I went to the library to pick up some books I needed for my presentation next week and didn’t get a single one. Yes, a better person would have lined up all of her research weeks ago, but I tend to get fresh ideas in the middle of the night that lead me on new tangents. Usually, I look up books online and go to the library after I know they have something, but it’s about 70 out today so I walked to the library and walked back empty-handed. There were copies of two books that would help within the state of Missouri, but I really needed them today or tomorrow to do any good so I ordered from Amazon.
Of course, readers of this blog know that buying books isn’t exactly a dreaded activity; I love an excuse to buy books, although for the sake of my budget and limited bookshelf space I need to reign myself in a bit. However, I really had intended to buy Rebecca Moore Howard’s 1999 book, Standing in the Shadow of Giants long ago. I was getting tired of having it sent via Mobius. There was a slight hitch though–Amazon can’t ship my new copy before the 24th, so I drove home in a funk, berating myself for not buying it two years ago. Enter Amazon’s Online Reader. For 7.95, customers can add online annotatable versions of their Amazon book purchases. Not all books are available this way, but the one I needed was. Yea!
I see great value in this. I hate toting books back and forth from home to office and back. Seriously, I would be happy to skip the paper version entirely, but don’t see that happening soon. Besides, until classrooms change significantly, I’ll still need to tote paper in order to teach. This is a great thing though, and I wonder if it’s connected to the Kindle. If it is, Amazon is very smart to not limit the readership to Kindle-only. I’m proof that others will buy online versions too, even if they own a paper copy of a book.
Lanette Cadle 