By John Zimmerman?letters to the editor
I am responding to Ms. Parkhill”s recent editorial “Where is the advantage in digitizing books?” I own and use a Kindle, which she refers to, and find that it offers the following advantages:
1) Digitizing books reduces the destruction of trees used in the manufacture of books ? something to be considered in an era of global warming;
2) The ability to convert speech is a wonderful benefit for the sight impaired;
3) The Kindle lets you adjust the size of the text, another plus for the sight impaired, or anyone who has difficulty reading the fine print common in many books;
5) The screen is non-reflective ? it is very easy on the eyes;
6) It has a built-in dictionary. Regardless of what you are reading, you can quickly look up the definition of a word;
7) You can search for any word or phrase and quickly find it;
8) You can shop for books and newspapers with your Kindle, purchase them, and have them available within 1 – 3 minutes;
9) You can download books that are sold out and not have to wait for more physical copies to become available;
10) You can carry a library of 1,500 books in a Kindle, and keep many more in storage that the manufacturer provides. If you find you are running out of physical space for your conventional paper book library, the Kindle or similar device may be the answer;
11) The Kindle makes it so much easier to read a book ? there are no pages to turn, and in the case of large hardback editions, no big, bulky thing that soon tires your arms.
I do agree with Ms. Parkhill that digitized books do not allow us to give copies to friends and other organizations ? but who knows? If everyone owned a Kindle …
John Zimmerman
Clearlake Oaks
