I first got “Kindlized” in March 2008. Now, nearly two years later I have been “nooked”. The “e-book” — replacing the paper book with something electronic — is not a new idea. Project Gutenberg started in 1971 and has a collection of more than 30,000 books which have been digitized. Digital books can be read on a PC and there are various software offerings that can enable you to read books on your mobile phone or personal digital assistant. Over the years there have been various “e-book readers” introduced. The idea behind the e-book reader is to have a dedicated device that is optimized for reading. I had never met anyone, myself included, that found reading a book on a PC, a handheld device, or an e-book reader to be a good experience. For years I had believed that the day would come but that so far nothing had compared to a real book. That was before I became “Kindlized”.
After reading Ken Follet’s The Pillars of the Earth in a new and comfortable way, I was hooked. I had recently purchased the paperback version of “Pillars” for $14.97 and was about half-way through the gripping 1,000 page novel. With my new acquisition I visited the Kindle bookstore on the device and keyed in “pillars”. I selected the Follet novel and in less than a minute the Kindle version was ready to read. The $7.99 charge for the e-book was automatically placed on my credit card. There is no login, user id, password or network connection process. The “Amazon Whispernet” (from Sprint) is totally seamless. At the time there were 100,000 kindlized books — now there are more than 390,000. You can even get  Net Attitude on the Kindle. As for reading books, I have reached the point where I won’t buy a paper book anymore. If it isn’t on the Kindle, I don’t want to read it. Maybe I will miss something but 390,000 books will keep me busy for a very long time.
A year later I migrated to the Kindle 2 — now known as the Kindle and also got a Kindle DX for use in aviation — it is great for airport and approach charts.  Now along comes the Barnes & Noble nook. I could not resist getting the new gadget. It is similar to the Kindle but different in a number of ways. One very nice feature is that you can “loan” a book to a friend. It is an electronic sharing and the friend can only have it for two weeks and then must buy their own if they haven’t finished with it. Barnes & Noble has also nicely integrated their e-book with their stores. Free WiFi and some free reading of the day. I don’t spend much time in stores but many people do. I think it is a good feature. As for the device itself, it is very nice but quite a bit heavier than the Kindle and not nearly as intuitive — at least so far. Getting it out of the packaging and getting familiar took much longer than the Kindle. The nook has a color screen at the bottom of the main display which shows the cover of the book and provides navigation. I need to give it more time but initial impression is that the Kindle is quite a bit better. It is a joy to use. Once I finish the juicy Ken Follett novel I am reading on the Kindle I will begin another novel on the nook and see how it goes. Stay tuned.
The Chinese invention of paper in 105 A.D. changed the way the world communicates. The invention of e-ink” may change it again. The electronic-paper display provides a sharp, high-resolution screen that looks and reads like real paper. The screen displays the ink particles electronically. It reflects light like ordinary paper and uses no backlighting. While the technology is racing forward, the publishers are stuck in the past. Several of them have announced that they will make new best sellers available on e-books only after at least several months. They think that if a hot new book comes out you will go to a store or online and buy the physical book. They don’t understand or are in self denial about how passionate e-book readers are. They say if books “deteriorate” to being sold for $9.99 (or less) as e-books that the result will be that consumers will end up with fewer new books to choose from. One would think that after seeing what (predictably) happened to music that they would embrace e-books in a major way rather than wait wait wait. I do not see books disappearing but they will become more collector items and niche items for those who want them Books will also become more expensive.
e-books are here to stay and they will get better and better. One e-book holds thousands of books and yet my grandchildren carry tens of pounds of books in their backpacks and have to bend over to carry the weight. When they tell their children about this it will seem very strange.

• Nook Epilogue
• Other gadget related stories on patrickWeb