If I had to define my childhood by a single ritual, it’d be visiting my local library. My brother and I would wind the aisles of books, load up our tote bags with dozens of paperbacks, devour them anywhere we could, and then return a few weeks later to repeat the process.
Since then, the means of diving into worlds both fictional and real has modernized: In 2007, Amazon introduced the Kindle e-reader to make reading more convenient, not to mention connect itself to its origins as an online bookstore. The first Kindle retailed for $399 but it’s now only $90, and Kindle has expanded from a single device to a family of lightweight and high-performance e-readers.
The Paperwhite was introduced in 2012 and is the most popular Kindle device in the series, featuring a 300 dpi, glare-free display that never strains your eyes, built-in adjustable light, large storage capacity, and long battery life, all for a reasonable price.
I felt like I was betraying my roots when I got my first Kindle Paperwhite, but I haven’t looked back since. To my delight, I can still borrow books from the library, but I no longer have to weigh my bag down to do it. Though traditionalists may lament the physical detachment from the look, smell, and feel of a real book, Kindle devices ultimately serve to increase your book consumption, which I believe is and will continue to be a worthwhile trade-off. —Connie Chen, senior reporter
