Chapter 2. Reading Books
AMAZON CEO JEFF BEZOS has always had one big design goal for the Kindle: to make it “disappear in your hands so you can enjoy your reading.” Even though the Fire’s the heaviest, most feature-packed model in the family, it meets its dad’s main objective. Whether you’re a Kindle veteran, an occasional smartphone reader, or even a hardcover lover, you’ll find it easy to read on the Fire.
Two things in particular make the Fire a good alternative to print. First: choice. There may be bigger online catalogs, but no one beats Amazon when it comes to titles people actually want to read. Google’s eBookstore, for example, boasts three million titles—and those are just the free ones! But if you ever wade deep into those virtual stacks, you’ll find lots of shoddily scanned snooze inducers. Meanwhile, Amazon has deals in place with more or less every publisher around. And thanks to its own fast-growing editorial operation, the lineup of Amazon-only authors—early names include Tim Ferris and Seth Godin—is impressive.
The Fire’s second big attraction is Amazon’s focus on the reading experience. When historians write up the tectonic shift from print to digital, the company may well get blamed for bound books’ diminished profile. But it also deserves kudos for sweating the little things that make ebook-reading an immersive experience. Things like distraction-free page design, ...
Get Kindle Fire: The Missing Manual now with the O’Reilly learning platform.
O’Reilly members experience books, live events, courses curated by job role, and more from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers.
