I’ve been reading a lot on my Kindle, and just as I was about to run out of money buying books, Roy told me I could check NYPL e-books out on my Kindle. This is pretty much the greatest thing ever.
The electronic library collection includes the type of bestsellers I love to read, and to have read, but not necessarily devote space to in my tiny Brooklyn apartment. I can get those from the library now!
Ok, so from time-to-time, I think that the person who designed the browsing UI and the checkout process secretly works for Amazon, and wants all the library patrons to give up in frustration and just order the bloody thing. But requesting library books for my Kindle is still pretty much the best thing ever.
When I hear a book review on NPR or read one on a blog, and then I search for that book in NYPL Kindle titles, and then I add myself to the waitlist after 50 or 100 other library patrons who already heard the NPR review and grabbed that title. Then later, the library sends me an email saying that my book is ready! Turns out those 50 or 100 borrowers read freakishly fast, too. So I sign in to download it, which can be done from pretty much anywhere (although one of the weirdnesses of the interface is that the actual eNYPL site isn’t smoothly compatible with the Kindle browser, so I can either use a proper PC or use the Kindle and swear a lot), and it magically downloads to my reader.
So I did that on the train, coming back from Durham, looking for books to request and to appear magically into my hands. Free.
I love living in the future! I hope I get my flying car next!
Pingback: Author, Publisher, Entrepeneur | Simpson's Paradox