h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I finally got myself an e-book reader. It's a Kindle, hence the title of this journal. The one I got is called a "paperwhite", and it has a white screen with black writing on it.

Those of you who have Kindles will know this already, but this is one impressive piece of technology:

- When I close the cover it turns off automatically.
- When I open the cover it starts up within a second, showing the page I was last reading. There's no closing apps, starting new apps. It's just open and read.
- The battery lasts about a month between recharges.
- It has a wifi connection so when I'm at home I can get new books from Amazon just by finding them on the site and pressing the Buy button.

So in keeping with the flaming theme, the first book I've bought it Dan Brown's latest offering, Inferno. This has been out about a year, but I wasn't going to pay full price for the hardback version so I've been waiting. Now I got it in e-book form for £2.79.

Inferno is a typical Dan Brown. It's simple, fast-paced action and absolutely hilarious. There's probably no author that can pack in quite so many adjectives into a sentence, along with gratuitous information content which sounds as if it is downloaded straight from Wikipedia.

I was delighted to be able to solve one of the many puzzles about twenty chapters before famous symbology expert Robert Langdon, probably because I researched the topic for one of my h2g2 Entries in the same way as Dan Brown researched for his book. In fact I get the distinct impression that he researched parts of this book by reading my h2g2 Entries, although that may be just because we both have an eye for the same sort of amusing details. He makes more money out of it than me, though.

I've flown through the book as a result of being able to pick the book up anywhere - on the tram, waiting for my coffee or in bed. I'm approaching the finale, which will be set in a place I visited only a few months ago.

Glad to see your consumer review of Kindle. So far I've resisted ebooks as I really don't want to be buying all the time - I prefer to use the local library.
They have an ebook lending service but its a bit clunky to use. I've tried it on my ipad.

I can see I may be tempted by Kindle eventually!

I'll add my thanks for the review. I have yet to venture into any I-technology, my mobile phone refuses to connect to the Internet and even the 02 shop couldn't solve the problem so I do without as I can't be bothered to exchange my otherwise-perfect phone. Gordon took an e-reader with him on our cruise 2 years ago, which told me the end was nigh for our relationship, as he spent more time with it than he did with me

Regarding Dan Brown's Inferno. I managed to get the hardback book about a year ago as it was on offer from Tesco, £3 if you spent £30 in store (I do Mum's grocery shopping there so it wasn't a problem) if I recall correctly. Ian is also a fan so when I'd read it it was his turn. Strangely enough, his writing reminds me of stuff I've already read, so I've no doubt he does some of his research on h2g2. I've caught up on the books I've missed by delving through Ian's library and I think it will be a long time away before I buy a Kindle or any e-book reader. Call me an old stick-in-the-mud but I love going to the library and wondering what I'll find or who I'll bump into and have an impromptu catch-up session (last time it was a girl I used to go to school with, once, years ago, it was even a fellow h2g2 Researcher)

GB

I love my kindle and would throw out all the dusty old paperbacks in a jiffy if that didn't leave me with a load of empty shelves, upon which I will NOT be putting porcelain shepherdesses. I never liked lying in bed and trying to turn pages, or looking for lost pages on trains and buses.

However, I love owning the books in digital form and being able to access them from phone and laptop as well as Kindle if I'm caught out somewhere with nothing to do. The Kindle is so neat and slim and fits into all bags and some pockets. Just press the "on" switch and carry on reading where you last left off.

There are loads for free - even from Amazon - or very low prices, and all the classics are available as "complete works" for a very low price. The disadvantage of the "complete works" is that you are only told how far you are on in the whole collection, and not in the particular book you are reading.

Make sure you keep it in a cover to protect the screen which seems rather vulnerable to me.

I was dithering about a Kindle because I love holding books, turning the pages, smelling them and then having them on my shelves.

but my mum bought me the old 3G keyboard Kindle a few years ago (no backlight) and it is, frankly, wonderful. I only really buy the deal of the day books (now deal of the month and not so much of a good deal) although one or two of those I've bought as (2nd hand) paper books. With the 3G I have been tempted into buying a few full priced (but only 4 or 5 euros) 2nd and 3rd in series of the book I have been reading - and can have them within seconds of finishing the last one.

It's good to see a review of the paperwhite as that's what I'll get when this one goes to Kindle heaven.

As for Dan Brown - just say "no", kids. I just got the paperback of Inferno (because we have the others in paperback) for who enjoys a nice easy read on the train. I just knew that the female sidekick would be staggeringly gorgeous, brilliant and young enough to be Langdon's daughter and I can't get over that enough to read the book. Luckily you get all that on the first page so I didn't have to waste too much time on it

(as for resaarch, I read Digital Fortress as it's about the NSA and I do know a little about them... all I can say is if he'd put that in h2g2 peer review he'd have been shot down in flames)

{In fact I get the distinct impression that (Dan Brown) researched parts of this book by reading my h2g2 Entries}

He has form in this regard. I wrote about an earlier example of this in A71966488

The book is mainly set in Florence but also visits Venice and Istanbul. I get the impression he never went to Istanbul to research that part, as his description of the city is a bit confused.

He mixes up the Spice Bazaar and the Grand Bazaar, quoting statistics about one and attributing them to the other; this is on a par with a book about London confusing Carnaby Street and Oxford Street. He describes a wealthy man on the street as wearing a turban, apparently unaware that the Turks stopped wearing turbans in 1920. And he says that tourists are not allowed through the emperor's gate in Hagia Sophia, when any tourist will tell you different.

Still, it doesn't stop me enjoying the book.

Incidentally, although the only book I have on the Kindle is bought from Amazon, my daughter tells me I can download a free PC program which will allow me to connect the Kindle to the PC and copy free books onto it, which I can pick up from lots of places such as Gutenberg.

I have to spend most of my time lying on one side or another, and I simply couldn't have made it with sanity intact, without my trusty old kindle DX (has a keyboard). No, it's not backlit, but that's better for your eyes in the long run. With a keyboard, I'm also able to use it to play sudoku and solitaire .

I agree about the daily deals, they're the best way to keep one's kindle stocked. There are also thousands of cheap indie titles, the quality of which varies from good to hilariously bad. You don't feel so bad about chucking a book over your virtual shoulder, though, when it only cost 99 cents...

Our library patrons use Kindles or Kindle apps for their tabs more than any other reader. I have heard very few complaints about them.

I have the Kindle keyboard which is a bit clunky, but then I have the Sony Pocket (touch screen, but no Wifi), too, so I have all I could ask for. My sister bought the Kindle paperwhite the other week. I was sorely tempted, it was a special offer at €99m but I couldn't really justify it.

I still read paperbooks occasionally, but mainly ebooks.

>>The disadvantage of the "complete works" is that you are only told how far you are on in the whole collection, and not in the particular book you are reading.<<

Yes, that's a bit of a nuisance. I had trouble to find the next book in my 'A Game of Thrones' boxed set after I had finished the first one. I didn't wnat to scroll thtough pages and pages of character descriptions at the end of each book. Then I opened the content table and bookmarked the beginning of each book, which made finding the next book easier. Same with the Gabriel Garcia Marquez collection I bought recently.

I just love my kindle! Hubby has his iPad linked to it, as does VV.

We all tend to read the same style of books, so the payment is made through one account and if any of us attempt to purchase a duplicate it's so clever to tell you so!

lil x

My sister's Kindle is registered under my name, so any book I purchase I just send to her Kindle, too. The Marquez ebook library was nearly € 40, (which is a lot for Kindle books), so we agreed to share the costs.

A Hundred Years of Solitude and Love in the Time of Cholera were good, but I found his other books heavy going. Autumn of the Patriarch was almost impossible to read - only one very long sentence in each chapter.

I think I read the two you mentioned first a long time ago. I'll reread them. Now I started with 'Memories of my melancholy whores' and I quite liked it. Next on my list is 'Leafstorm'.

I downloaded a free Kindle reader to my iphone. Works fine.

Reading a book on a smartphone would be like reading a book transcribed onto post-it notes: hard to read, not much per page and a pain to keep track of. The beauty of the Kindle is that it is very much like a book.

The only thing I've found not so good is if the author refers to something that happened earlier and I want to zip back to re-read it. I can zip through a physical book very quickly, usually finding what I want within a couple of seconds. The Kindle takes a bit more time.

It's even harder on the kindle keyboard.

The phone Kindle is remarkably easy to read, and though you turn pages quickly, it's not tiring or bothersome.

Like Gnomon, such a small display would drive me crazy.

The only advantage to having the app on my phone is when I get delayed somewhere and I don't have my tablet. Like an extended wait in a doctor's office, for example. The beauty of it is that I am automatically synced with the location where I left off on the other device.