I bow to no-one in my geekiness. iPhone. iPad. You name it. So my joy was unbridled when the Amazon Kindle was announced. Geeky. Contains thousands of books. Weighs less than nothing. Provokes conversations with strangers on the train. Perfect.
So, why have I used my shiny new Kindle once in the last ten months? Well, because while the Kindle contains books, it isn’t actually a book. It’s a facsimile. A good facsimile, but a facsimile all the same. Commentators have focused on all the benefits – ease of download, portability, storage, etc. – but I have to ask myself whether these things matter that much – to me, at least. I don’t think so. This is a conversation about the journey vs. the destination. In other words, is our life about finding the least hassle-free way to get to where we need to go? To minimise the extent to which we are even aware of the journey? Or is there some sense in which the journey is/can/should be as important as the destination. A sense that the act and experience of reading should matter as much as the words themselves.
I think so. And this is something that the Authenticity section of Mox Nox in Rem will be returning to frequently in the future.
Meanwhile, if you want to buy a Kindle, let me know.