The Kindle and Me

It's probably no secret that after my trip I'll be landing squarely in China and living there for a while.

So even though I'm in India, I'm beginning to plan for the inevitable. And in that vain, I'm thinking about investing in an Amazon Kindle e-book reader.

Back in the US, I would consider a Kindle a fancy gadget that is a waste of money. But abroad, an e-book reader has three distinct advantages:

First, English-language bookstores are few and far between in China, even in major cities. Kindle would give me a quite large selection of books to choose from, despite my location abroad.

Second, the cheaper cost of books in electronic format is significant. For a bookworm like myself, this can really add up. Maybe not $250 add up, but it can at least defray the cost.

Third, books are heavy, and I move around a lot. I figure that in the future, having a library of books that I have accumulated over the years will be useful if I continue to jump from place to place


So you can see why even though I would consider the Kindle an unnecessary $250 expense in the US, over in Asia it could actually make sense, even for a poor traveler such as myself.

BUT then I read that the Kindle isn't available in China. Come on people, I'm thinking, China is supposed to be the next big thing.

So scrap the Kindle plan.

BUT then I read that not only is there a work-around (downloading ebooks to your computer and then transferring them to the Kindle), but China already has its own fake version of the Kindle! In retrospect, would I have expected anything less of China?

And so now I'm happy. I guess it's the little things in life.