"Computer Programmer" on Kindles & books

None of the books I’ve read ever required a battery.

I’ve never had to worry about dropping a book and having it break in such a way that I couldn’t read any more books.

If I lose or otherwise misplace a book, I can still read other books.

None of my books on my shelves have any sort of physical copy protection on them.

If any of my books get wet, they are easily dried off. Some of the pages may wrinkle. But the books are still usable.

None of the books I’ve read had a “screen” that gets scratched or broken. That’s because none of them has a screen.

Some of the books on my shelf, including college books, are decades old. There are no compatibility problems getting them to “work”.

It is very easy to open a book so that items on facing pages are both viewed at the same time. This is very handy with maps and other graphics. Not sure if that can be done on a small “kindle-ish” device.

Am I a Luddite? Maybe, but after almost 30 years in MIS / IS / IT and automation, I know a little bit about “not-always-appropriate” technology. (Electronic voting is, at the moment, only one prominent example. Anyone out there trying to read computer files written with Wordstar on 5.25″ floppy disks?)

I agree that the cost of college textbooks is insane. However, a good textbook that lasts decades can provide the owner with benefits that far outweigh the original cost.

— Computer Programmer

Democratic Group's Proposal: Give Each Student a Kindle