Comments on: Amazon Kindle Book Reader Review

By: Kelly

Kelly — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:35:23 +0000

I love my kindle…I never even thought about it being \green\ just that I had easy access to my books and then didn’t have tons of books laying around that I had to figure out what to do with. I think I am exposed to different kinds of books as well. Because I live in a rural area, there is not Borders Books around me or a used book store for that matter so I can go on Amazon and look at different Genres and upload them to Kindle and read on.

By: Eric

Eric — Fri, 07 Aug 2009 21:16:48 +0000

It seems that you’re happy to grab information on the Kindle’s green features and the not-so-green aspects of books, but I feel like you didn’t really give this a balanced look.

Books DO cost resources to produce, but once you have those resources, the book is finished, and it’ll last for maybe 40 years. What’s the lifetime of the Kindle? Is there mercury used in its construction? What’s the lifetime of its Li-ion batteries? How much power are you using to charge it and run it? What are the costs associated with building, assembling, and shipping a kindle? Or the costs of maintaining servers and data centers to service it? All of those have an impact on its greenness as well.

The used book store point someone brought up earlier is pretty valid. The average price of a used book changes your calculation on how much money a Kindle saves you. Used books are also already printed, so you’re picking up what someone else doesn’t want rather than consuming the resources of printing a new one.

I’m not anti-Kindle, but I think your review was a little slanted.

By: Michele

Michele — Tue, 23 Jun 2009 08:31:05 +0000

I just heard a Kindle vs. Google report on the NPR books podcast. Here’s the story in text: http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=105169795
It sounds as if the Google version, even though it’s still corporate-owned, would allow independent booksellers in on the action. Thought you might be interested!

By: Tomoko

Tomoko — Mon, 22 Jun 2009 03:43:51 +0000

I’m sure you would love reading Laura Fair Rose.

http://www.amazon.com/Laura-Fair-Rose/dp/B002D48KWG

By: heather

heather — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 13:45:13 +0000

Hi Everyone!

Thanks so much for taking the time to write in about this! I’m so sorry it I haven’t been responding to every comment; I’m on vacation in Louisiana visiting family and the Internet signal here is terribly slow.

I want to quickly respond to Margi’s comment. Margi, I completely agree with you; I love used bookstores, and feel strongly that buying used should be people’s first option. The only reason I didn’t bring that up in this post is because this was solely a review of the Kindle. I have written several times in the past on the benefits of buying used books versus new.

Now, although I love my Kindle and feel it’s a great product, I don’t believe that it will ever pose a real threat to used bookstores. I just don’t think enough people will want to jump into digital reading. Granted, I’m not in that industry, but it just seems as if more people will always want the more tactile reading experience of ink and paper.

Thanks again to everyone for writing in. I love it when a post sparks debate! I’ll be back to my regular posting and commenting starting on Thursday.

By: Margi

Margi — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 20:11:13 +0000

Wow, well i guess one can not argue the fact that “kindle” saves paper and perhaps time, although there are distractions while book shopping whether it be in person or online. I am a bit disappointed at this plug for amazon owned Kindle (no wonder the good reviews), books are a true treasure to be shared, we need to educate people to buy used books, share books with friends, visit the library. There is fear among the used bookstore owners that Kindle will hurt us, permanently, i believe a certain segment of our society will gravitate to Kindle and the like, however, i also believe that one point you missed is that being “green” and caring for our environment also falls into community, creating community and being a part of community – most used bookstores are VERY active in the local community, hosting local authors, reading groups, story hours, coffee clubs…. raising a level of awareness. And of course, buying local helps support not only the bookstore owner, who usually lives and shops in the community, but it supports the banker, the auto mechanic, the farmers market, etc. the trickle down effect on buying local is HUGE.

As a used bookstore owner, who normally loves your site … i wish you had just mentioned a couple of other facts. Like the processing power (energy) behind operating a website like amazon, and Kindle.

Thank you for letting me vent…. Support Independent Bookstores, reuse, reread

By: Simple Living News Update: Week of June 8

Simple Living News Update: Week of June 8 — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 12:05:26 +0000

[...] Kindle Product Review [...]

By: Kate

Kate — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 02:28:10 +0000

I too love my Kindle. I take it with me each day and read before appointments or whenever I have a few minutes. I mainly read non-fiction on it: blogs and magazines. I wish the blog selection was better – more indie/smaller blogs, like yours.

By: Rebecca Rivera

Rebecca Rivera — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 17:33:04 +0000

my blog is: http://strivingtoliveeachdayhisway.blogspot.com/

By: Rebecca Rivera

Rebecca Rivera — Sat, 13 Jun 2009 17:32:37 +0000

Thanks for introducing me to the kindle, but for now I will stick with my paper books. I usually buy used and pass along when I am done, so that makes them frugal and green in that I am recyceling them.

Please check out my blog as I am having my first ever contest. It is to benefit another single, work at hom, hoemschool mom (like myself.) Thanks!