10 reasons Dave Rosenthal hates Kindle

March 1, 2009

Baltimore Sun book blogger Dave Rosenthal offers 9 reasons that he hates Amazon's Kindle e-book reader. (The tenth is left blank for readers to fill in as they see fit.)

Personally, I'm a Kindle owner and enthusiast. I got one as a gift while they were brand new and I have never stopped feeling grateful. To my way of thinking, to know Kindle is to love it.

But I found a few of Rosenthal's objections persuasive, nonetheless. No. 3, for example: "Striking cover art such as the gothic drawings on Lauren Groff's books can't be appreciated." And No. 5:  "I can't use my collection of random bookmarks: a ticket from the Paris metro, an Orioles game stub or a museum pass."

I have an aging Paris metro ticket bookmark of my own and I understand why this matters.

(To see all Rosenthal's full list, click here.)

But there's only one that really bothers me very seriously at all and that's the one that I am going to use to fill in his blank space at No. 10: Bookstores. What's going to happen to all of the already struggling bookstores?

That's the only reason that I can see to hate Kindle. Unfortunately, it's no small concern.