A Pean To Kindle

No doubt, gentle reader, you have noticed a lackadaisical attitude towards frequent posting hereabouts.  Guilty as charged.  Since its inception, I've mostly blogged about things I encountered while cruising about the Internet.  But lately, I've slacked considerably from daily peripatetic perusing of the pandemic punditry because I've found a new love, the Amazon Kindle.

Now I probably shouldn't tell you this for fear you sill stop reading my blog, or any blog.  Blog reading, while entertaining, is detrimental to the ability to think.  Small tidbits of unconnected information consumed as if from a smörgåsbord of data leads to shallow short attention span thinking. Reading long form material lends itself to prolonged concentration and logical progression on the way to a well reasoned conclusion.  In other words, to think a thought until it is well thunk takes concentration.  Flitting from blog to blog lends itself to distraction, the continual diversion of thought.  Reading a book, on the other hand, lends itself to instruction and fruitful cogitation.

This is not an original idea from me.  See, for instance, T. David Gordon's book "Why Johnny Can't Preach".

Mother's vision is afflicted by macrodegeneration.  Part of the retina is detached, dried out, and dead.  The center, the focus, of her vision is a big black spot.  She still has peripheral vision, but dead ahead is blank.  In order to read, she has to look off to the side and try to spell out the words.  Very tiring.  She also suffers the more usual age induced vision impairment requiring larger and larger fonts.  We progressed through the super giant print Bible and are now living beyond even that threshold.  So, for Christmas, she got a Kindle.

Oh joy!  The Kindle allows 8 levels of font enlargement.  More than that, the Kindle will read to her when her eyes get so tired the begin tearing and blurring.  With a Kindle, she can read again!

We got her a 30" LCD monitor for her computer.  With the aid of the magnifier program native to Windows, she can read most anything on that screen.  In fact, we can set in the next room and read over her shoulder :)  But the backlit screen is itself an aggravation to her vision and tires her eyes.  But, oh wonder!, the e-ink technology of the Kindle screen is like reading black print on white paper.  Much easier on the eyes.  And it is eminently readable even in direct sunlight.

I have also become enchanted with the lightweight device.  I once took an Evelyn Woods Reading Dynamics course and became a speed reader.  I once could read a couple thousand words per minute with over 90% comprehension.  Alas, the key to speed reading is rapidly shifting your focus to one or two spots per page, and my eyes no longer focus fast enough.  When my gaze shifts, is take an appreciable instant for the focus to sharpen.  I now read books at the rate of about 300 words per minute.  Or much slower for technical matter or things, like the Bible, that require serious mental engagement.  But, with the Kindle, I can adjust the font size and the number of words per line such that I can focus on one spot in the middle of the screen and, pressing the side bar to advance the pages, move the words instead of my eyes.  Speed reading is back!  Although I have lost some skill through long neglect.

I propose to fill up some of the blanks in my blog posting routine by regaling you with reports of what we are reading.  If you would like to share the experience, the rest of this post will be given over to information for new Kindle owners.  Much of this I recently compiled for an email to a friend who recently acquired a Kindle.

I am indebted to Tim Challies recent post, "Building an eBook Library on the Cheap" and the more recent Nathan Bingham post, "Amazon Kindle Tips, Tricks, and Resources".

First, a free program which will convert text and html, etc, to mobi format suitable for reading on Kindle.

http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadSoft/DownloadCreator.asp

Second, some web sites loaded with free and inexpensive ebooks...

Christian Kindle Books on a Budget http://www.inspiredreads.com/
Project Gutenberg, US: http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page or http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/
Project Gutenberg Australia:  http://gutenberg.net.au/ (lots of free books in text format which you can buy in Kindle format for $4 or use the utility above to convert into .mobi format for your own use)
Puritan Library:  http://puritanlibrary.com
Kindle Review: http://ireaderreview.com/
Books on the Knob: http://blog.booksontheknob.org/
Christian Classic Ethereal Library: http://www.ccel.org/
Bring The Books: http://www.bringthebooks.org/search/label/Free%20Kindle%20Book
Cheap Nonfiction eBooks: http://www.cheapnonfiction.com/

Third, my top recommendation for Christian bibliophiles who get a Kindle..

Christian Books Collection ($7.99): http://www.amazon.com/Christian-Collection-Theologica-Commentary-ebook/dp/B004L9LBNG/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1307841284&sr=1-2
This contains dozens of classic books including Calvin's Institutes (the very good Beveridge translation), 4 selections from Luther, Bunyan's "Pilgrim's Progress", Dante's "Divine Comedy", Thomas Acquinas, John Milton, Lew Wallace's "Ben-Hur", etc etc. See the listing for an idea. A huge bargain. Some of these book will appear individually in the list below.

Fourth, Free ($0.00) from Amazon. Follow link for book description.

"Charles Hodge's "What Is Darwinism?": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RKRM02
Thomas Aquinas "On Prayer And The Contemplative Life": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RKS6LQ
Thornton Burgess "Old Mother West Wind", first in the children's book series: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RKRUWW
Sallust, "Conspiracy of Catelline", ancient Roman history by an ancient Roman historian, but a very readable translation: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JQUXMA
Andrew Murray, "A Plea For More Prayer": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RKRXJC
Andrew Murray, "The Master's Indwelling": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RKR6P8
Archibald Sayce, "Ancient Israel and the Surrounding Nations": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RKTN1S  A surprisingly informative history and geography which includes some economic and cultural history of the Old Testament world. I recommend it.
Chesterton, "Orthodoxy": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JMLDCS
Thomas Paine, "Common Sense": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RKRQEY
John Bunyan, "Pilgrim's Progress": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002RKSZOE/ref=yml_dp
Arthur Conan Doyle, "Adventures of Sherlock Holmes": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000JQU1VS/ref=yml_dp

Fifth, $0.99 (ninety-nine cents) from Amazon...

Westminster Shorter Catechism with Proof Texts: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002H9XN06
Alexis de Tocqueville, "Democracy In America, vols 1 and 2": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00307S1MY HIGHLY recommended
McGarvey, "FourFold Gospel or a Harmony of the Four Gospels": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0033PRXK4recommended
The Didache: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00315684S
Suetonius, "The Lives of the Twelve Ceasers": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004L9LPTG
The Works of Mark Twain, 24 books plus short stories: http://www.amazon.com/Classic-American-Literature-improved-ebook/dp/B002FQJQ20/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1308185349&sr=1-1-spell
Augustine, "On Grace and Free Will": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003M0N9LW

Sixth, bargains I recommend from Amazon...

$1.99 Works of Jonathan Edwards, vols 1 and 2, plus Religious Affections and others, mobile reference Kindle edition: http://www.amazon.com/Jonathan-Religious-Affections-Collected-ebook/dp/B004L9L15E/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1307843469&sr=1-1-fkmr1
$1.99 Athanasius, "On the Incarnation": http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002MAP6CS
$2.18 The Works of Richard Baxter: http://www.amazon.com/Unconverted-Slighting-Everlasting-Collected-ebook/dp/B004L642VC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1308184934&sr=1-2
$4.79 Complete Works of Josephus Flavius including "War of the Jews" and "Antiquities":  http://www.amazon.com/Complete-Works-Josephus-Flavius-ebook/dp/B004L9LRWG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&m=AG56TWVU5XWC2&s=digital-text&qid=1308185072&sr=1-1

Well, that is certainly enough to get anyone started.  I don't know what a person might spend to accumulate such a library as this in hard bound or paperback books, but I reckon the savings will make a serious dent in the $139 price of a Kindle.

A note of caution.  Prices change often at Amazon.  For instance, Crossway's ESV Bible was listed for $0.00 for a while.  Now that page says it is not available in the United States for that price.  Go for it you folks in other countries.  Keep your eye out for bargains and promotions.  Sometimes publishers will put a special promotional price on new releases.