I love books. I have given a good home to thousands of them, hardcover, softcover. They live in every room of my house. I ran out of bookshelves long ago; they’re stacked on the floor. Every subject you can think of.
Now I also have a “Kindle,” Amazon’s dismally named digital book reader. With all the talent at Amazon, couldn’t someone have come up with a better name than “Kindle.”? It’s kind of embarrassing telling someone else about my “Kindle.” They usually make a joke, rhyming “kindle” with “bindle,” or something just as silly.
The Kindle is not my first electronic book reader. I bought Nuvo Media’s “Rocket-ebook” in the 1990s when the dot.com boom was red hot. ( I still have the ebook; it’s really heavy compared to the Kindle). Unfortunately, Nuvo Media went out of business; actually they sold their e-book product to somebody else who couldn’t make it work.
(At left, the Kindle; at right, the Rocket eBook)
I remember having a problem and calling the Nuvo Media help number on a day when they must have been moving out in a hurry. Who knows who was on the other end of the line. He tried to be helpful but, even over the phone, wherever he was sounded like a big empty room.
I’m reading my first book on Kindle (White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan’s book about his deteriorating relationship with President George Bush–so far I’ve learned that McClellan, was an anti-hazing frat leader, and his political mom was elected the comptroller, or “super-accountant” of Texas. )
Interestingly, there are no page numbers for the book in Kindle. There’s no cover art, either. But I haven’t been wearing a watch lately, either, so the lack of page numbers doesn’t bother me.
One of the best book stores I ever walked into was the old Keplers on El Camino in Menlo Park. it wasn’t a big store like the newer one with the same name nearby. I also enjoyed “A Clean, Well Lighted Place” in San Francisco.
When I moved to Half Moon Bay in the early 1970s, the only bookstore in town was on Kelly Ave, owned by Diane and Richard Gates. Coastside Books was later purchased by Inga and Jules Sofer who moved the store in Main Street. Coastside Books has been a favorite of mine for decades.