A “LATE ADOPTER” – AND PROUD OF IT

I'm what the marketing industry likes to call a "late adopter". Well, that's what they used to call it. It probably has some wanky new 21st century equivalent now. You see, I'm in that category of people that does embrace new technology eventually. We just like to take our time over it. Take Amazon's Kindle for example - something over which I freely admit I have pondered and pontificated for an unseemly length of time.

The problem is (or was) that I am just one of those people who love books: the feel, the smell, the design of the covers and the anticipation of going into a bookstore (here's hoping they won't be lost for ever in the march for something "new") in the anticipation of finding a book I'd long wanted, or one I never knew I wanted but am inexplicably seduced into buying.

I am always slightly suspicious of houses without books - and I never get tired of glancing over at the floor to ceiling bookshelves in my own; seeing something familiar, a purchase I have still to read, or an offering I never even knew I had.

Now that I have my Kindle and have taken it off on my travels, I have become something of a convert. For me – and I am sure a lot of people – it is not going to replace books. There will be certain novels, biographies or reference volumes I will always want to own and keep in hard copy form.

But for sheer ease and convenience, the Kindle (and other such similar devices) has much to recommend it.  Gone are the days, if you’re an avid reader, of packing a stash of books for the beach – and the device is so much easier to handle than some of those weighty tomes, whether you are propped up in bed, lounging by the pool or sitting on a plane.

The point here, however - and it’s one I return to – is that we can have the best of both worlds.  The view, propelled by some, that if it’s not new, trendy and fashionable it’s not worth bothering with is frankly pretentious rubbish.

I can see now, after just a few weeks, the great appeal of the Kindle, but I am also firmly attached to the idea of buying and keeping for the future certain books to enjoy again or just dip into from time-to-time

And, as with so many things in modern day life, please let’s not fall into the trap of wanting to reinvent everything just because we have the technology to do so.  Just because it’s new, doesn’t mean it is automatically right - or best.