Philosophy Now Forum

Realised that I'm getting to old to keep lifting a forest about when I move so I'm going to buy a kindle.

Which would the forum recommend to buy? Pros and cons if possible please.

About a month ago I bought the Kindle keyboard 3G. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004HZ ... tripe_kk3g I'm very pleased with my purchase. What I especially value are the built-in dictionaries. I also like to take notes when I read and it is easy to do so on a Kindle. BUY ONE!

P.S. Also, buy a leather cover. It protects your Kindle and makes handling the Kindle easier and safer. http://www.amazon.com/Amazon-Kindle-Lea ... 431&sr=1-2

Man Tom...you are costing me a pretty penny! First, you suggest I buy Richard's book...and I did....twice! Then you give me a guilt trip and make me sign up for a subscription to Philosophy Now! Now you are selling me on the kindle! What am I, made out of money!

Fahrenheit 451 is a good book for a kindle...

-Imp

The Christmas before last I got the Kindle keyboard edition Wi-fi only as I didn't think the extra £40 (or whatever the difference was) was worth paying to avoid needing to be home or on a public wi-fi connection to warrant the 3G version. you can only buy the 3G version of that one in the UK now though and at £149 I think you'd need to ask whether you really need a keyboard because you can get the Wi-fi only non-keyboard version for £89 or the Kindle touch for wi-fi only for £109.

I agree with Tom, a cover is a must but I avoided the offical ones because they were so bloody expensive and opted for one of these at a much more reasonable £17 and have been very pleased with it.

Also, as Tom says, the dictionary facility is actually very good and surprisingly comprehensive. I've also been using to to read academic papers and books recently and have made a lot of use of the bookmarking features which I can then also use on the Kindle app on my PC when I'm writing. Paper is probably still better for academic and technical books that you're actively studying and taking notes on rather than just reading but it can be convenient.

There are other features but I doubt any of them offer serious buying points and I'm not sure whether they're common to all versions.

That's my initial thoughts anyway

I have been a bit skeptical so far about investing in yet another piece of technology to meet an individual need by buying a Kindle, Nook or other brand of electronic book reader.

I have been using the free Amazon Kindle app on my smartphone (htc desire) for over a year to read books on my commute and at leisure. I like that I use one device - with facilities for mobile phone, email, internet, music, camera and now e-book use. Another bonus is that I only have to carry one power charger with usb socket and a short micro usb cable in my handbag. I charge my smartphone overnight but run the battery fully down once a month to prolong battery life - are people doing this with Kindles?

The screen size of smartphone is smaller, at 2" x 4", than, for example, a Kindle* with 3.5" x 5" with keyboard. Other Kindles probably now have larger screens than this example but I have not found the page size too small and I can still increase the font size as required. I can also bookmark pages and make notes.

I currently have a selection of 42 books, including the Hitchhiker's series , on my smartphone, could keep more on the phone's external memory card or use cloud storage but I have also downloaded more to my PC using the PC version of the same app. There can be some good e-book deals to be had in many genres, for example the eight book Works of Friedrich Nietzsche at £0.49p, so you can overlap with or supplement your physical book collection.

It is likely I will also buy a Kindle at some point in the future, or be 'gifted' an older model* so a.n.other can justify getting a new model...

I much prefer the passive screen on the Kindle to prolonged reading on an illuminated screen like a phone or a monitor as I find it much easier on the eyes.

I'm Kindling Jules Verne and H Rider Haggard for free!
I've also done a little Dickens too.

I like my Kindle - it goes to sleep shortly after I do. And remembers the page where I dozed off.

Thanks Chaz, I will pass these recommendations onto my sister, who loves to read her physical books and is not convinced a Kindle would be of benefit to her. Her main concern focuses on what happens when she falls asleep at night in bed whilst reading the Kindle that (a) it'll hit her as it falls, be sore and wake her up again - or fall to the floor and get damaged; and (b) she would never remember which page she was reading as she fell asleep .

Me too. It's a bit clumsy but worth it. Don't forget to surf into "Gutenburg Project", where all books are free.
http://www.gutenberg.org/
I've got a dodge to read not Kindle texts too.
Download and display in WORD or other WP software. Then reduce the column size to around 50 and save as a PDF. Copy to the documents folder of the Kindle then you can read them in Landscape mode.

I had no idea Edgar Rice Burroughs could be so much fun!

A charge can last for days too!

You maybe already know this but as I missed it for quite a while it may be worth mentioning: if you email a pdf to your kindle with the email title "convert" it converts it to native format which means you can adjust font size and the like without worrying about the page size of a pdf.

Thanks John,
I figured it out. I had no idea you could e-mail a kindle.
Cheers