These could be my hands holding this delicious Kindle
Every blog must have a great and noble purpose, otherwise you’ve got nothing but some jerk spouting his opinions, and who wants that? So here is my purpose: I would very much like it if Amazon sent me a free Kindle.
Back when they first launched this amazing device, they posted raves from writers who had received promotional Kindles. I was not one of these lucky recipients. Yes, these were all writers who sell more books than I do, but that is not the point. The point is that I wanted a free Kindle and did not get one, and I intent to keep complaining about this in the hopes that Amazon will send me one. I can then use this space to talk about how much I love my Kindle. I can post pictures of me and my Kindle traveling together, going to the movies together, eating ice cream together. Really, it is in Amazon’s best interest to send me one. Look how many times I’ve linked to them in this one post. I swear I am good for it.
If you, yourself, have a blog, then why not post an entry about how much you would like it if Amazon sent David Liss a free Kindle? You too can be part of this magic moment, this time when, despite the many things about which we disagree, we came together to demand that I get something expensive for free.
Check back regularly for updates on how our campaign is going.
Also, I want the DX.
David, I advise you to play hard to get. For example, make a series of posts about the good-old-fashioned book, and how you’ll use some electronic gizmo to read only after they pry the book from your cold, dead, fingers, and so on. Then, Amazon sends you a Kindle in order to change your mind and turn you into a believer, and they reap the rewards.
I love my Kindle — in fact, my wife and I are reading the Whiskey Rebels on it right now.
And here’s a teaching moment it led to (in case they want to send me a free upgrade): I was teaching Ethical Assassin in a philosophy class that I teach and trying to give an example of ideology. Because I’m way to cool to use a regular book when I have an electronic book, I have it on my Kindle (also the goddamn movers or maybe my ex-sister-in-law stole my hard copy of the book), and I carry my Kindle in a special purse (I’ve wanted to get a purse for years but this was the final rationale that pushed me over the edge).
In the course of teaching about ideology, I demanded to know why they all thought it was inherently so funny that I call my purse a purse and not a messenger bag, as they all want me to. It generated a remarkably lively discussion among about of 18 year olds.
LOL, love your sense of humor. This came up in a google alert! I would absolutely love a Kindle. While I’m begging Amazon to send you one, I’ll put in a good word for me, too.
What do you need one of those electronic thingies for when you could just read a good, honest bound book. Sheesh.
I travel A LOT, and the Kindle has been the best addition to my travel bag in years! Not only do I get to carry an assortment of books to suit whatever mood I’m in on a plane/train ride, but all the manuals for the equipment my team uses are all loaded into one little Kindle.
In addition to electronic books, the Kindle 2 reads PDFs and (simple# Word documents. I simply send 100 page manuals to my Kindle email address and voila! They are at my disposal on the road, without my having to lug around pounds of paper.
The business applications for anyone who has to read large documents are great. I’ve recommended the Kindle to the attorney’s on our staff. You can’t really ‘red line’ a doc on a Kindle, but you can certainly read through a contract on a plane/beach/etc, make notes, and then easily email those comments and notes to yourself #or someone who works for you# when you are near a wifi connection once again.
Plus the Kindle starts up in 2 seconds so documents can be retrieved quickly – and straight to the page upon which you left off – or quickly to any bookmarks or notes you’ve already made. It’s become much faster for me to get right to what I need on my Kindle, than a doc on any laptop or smart phone.
This is an incredibly handy device if you have a love for, or work extensively with, the written word.
Oh and one more thing – I’ve discovered that if you turn of “wifi” (easy navigation) until you know you need to send or retrieve something, the battery lasts for many many more hours.