A Dedicated E-Reader

One of my Christmas gifts from my wife was a Kindle Fire or E-Reader. It is something I wanted and appreciate her getting it for me. On Monday I headed to California and used it instead of bringing a number of books and other reading material. I have to say that I really appreciated having a small electronic book. Had I brought paper copies, I would have added a lot of weight.

My wife and I are preparing to hike Mt. Rainier in July and the recommended training guide can be found in a book called "Training for the Uphill Athlete." My wife purchased the Kindle version of the book and because our Amazon accounts are linked, I also have access to it. It is a rather hefty book and I am glad I didn't have to carry the paper copy. I started reading the book while waiting to depart Salt Lake and made great progress before even getting on my flight. I continued reading while headed to Los Angeles. Then I read on the way back home. I am now about half way through and have enjoyed the experience.

While in Los Angeles I had some other personal reading that I like to do at breakfast. I brought my e-reader to the hotel buffet and enjoyed a leisurely pace while I ate and read. I liked not having to carry a second book with me.

Now there is a problem with using an e-reader before bed. The Kindle Fire is really a small Android tablet and I am concerned about blue light keeping me up and making it difficult to sleep. While reading on the flight home, the screen seemed to almost have an e-paper look to it. This leads me to believe that the device shouldn't keep me up any more than reading a book. I will have to do some more testing though.

I feel like I had a successful first trip with my Kindle and look forward to using it more often. Any time you can cut down on the stuff you need to bring on a trip, you should. I always try to carry just a small computer bag and a small backpack. If I could condense everything down to a single bag, I would. The Kindle is a small step towards that direction.