tree!

Kevin Bohacz
March 2, 2008