The death of the book is a prophecy that we in rhet/comp are particularly familiar with, as is the related heralding of e-books as the birth of a superior reading technology. In "from Pixels to Pencils," Denis Barron acknowledges that "[a]s the old technologies become automatic and invisible, we find ourselves more concerned with fighting or embracing what's new" (31). This is certainly true of how the media represents our new writing (and reading) technologies. They want us to pick a side and according to publications like Time magazine, there are only two sides to choose from. Apparently, making decisions contextually based on the strengths and weaknesses of a technology as it relates to our particular needs, is not an option. Between these “inflated predictions of how technologies will change our lives for the
better” (19) and dire predictions of how they will lead to our demise, we have a polarization almost as fun as our political system. As teachers of writing and scholars of literacy, we are particularly invested in this technology debate. This Christmas, I became further invested as a consumer and early adopter of the newest digital reading device, Amazon's Kindle.

To be honest, in spite of the fact that I told my mother not to spend what I feel is an exorbitant amount of money, I was thrilled to find it waiting under the tree. Would it be as great as promised? A digital savior that would alleviate the eye strain of reading on a computer screen and prevent the frequent back pain that results from carrying too many books. (As a side note, I'm writing this from a fairly horizontal position so that my back can rest on a heating pad. I believe that books are to blame.) My initial reaction to reading the welcome letter and instructions that came preloaded was one of excitement. This really was a different kind of screen. The device weighs less than a standard paperback and has an absurdly long battery life. Although I was out in the country at my brother's house, I immediately tried to download free book chapters using the Kindle's special wireless service, Whispernet. Described as analogous to cellular phone networks, Whispernet should work from any location. Uhm, apparently this does not include Santee, SC. When I got back to the city, the wireless worked but nothing would download to the Kindle. After trying to solve it online, I was left with the option of calling tech support, which was, of course, closed for the holiday. The Kindle was not making a good first impression on this reader. Four days later the Kindle spontaneously started working. (Another side note: Waiting under another tree was a Nintendo DS. The non-functioning was put aside in favor of the well-functioning gaming toy!)

Kindling is used to start fires. Perhaps Amazon believes that this new device will successfully kindle interest among readers and, unlike its predecessors, succeed in the consumer market. All I could think of was the connection between fires and book burning.

So far, e-books haven't lived up to their promise. They haven't revolutionized the reading world. For the most part ebooks have fallen into two categories. The first, as mentioned by Stephen Bernhardt, is hypertextual reading, an activity almost entirely exclusive (we mustn't forget the choose-your-own-adventure books of our childhood) to new digital technologies and, while I don't agree with Bernhardt's assessment that for many of these texts "reading is not the primary or ultimate goal" (155), I do believe that the reading strategies employed differ significantly from the strategies used when reading print texts. Much of our online reading could be best described as grazing or perhaps snacking as opposed to eating an entire meal. The way that we read online is necessarily different from the ways that we read a book, if for no other reason than the overwhelming number of options in hypertext. Linear reading, while possible in some online texts, is fairly rare. Previous attempts at creating electronic book reading devices, such as the Sony e-reader, have not been adopted widely by consumers and have ultimately been unsuccessful at penetrating the market. As a result computers are still the primary means of reading electronic writing.

The second type of ebook (the one that most tries to function like a book) is the pdf document. Unfortunately the pdf fails to take advantage of the technologies available while also falling short of the ease of reading that a printed book offers (with regard to eye strain). The pdf document, while it does lighten my messenger bag, does not provide me with the ease of use that a bound and printed text does. Even more troublesome is the difficulty annotating pdf text. While there are a multitude of software application that provide annotation functions, they are frequently cumbersome, slow to load and tend to take twice as long to use as a pen and highlighter.

Of course, as Baron points out, the success of a technology is greatly dependent on the ways that it is able to mimic other older and accepted technologies. Once a literacy technology becomes widely accepted “the technology come[s] into its own, no longer imitating the previous forms given us by the earlier communication. technology but creating new forms and new possibilities for communication” (16). Perhaps the e-book has yet to “come into its own” or perhaps the Kindle will succeed where others have failed. What is most interesting is how the Kindle seems to be following the pattern of development described by Baron. The screen has been designed to function like digital ink and paper. It is most definitely a different reading experience from other forms of electronic reading devices. It also tries to imitate the weight and size of a book. In fact, it comes with a carrying case that opens like a book. (and a fun side note—the packaging is also made to look like a book). With regard to usabiity, once I became accustomed to the buttons on either side of the device and stopped inadvertently “turning pages,” I have found the Kindle fairly easy to use. It’s still difficult to flip through pages as I might like. I certainly can’t randomly locate a page of interest the way I might in a printed book. The menus can be tedious and require a miniscule learning curve that is nevertheless annoying when compared to my familiarity with books. Still, I currently have several weeks of the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and The Nation as well as about fifteen sample chapters from books (I have yet to buy one.) and it all fits into my handbag and unlike a small computer, the eye-strain is virtually non-existent. A further benefit of the Kindle (and a further nod to Baron’s description of technological development) is how it has borrowed from other devices—using a cell phone-like technology to disseminate materials and featuring a qwerty keyboard input resembling that of the Blackberry and similar devices.