Amazon's Kindle 2 Starts A Fire

I've had Amazon's Kindle 2 for the past couple of weeks, and I am really glad I bought one. I thought I'd take some time to share what I've found with you in case you're considering buying one.

First, I'd like to give you some context to better understand where I'm coming from.

• Contrary to my gadget-loving nature I didn't buy the first Kindle (though I was chomping at the bit to pick up version 2).
• This is my first time using an electronic reader, and I've never liked reading long documents (much less books) on a computer.
• I read quite a few books -- typically 4 or more each month, and usually with more than one going at a time (one or more business / non-fiction, one fiction, etc.).
• When I travel, I typically have 3 or 4 books with me which can be heavy and bulky.

The Device

I'll start with my impressions of the device itself. Amazon took a cue from Apple and really paid attention to the "unboxing experience" with the Kindle. The elegantly boxed arrived and I felt like I was opening a gift, rather than just some gadget I ordered. The fit & finish are impressive - this is a sturdy, light device - and it has a nice minimalist feel. The only items you need to carry around are the Kindle itself (about as big a footprint as a Moleskine notebook, but thinner than an iPhone), a USB cable that you use for charging and connecting to your PC, and a USB-to-AC adapter so you can charge via an electrical outlet).

I added Amazon's protective leather cover for the Kindle 2, which about doubles the thickness of the device but gives me peace of mind that it won't get dinged up as I carry the Kindle around. Click the image at right for a larger view of all the gear together.

Obtaining Stuff to Read

One of the things that's been a breeze is buying books for the Kindle. The device is integrated seamlessly with my Amazon account, so I can:

• Buy Kindle books via the Amazon web site, and they show up seconds later on my Kindle 2
• Browse or search for books on the Kindle, order (with automatic billing to my account)

These are the two most common actions, but there are other ways to get content to read, including:

• You can email PDF's and Word docs to yourself and (for a cost of 10 cents) they will be converted and appear on your Kindle a few minutes later. If you are a GTD user, this could be an effective way to bring your "To Read" stack with you without adding bulk to your briefcase. You can also add others to your email "good list" so they can send you documents this way.
• You can subscribe to newspapers (of which there are quite a few) or magazines (there aren't many) from Amazon's Kindle Store.
• You can subscribe to a small number of leading blogs (more are purportedly coming) so you can read your RSS feeds on the go.
• You can get free books via ManyBooks - they have Kindle format versions of many books from Project Gutenberg.
• ManyBooks has over 20,000 free eBooks available, and a bunch of them are available in Kindle format (.awz files).
• You can also browse to "mnybks.net" from your Kindle to download from ManyBooks directly on the device.
• If you download the books to your PC, you have to manually copy them to your Kindle 2 via the USB cable but hey - they're free!

In addition to reading, you can listen to things on the Kindle in a couple of ways:

• Have the Kindle read a book to you in its robot voice (I'm not wild about the voice, but it might be good in some situation I haven't yet encountered).
• Copy MP3's to your Kindle (again, via USB) so you can listen to music or audiobooks on the device. Warning: MP3 files take a lot of space (but Kindle format books do not).

Book prices are reasonable. First, you can download samples of books to decide whether you want them or not. When you buy, most current / hardcover titles cost $10, while older / massmarket paperback books range from free to about $8 (most of the massmarket books I've bought run about $6 or $7).

The best thing? The Kindle weighs the same and takes up the same amount of space no matter how many books you put in it.

OK, So What About the Reading?

Now, let's get into the reason I bought this device: the reading. In short, "wow - this is cool, and better than I expected." You start with a home page that shows you all of the books currently on your Kindle, with a small, graphical indicator of how much you've read. When you find what you want to read, point to it using the joystick and press in on the joystick to select. Boom - the book comes up on the screen and you're ready to read.

The controls on the Kindle 2 are easy to use and you forget about them after a few minutes of reading (you'll mostly use the Previous and Next Page buttons). At any time, you can mark text, add annotations, add a bookmark, or look up a word using the built-in dictionary. You can also switch to another book, and the Kindle 2 will remember where you left off any time you return to a book already in progress. Very nice.

The on-screen reading experience is surprisingly good. I have read for up to 4 hours at a stretch with no eye fatigue, and find I can read faster on the Kindle than I can using a "real" book. I suspect it's because I can adjust the text to a size that's optimal and because the whitespace around the screen makes it easier to focus on the page that's before me.

The annotation tools are handy, too. Since I often review the books I read (or at least the ones I like), I find myself using the highlights a lot and they're a snap to use on the Kindle 2. In the screen shot at the right, you can get an idea of how easy it is to keep track of multiple highlights and annotations - click the pic for a larger view (and please excuse the wonky angle - I didn't get the camera straight).

Net-net on the Kindle 2

Once again, I'm really glad I bought the Kindle 2. If you read a lot, you'll love this device - and I think heavy readers will be able to justify the expensive price much more easily. There are so many things I haven't even mentioned in this review, but hopefully you've heard enough to get an idea whether this device is right for you or not. If you still want one, pick one up a Kindle 2 from Amazon - and happy reading!

And here are my top 5 pros and cons, to wrap things up.

Kindle 2: Top 5 Pros	Kindle 2: Bottom 5 Cons
Excellent, readable screen with adjustable font size	Expensive
Seamless integration with Amazon account	Joystick is a little stubby and harder to use than I'd like
Huge library of current (and older) books available on-demand	Battery and memory are not user-accessible
Very portable form factor, even with charging cable	No ability to password protect the device or its ability to order (though you can disable it via Amazon.com if it's stolen)
Easy bookmarking, highlighting, and annotation	Not enough magazines available for subscription yet

David Allen: Making It All Work

As you may know from my past writing here, I have been a follower of David Allen’s Getting Things Done (GTD)  methodology for many years.  It’s been a cycle of awesome productivity, interspersed with frustration and thrash.  Why?  I tend to get bored with repetition and systems, even when I see their value and GTD has been no different.  Well, to be fair, it’s been a bit different because I’ve noticed that I am able to stick with GTD much longer than many other processes.  But it’s still a bit of a struggle.

The promise of a book

When I heard about David Allen’s new book, “Making It All Work,” I preordered my copy pretty early.  I was intrigued by its premise (promise?):

“Making It All Work” addresses: How to figure out where you are in life and what you need; How to be your own consultant and the CEO of your life; Moving from hope to trust in decision-making; When not to set goals; Harnessing intuition,spontaneity, and serendipity; And why life is like business and business is like life.

So, now I’ve read the book – did it deliver?

First, this book is not a substitute for the original.  It’s more like a sequel, building on the solid foundation of GTD and extending it with some of the lessons and new perspectives David has learned since his methodology has become a phenomenon.

If you have read the first book, you’ll find some useful thought in this book from David himself, some of which may help clear any stumbling blocks you’ve encountered in your adoption of GTD.

Some of the things I picked up in this book are simply shifts in perspective – like thinking of your lists and notes as “bookmarks” to help you go back to where you were later.  I don’t do anything differently, but I find I’m more likely to “bookmark” with my lists now, and I often treat the bookmarks more like pointers than dissertations (and pointers are quicker, also making it more likely I will do this).

I was pleased to find that there are some new topics and methods in this book.  For example, the section dealing with Capturing has been expanded to include quite a bit of detail on brainstorming, processing, and clarification of what you’ve captured.  This section includes quite a collection of best practices.

A clearer map

David also includes quite a few mind maps that helped me, due to my visual thinking tendencies. There are maps showing how to make more effective lists, become more output-focused in your thinking, better cope with projects and reference materials, and quite a few other areas that often felt mysterious to me during my GTD journey.

There is also some solid material about weekly reviews (which I knew about but certainly haven’t perfected).

All of this converges in the book with the goal of helping you become better at managing your life by becoming better at GTD.  Of course, a book can’t provision good habits and consistent practice.  That’s the tough part.  And that’s where my trouble lives, I realize.

If you’re committed to GTD, you’ll get a lot out of “Making It All Work.”  If you’re new to GTD start with the first GTD book, then pick this one up after you have the basics down.

DIY with expert guidance

My wife and I are having some remodeling done to make our house more hospitable for her father, who can no longer deal with stairs.  We’ve had some excellent assistance from a contractor for “big stuff” like adding a shower on the ground floor. 

In addition, we’re taking the opportunity to perform some other maintenance and updates, but are doing those ourselves to try to save some money.  One of the projects was to repair or replace a pocket door in one of our rooms, and it wasn’t obvious to me just how to do the job.

In the process of researching the topic, I came across “Ron Hazelton’s HouseCalls” site.  This is an excellent resource for do-it-yourself home repair jobs.  I started with “How to Repair and Replace a Pocket Door,” but you can search the site and there are tons of relevant, practical tutorials from Ron.

Each one has very clear, step-by-step instructions (with pictures), tells you what tools you’ll need, and offers printable instructions.  Most of the topics even include videos you can watch online to see how things ought to be done.

This resource is a real time saver and confidence builder.  If you’ve got home repairs that you want to tackle on your own, check out Ron’s site.

What about you – any favorite DIY resources to share?