The Kindle

And so, I bought a Kindle. CD's response when I told her was "All I can say is, Oh my lord." Meanwhile Mr. P. was egging me on. What brought this about. A confluence of things.

First, I have a large collection of books at my office dealing with issues of race, class, gender, social inequality and environmental justice. I've read them and they really aren't being used. I've let the staff have at them and they took a few books but not enough to make a dent. I've tried to give them to a several different worthy place like Elderspirit in Abingdon and Highlander Research and Education Center in Tennessee. No, takers. These books are a step up from what should go to Goodwill or something like that. About 5 years ago, students from Appalachian State took a huge number of books when I retired from the University.

Second, last week my guys who are friends of mine were laid off for a week from the plant where they work. This means they were coming to my house to do some stuff for me. They are really very good at what they do which includes plumbing, electrical, carpentry, and general renovation skills. One of the thing that needed being done was to replace the baseboard heating unit in my study which required moving furniture,including book cases full of books. I got up early Saturday specifically to get this done thinking no big deal. Yeah, right. I'd already emptied one book case and only had one more to go, or so I thought. Then I got into it and found I needed to move a third and this is a big heavy one with lots of books. Now, I have to put it all back together but I need to keep it all away from the heating unit which requires a total rearrange which means, yup, finding a home for a whole bunch of books.

THE BOOK THAT MADE IT HAPPEN

Third. I've enjoyed reading science fiction and fantasy since I read all the Wizard of Oz books in fourth grade. Now some of these books are really good and keepers but a lot are like peanuts and popcorn. You just run right through them and throw the bag away. Well, that just happened with a book I thoroughly enjoyed and is the first of several in the series. When I got on Amazon to order up I just could see moving these books around which I doubt I would ever read again. Now as a bibliophile and a professor, getting rid of books is really really hard. And, as I have already written the Ducksters love their books, the look, the feel, the sense of them. I couldn't face not having any books--although that would truly lighten the load.

So there I was looking at the Kindle on line, my hand hovering over the "add to cart" button. Mr.P. is saying "What are you waiting for. Just do it." I'm totally indecisive. To me it makes huge sense ecologically and you can order another book when you run out. But then I think what if you run out of juice and you don't have your charger. You will be totally SOL. And, then I think what about my page points (a very neat way of marking must reread passages) and what about book markers (I'm partial to chopstick paper covers--some are truly beautiful). Somehow, I can't see marking where I stopped electronically. So, I reached a compromise. There are some authors I collect and know I will reread. These will still get bought as books. Other popcorn and peanut books ( what I have called confections) that you toss off as a treat will get ordered on the Kindle. We'll see what happens.