Kindles, Nooks, or regular books?

Yes...........................

 

Kindle, for the win! I have an Android tablet and use the Kindle app to read e-books. The advantages are numerous and I can't find any down side.

I usually read at night in bed. With the Kindle app I can adjust the brightness down to a comfortable reading level without bothering my sleeping wife. With paper books I would need to use a clip-on reading light. While not overly bright, it was not exactly subtle.

I can adjust the font size to compensate for my eyesight. For reading my eyes aren't too bad, but with Kindle I don't need to use glasses if I don't want to. With paper books I can read without glasses but I must hold the book almost at arm's length, which is uncomfortable.

I can adjust font style as well. Also font colors--traditional black letters on white background, or white letters on black background, or tan letters on sepia background. By switching between colors you can fend off reading fatigue.

Using my Android's case I can rotate the device into landscape mode and set it on the mattress hands free, prop my head up in my hand and read. Try doing that with a paper book.

There is a reading gauge at the bottom of the screen telling you what page you are on, or what percentage of the book you've read and/or have remaining, or can even tell you based on your reading speed how many minutes you have left in the chapter or in the book.

Since you are reading an e-book, the entire thing is keyword searchable. This is handy if you are reading a mystery and want to review something in the plot to help you solve the mystery before the author reveals it. Also handy if you forget facts about minor characters that show up later in the book. Just search for the first appearance of their name. No way you can do this with a conventional book!

If you don't know the definition of a word or how to pronounce it, simply highlight the word and a dictionary pops up.

My library system has lots and lots of e-books available for checkout, including new releases. Also, there are numerous places to get free or inexpensive e-books. Amazon will have free books on a frequent basis. I haven't been inside a library for several weeks now and it used to be a weekly occurrence. I have a paper book I bought over a month ago, part of a trilogy, that I haven't cracked open yet because it's not an e-book.

I can carry around the equivalent of a bookshelf full of books on my device. I might read for half an hour, then read and/or post to BB, then back to reading. Or I can listen to music with earbuds while I read.

So yeah, I'm a Kindle and e-book convert. Can you tell?

 

My wife likes paper. She buys books on a regular basis. I've suggested she use my Kindle, but she prefers the other.

 

I have a serious question here about the Bible. Should we use digital media to replace the Bible as a book? I am not so sure since when we actually handle the Bible as a book that we respect and honor it. I am of the opinion that a kindle etc. actually might undermine the significance of Scripture.

Any thoughts on this?

I am truly torn on this issue

 

Dr. Donald Whitney, Associate Dean of the School of Theology of Southern Baptist Theological Seminary:

Fox News

 

Thank you for that!!

Greatly appreciated

Bill

Romans 5:1

 

I had some little old ladies get upset because I used my Toshiba to read scripture from. "Preacher, it's just not like reading from the Bible" they said. I just giggled on the inside because the words and message are the same whether in digital or printed form. And, since it is not a hill to die on I went back to the printed version. I wonder those same little old ladies would have reacted when the printing press was invented and their preacher went from using a hand written version to using a printed version?

 

Noticed the other night that I now have font color of black letters on pale light green background. Must have come in a recent Kindle software update.

 

For fiction nothing beats my Kindle Touch. I can take it with me anywhere, don't have to worry about losing my place, can be reading multiple books. It was so nice when I spent 8 weeks in NY having my entire library with me. Not to mention all the free books you can get. But if I'm reading a non fiction book I would rather have a hard copy because I find it is easier to flip back and forth and reference things in a hard copy.

 

Are you familiar with Amazon? They have many free e-books, every day. Go to amazon.com and learn how to download e-books. Then give it a whirl. Once you are set up, do a search on Amazon.com for 'free kindle books". They have hundreds of them. The quality is inconsistent, but there are some good ones in there, especially the classics.

The most exciting thing I've learned is that I can borrow e-books from my local library, even newly released books. It turns out when the library asks me what device I use to read e-books and I tell them "Kindle", when I click to borrow the book it sends me to Amazon.com and I "buy" the book for 3 weeks for $0.00.

I find this truly amazing.