All hail, Kindle the Third

I've been a compulsive reader since the age of six.  That's no brag.  That's just a statement of fact. It may be good or bad. "Reading" satisfies one's curiosity about the world, and that's good.  But for some of us, reading's also a way to avoid unnecessary contact with the sometimes boring, often frightening, always confusing creatures who surround us.

Reading is the default instinct of the congenital introvert.

I welcomed -- with some trepidation -- a new reading paradigm in December 2011, a new paradign about which I of course blogged.  Averting my eyes from the shock and horror expressed on the faces of books lining the walls of my home, I bought a simple Amazon reader.  I won't say that I stopped buying hardbound books, but since 2011 I have downloaded 199 books from Amazon.  And unlike the case with some hardbound books I've purchased over the years, I've actually read all 199.  Draw your own conclusions as to the impact Kindle has had on my life.

At some point following 2011, I also purchased a Kindle Fire, which has a larger backlit screen, a camera, and the ability to connect with the internet.  Before I got around to signing up for an iPhone, the Fire served as a way to keep in touch with Facebook and other sites while I traveled.  I really never used it for book-reading, however, because it's heavy and bulky, compared with my original basic Kindle, and the backlighting causes it to gobble up battery power prodigiously.

Nevertheless, Amazon refers to my Kindle Fire as my "2nd Kindle" and makes sure that my all my Amazon book purchases are available on that device as well.

All was well and uncomplicated until last week, when my original Kindle jammed up for unknown reasons.  I finally ordered a replacement -- henceforth officially denoted my "3rd Kindle" -- which arrived today.  Same size screen as Kindle the First, still no backlighting, but slightly smaller in overall dimensions.  Plastic rather than metal frame, and so slightly less heavy.   Looks good; feels good.

Kindle the Third is now charging from my wall socket.  I stopped the charging long enough to ensure that it would hook up to my Wi-Fi, which it does, and that all of my books from my original Kindle, books that also float dreamily about "the cloud," would be available.  They are, and the new Kindle instantly downloaded the book I'd been reading and opened it to the last page I'd read. 

I still have new bells and whistles to investigate, once I get it fully charged, but clearly the new Kindle will be able to handle with aplomb, at a minimum, all of the functions of my original Kindle, with none of the angst and irritation one so often encounters in replacement purchases of this sort.

In fact, it becomes clear to me that Amazon really knows what it's doing, and is fully capable of taking over and ruling the world.  And I don't say that just because it's a Seattle company, which is already taking over and ruling Seattle..

Although the fact that Amazon is an offspring of the Northwest Corner certainly doesn't hurt.