I never had a Amazon Kindle, either I read books with a physical copy or I just used my iPad with the Apple Books app. This worked great for years but lately I’ve found myself being distracted more by life and reading has become difficult on the iPad. There are so many distractions with notifications, alerts and tweets that concentration becomes difficult. I’ve noticed that I listen to books more than read them, not because I have a long commute, but that when you listen to a book, you’re not looking at anything.
I’ve wanted to get back into reading because I find it very therapeutic and I finally bit the bullet and bought an Amazon Kindle Paperwhite. I looked at a Kobo but the Paperwhite 2018 was just so compelling. Since this is my first Kindle, I was taken back a bit by the E-ink technology given I was used to the high fidelity iPad displays but after reading books for a couple minutes, it was clear that my eyes preferred the E-ink to Apple’s True Tone displays. As this Kindle is my first one, I can’t compare it to the previous devices but it feels high quality and given I paid only $100 for it on sale, it feels like a steal.
So after the past 2 weeks of reading with the Kindle, what have I noticed?
- I read much more than before and for much longer. I don’t get distracted.
- The Kindle Store is so slick, buying a book is so easy and smooth that I dare call it enjoyable.
- I can use the Libby app to check out books at my local bookstore. I find myself using the library much more than I did before.
- Selection is so much better than Apple’s book store. I no longer have to compromise what I read because of Apple’s lack of focus.
I feel so late to this party but I’m OK with that. I’m always nervous about Amazon’s ecosystem knowing more about me but so far it feels good. Libby is working great for me so using the Tempe Library seems to be my biggest use so far. 2019 seems to be where reading gets back on top of my todo list.