Rediscovering my love for reading!

Firstly, this is not an Amazon sponsored ad. I’m going to go deep on my love for the new Kindle Paperwhite. I briefly mentioned this new purchase my previous free write and travel blog, “Los Angeles freewrite and my new Kindle Paperwhite”. I was going to do pinup post tonight, but I’ve been so lost in this Kindle, I felt it was worth spending some time to share my [unexpected] experience. After all, that’s what Steemit has always been about for me. It’s a platform to share whatever is happening in my life, at that time.

About six months ago, I was chatting with an older guy at @caffetto. We’ve known each other for years, and his girlfriend had a Paperwhite on the table. I reached down and punched at the screen, watching it slowly transition, turn a negative of itself, then refresh to a new page. The refresh was a turn off, especially to someone who just bought a $2,000 iPad Pro with ProMotion screen technology. For some reason, though, it stayed with me. It’s so different from any other reading experience, I felt intrigued, I guess.

I’m the kind of person that, once I have something in my head, it’s near impossible to shake. I started doing research and as it turned out, Amazon had just released a few version of the Paperwhite, which was now waterproof. You can laugh all you want, but I immediately saw myself reading books or comics in a bath, submerged in floral fragrances of LUSH bath bombs […those are the kind of baths I take]. The new version was slimmed, weighed almost nothing and could be upgraded to 32GB of memory.

About two months ago, on an impulse, I bought it. Then, within a few hours, before the order even shipped, Bitcoin and the entire market crashed super hard. I felt guilty for buying myself such an extravagant gift, and equally impulsively, cancelled the order. Now, just before I leave for Viva Las Vegas […the most profitable trip of my year], and a market that appears to be recovering, I decided to buy it before going on the road for two weeks. It arrived just last week, so this is somewhat of a review.

I have to say, I’ve fallen for this little piece of archaic hardware. @ghostfish and @mada have both recently publishing books, which I side-loaded on the Kindle with an app called Calibre. My intent was to download tons of graphic novels and some manga […I’m really on in to Ghost in the Shell and Junji Ito], and read them in addition to my friends’ recent novel projects. Surprisingly, my experience has been far more robust than just that.

Firstly, comics are a thing on the Kindle Paperwhite. I anticipated a ton of little hacks to get a readable comic on the device. Not so. All the digital comics I’ve bought on through the Kindle app on my iPad, do show up on the Paperwhite. Additionally, I’m a few months in to paying for Kindle Unlimited, which includes a ton of comics. My friends’ novels look great, but I’ve also been downloading all favorites, books on comic design, Magic: The Gathering novels and titles from my favorite authors I haven’t read since college.

The thing Amazon has really done right, is create it’s own category of device. I know there are other e-readers, but this is my first and I know the Kindle to be one of the most mature. The “paper” is incredible. I’ve read for hours without eye strain, which I do get on my phone and iPad. For comics, I don’t mind the lack of color, and for comics that are meant to be black and white, like most manga, or Frank Miller’s Sin City, it’s enough to make you drool on that waterproof screen.

With the addition of simple purchases, Kindle Unlimited, it’s ease on the eyes, portability, and affordability, this has become my new favorite device. I carry it with me everywhere and here I am writing a Steemit post endorsement. It’s made me fall in love with reading all over again. Between the last 10 years of a turbulent, busy career and raising @guthrie, I haven’t made the time to read […at least like I used to]. Rediscovering that passion has been the most fulfilling of an otherwise regular gadget.

I have ethical dilemmas about Amazon in general. As anyone that follows my blog will know, I recently had work in Seattle. Seeing how Amazon has devastated a huge part of the demographic of that city, I don’t like knowing I’m contributing that, but as I did with Facebook, if it crosses my line of ethical tolerance, I will abandoned it. Prime, the services and yes, the Kindle. For now, it is the newfound fondness for reading, regardless of which format its on, that I’m relishing.

Thank you, Steemit, for giving me a platform to make long-form, ranting posts like this one. You all know I’ve done this with my favorite Magic: The Gathering cards and other technologies. It’s therapeutic for me and I love having an audience that appreciates it and rewards me for my time. I’ll having updates on the Kindle Paperwhite in the future, I’m sure. Thanks for reading. For more photography, art, illustration and thoughts on life and technology, follow me here @kommienezuspadt!