Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Curling up with my Kindle


I've been back in Australia for three days now, still recovering from a whirl-wind case of jet-lag. For the third day in a row, I have been blessing my Kindle, my favourite 'toy,' for the ability to curl up on the couch and read... read... read..

What's a Kindle? (see here)

I can't begin to tell you how many times I've shown it off to curious passengers during my flights and transit from Spain, back to Perth. Some have recognised it as a Kindle, others have asked "what is that?"!

It is a very novel idea. An electronic book reader, slim and light to carry anywhere.

For a Global Butterfly, like myself, always flitting from place to place, it is a Godsend answer to my "junkie" habit of reading. I'm always consuming knowledge and wisdom from great mentors and philosopher's through books and audio. The Kindle allows me to 'carry' my library of books (considered my favourite asset) in a compact form, all over the world, in my handbag!

Get this... it holds up to 1000 books! Hence, my 'traveling library'.

The downside is, the Whispernet which the Kindle runs on for instantly downloading the digital books, is currently only available for most parts of North America. Having discovered this before I departed the United States on my most recent visit in May/June, I downloaded thirty-seven (yes, 37) books to add to my collection.

I figured that'd keep me occupied until at least Christmas, this year.

I read - a LOT... I always have my nose in a book. Often three to five at a time. My library consists 95% of non-fiction: finance, real estate, business, internet marketing strategies, psychology, biographies, autobiographies, spiritual, philosophy, economics, conscious awakening, and the odd romance-fiction thrown in to boot!

The comical situation I found myself with during the last download, was a barrage of phone calls at 6:30am the next morning to my US cell phone from my American Bank. Leaving me several messages, the caller was notifying me,
"we have noticed what appears to be several unauthorized transactions, and have put a stop to your credit account. Please call us immediately."

I responded immediately, and spoke to the lovely American lady who had called me direct. She was shocked when I said,
"No Ma'am, I have purchased these books. The card was not stolen."

"Wow! You sure read a lot of books. We didn't think that was normal, or possible," she responded with surprise.

I laughed.

Interestingly, I briefly wondered where the watchful eye of the bank had been when I was in Hawaii four months earlier. I had bought two (expensive) items of jewelery, which had not stopped the card in it's tracks, even when it tipped past my allowable balance, incurring ridiculous 'overdraught' fees. No phone call then.

But apparently, a theif might want to read books using my account.

Yes, I imagine that with a stolen card, one would want to purchase books at $9.99 as a way to maximize access to someone's account.

At least I'd call that an intelligent thief!

Whilst I continue back to my short hibernation, recovering from recent distant travels, and read more of my book on my Kindle (I'm currently reading "The Intention Experiment," by Lynne McTaggart), I'll leave you with the wonderful critique: that I score this Kindle product a 9.5 out of ten.

When the Kindle model contains an inbuilt light, I will give it a
ten out of ten!

No comments:

Post a Comment

Thank you for your feedback :o)