The Amazon Kindle

By Dominic Wagner

There are few experiences in life that parallel an afternoon envisioning future technological possibilities. For those of us who lack a suitable imagination for astral travel, 1980s science fiction films such as Back to the Future and Blade Runner can help steep our psyche in the flavors of tomorrow. As a connoisseur of the “what ifs,” I have often found that one area of note that has been painfully left out of the future’s neon glow is literature. Personal interest aside, I’d like to think that some development would occur in the practices of future avid readers given that we’ve seen that cars can hover, lasers can blast and extra terrestrials can wear pin-striped suits in the lobbies of lunar hotels. Fortunately for us Amazon has not forgotten to make a place for Baraka and Whitman in the 21st century. Ladies and gentlemen, books have gotten a major upgrade. Amazon is proud to present humanity with the Kindle, a digital reading device with the potential to change the way we access literature forever.

This revolutionary creation makes it possible to access over 110,000 books and a number of the top newspapers and magazines across the globe. The digitized versions of both classical and contemporary texts are available for wireless download any time, anywhere at prices that rival your local used bookstore. After purchasing a book with the Kindle it is loaded into the device in less than one minute. Up to 200 titles can be stored onto the device itself. Additional storage is available on Amazon’s database which can be accessed from a pc and uploaded to the Kindle via a usb connection. Perhaps the most impressive feature of the device is its design, which was engineered to facilitate the most comfortable, non intrusive reading experience. The revolutionary electronic paper display projects an amazingly clear reading surface without the headache-inducing glares typically associated with most monitors. The weight of the device is less than most paperback editions and there is no overheating when it is in use. With a weeklong rechargeable battery life, built in dictionary and a connection to the most current encyclopedia, wikipedia, Amazon’s Kindle is to the book worm what the hover board was to every 80’s baby with a vcr. It seems like us bibliophiles don’t always finish last.

Call it poetic justice.