think hard, think well

About 6 weeks ago I received a free Kindle as part of a credit-card offer. I’m not usually in the habit of signing up for credit cards to save a few bucks, but this offer looked excellent: a free Kindle 3G (worth $189.99) and a $100 Amazon gift card. I had had my eye on the Kindle for a while, but could not justify spending the money. This was my chance; at the very least, the gift card would be great to have.

So far, I’ve used the Kindle at home, at work and in my travels. I have a few observations about the Kindle, and then I’ll tell you why I don’t think I personally would have spent the money on it.  If you’re a Kindle owner, I’d appreciate your comments; if you’re a prospective Kindle owner and have more questions, feel free to ask.

First, the Kindle device is a very neat design. It’s light and thin, and it rests nicely in either hand without your wrist getting tired. I purchased a cheap sleeve to protect it; there are nicer ones out there, but I didn’t want to spend a lot on something I wasn’t sure I was going to like.

The screen is an EPD–electronic paper display–which means it takes very little power and is very easy on the eyes, because there is no backlight. It’s really uncanny how closely the text resembles a printed page. However, it also means that the appearance is not as smooth when scrolling pages or changing menus. But the Kindle is not for browsing the internet or playing games–it’s for reading, and it presents the text well. You can highlight and bookmark text, and the device remembers where you left off so you don’t lose your place.

I like the way the Kindle integrates with Amazon.com, the Kindle app for mobile phone/iTouch, and the Kindle Reader on a Mac or PC. If you purchase a newspaper, magazine or book through any of these vehicles, the others all sync and follow where you left off in your reading. You can also e-mail documents to your Kindle (fee via 3G, free via WiFi).

There are a few features that are still “experimental,” such as the web-browsing and the read-aloud feature. The web-browsing is clumsy with no touchscreen or mouse–definitely not for much more than reading a couple of e-mails in a place with no WiFi. The read-aloud feature is cool, and the device has a headphone jack.

In short, the Kindle is designed to carry and read a portable library of books, magazines, newspapers and blogs. It does this better than just about anything I’ve seen, mostly because of the EPD. I can’t read much for very long on my iTouch, and reading on a computer screen hurts my eyes after a while.

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As much as I think Amazon is onto something good here, I don’t think the Kindle fits my lifestyle, for a few reasons.

First, as a graduate student in Old Testament, most of the books I read are not available for Kindle. Perhaps this will be remedied in the future. But at this point the Kindle can’t handle footnotes and Hebrew characters, which is a lot of what I read.  (UPDATE: a friend also pointed out to me that citing page numbers in academic papers is difficult when using an e-reader.  Maybe some sort of standard citation format will develop for e-readers, e.g., Wright, N.T., The Crown and the Fire [2009 electronic ed., bookmark 299].)

Second, I still prefer underlining and writing in the margins, over highlighting and typing on a clumsy, hunt-and-peck keyboard. I like being able to flip back and forth between chapters, and sometimes when I’m looking for a phrase and can’t remember the exact wording, I remember the spot on the page and the shape of the paragraphs–not possible on an electronic reader. There’s still nothing like the smell of a new book out of the packaging and the feeling of the pages.

Third, many of the books are still too expensive for me. When I consider acquiring a book, I have a few options: borrow from the library, purchase new, or purchase used. I ask myself these questions:

• How long will I need this book?
• Will I read it twice or use it for reference?
• Will I want to loan it to people?
• Will I want to write in it?
• Will I want to resell it at some point, and will it be worthwhile?

Books that would want to loan (even to my wife!), I will usually purchase new or used–and a Kindle edition can’t be loaned out. Books that I want to read and resell, I will buy new, keep pristine, and sell quickly. If a book is not worth reselling, often I can find it very cheap used–much cheaper than the Kindle price, even. And, I’ve already mentioned the difficulty in writing/highlighting within an e-book.

Here’s an example: today I purchased books for a reading course on Paul Ricoeur and the philosophy of history. These are the prices on Ricoeur’s Memory, History, Forgetting:

I could have purchased the Kindle edition of this 600-page book for half the price of the paperback and “saved” $12 (I have Amazon Prime, so shipping is free). But the used prices on the Hardcover and the paperback tell me that this book has a good resale value. If I buy the hardcover (which is what I did) for $34.40 and then sell it in a few months for $29, I’ve only spent $5.40–and had a more enjoyable reading experience, personally.

The question is, what do I want out of my reading experience with this book, and how can I get what I want from it (content, ability to mark it up, ability to loan it) most cheaply? The answer for most of my academic and contemporary reading is not usually the Kindle. I have been able to get large classic works for free or a dollar; right now I have the complete works of Shakespeare and Jonathan Edwards, as well as the Talmud–each of which cost me $0.99. But then again, you can find many classics in used paperback for a dollar, if you know where to look.

A fourth concern about the Kindle is the issue of electronic formats. Will there be support/updates for my Kindle in 10 years? I doubt it. I might not be able to read new books in new Kindle formats without paying for another $200 device–and I don’t know what will happen to my old library.

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In summary, the Kindle does quite effectively what it is designed to do; however, it doesn’t suit my reading habits, and I still have concerns about file formats. I would not have paid $189 for it. Its primary function for me will be to house a lot of cheap, public-domain classics, and perhaps some cheaper recreational reading as it becomes available.

A reader with a different mix of reading needs, financial concerns and library access may find the Kindle very convenient for carrying a large personal library. And hopefully, prices will come down as Kindle can broaden its content delivery, or as Amazon is forced to compete with other e-readers.

If you are an American registered to vote, I have one plea for you this First Tuesday After the First Monday in November:

Stay home.

Yes, that’s right–stay home, and don’t vote. If you are uninformed or ambivalent about politics, the best thing you can do for yourself, your community and your country is to stay home.

You’re not disrespecting those who fought and died for your right to be free. You are exercising your freedom to refrain from voting. What’s more, you are behaving as a responsible citizen in our republic, dealing faithfully and kindly with your neighbors. If you don’t know what you’re doing, the best thing you can do is stay out of the process.

Motivated by guilt, fear and irrationality, millions of Americans will waste an hour of their lives today, casting votes that 1) are uninformed or (even worse) misinformed, and 2) don’t matter statistically.

Do something productive instead. Pray for your country and elected officials. Spend an extra hour chatting over coffee with your spouse. Read or play soccer with your kids. Count and roll the pennies in your sock drawer. Do something–almost anything is more productive than voting today.

UPDATE 05Nov10: In this essay Don Boudreaux explains why he does not vote.

To all six of you who read this regularly (love you, Mom!), I apologize for the recent poverty of posts. Between October 10 and October 30, I preached three Sunday sermons, taught a week-long class on Numbers and Deuteronomy in Wisconsin, and moved.

This past weekend was quite a flurry of activity: I flew back from Minneapolis (after a three-hour drive from Cable, WI) this Friday evening, and then we moved on Saturday morning. Corrie worked hard last week to get us ready to move, and thankfully most of our stuff was in storage and didn’t need to be packed. But now we have the task of unpacking and setting up house again. I now have access to all my books once more; I feel as though I have just had full release after six months of intellectual constipation.

In many respects my recent teaching and preaching opportunities are more important landmarks in the life of the Giffone family than our move. After years of undergraduate and graduate school, training and preparing for ministry, Corrie and I are finally beginning to see some real fruit from our labors.

I can’t really express how satisfying it felt to complete last week’s course. Since sophomore year, I’ve been convinced that God is leading me to teaching ministry. But last Monday at 9am, when I stood up in front of twenty-four freshmen–that was the moment of truth. It was scary, not so much because I was afraid that I would bomb or freeze, but because I was afraid I would hate it. But I loved it. I’ve never felt "in the zone" like that before, so completely sure that I was fulfilling my God-given vocation. The preparation, the class time, the discussions with the students in and outside of class–it was a wonderfully stimulating, encouraging, spiritual and intellectual experience.

These last few weeks vindicated all the work we’ve put in and all the sacrifices Corrie has made to put me through grad school. We still have quite a ways to go: MTh and then DTh at Stellenbosch. (More on that later.) But this is another Ebenezer, a memorial stone at which we say, "Thus far, YHWH has helped us."

Once again, Professor Walter Williams hits the nail right on the head, exposing the unseen costs of regulation. This example caught my eye because I just flew with an infant last week:

The National Transportation Safety Board has again recommended that airlines require a separate seat for all children, regardless of age, eliminating the current practice of permitting children under the age of 2 to fly for free on the lap of a parent. Will mandating child restraint systems make air travel safer? The answer is probably yes but that’s the visible. Having to purchase an extra airplane ticket, some families will opt to drive to their destination instead. Thus, mandated CRS will force some families to switch to a less safe method of travel and some highway fatalities will represent the invisible victims of NTSB policy. By the way, if parents wanted a greater measure of safety for their infant, it’s available to them right now. They can purchase a seat and seat restraint for their infant.

What do you think about the NTSB regulation? What about the FDA? Is the cost of dangerous drugs greater than the cost of banning effective drugs?

I’ve posted a recording of today’s sermon on Numbers 21:4-9 at Shellburne Bible Church–and yes, I couldn’t resist titling the sermon, "Snakes on a Plain." I’d appreciate your comments and feedback.

The highlight of the morning: ever the adroit one, I banged my head on the pew in front of me while fishing around on the floor for Daniel’s expectorated pacifier during the prayer.

Thanks for your prayers. I’ll be preaching on Mark 10:35-45 in Wayne, NJ next Sunday. When it rains, it pours….

It’s been a while since I’ve had a chance to blog meaningfully. I’ve been working feverishly on my doctoral proposal, two sermons and my upcoming Pentateuch course. Plus, last week Corrie and I took Daniel to Texas so he could meet my grandmother. I hope to give some more updates very soon.

I’d appreciate your prayers as I preach this Lord’s Day at Shellburne Bible Church in Wilmington, DE, and next Sunday at Preakness Valley United Reformed Church in Wayne, NJ. If the audio is decent, I’ll put them on the Papers and Presentations page ASAP.

I just sat down with a cup of my favorite tea, and I found this profound quotation from Charles De Gaulle on the tea bag’s tab:

Since a politician never believes what he says, he is quite surprised to be taken at his word.

חַטָּאתִ֙י אוֹדִ֪יעֲךָ֡ וַעֲוֹ֨נִ֤י לֹֽא־כִסִּ֗יתִי אָמַ֗רְתִּי אוֹדֶ֤ה עֲלֵ֣י פְ֭שָׁעַי לַיהוָ֑ה וְאַתָּ֙ה נָ֨שָׂ֤אתָ עֲוֹ֖ן חַטָּאתִ֣י סֶֽלָה׃

My youngest siblings, Deborah and Michael, were baptized on Sunday evening at Riverside Community Church in Nutley, NJ:

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