I’ve been an unapologetic Luddite for most of my life. But my reluctance to embrace technology is overpowered by my love of reading. To that end, I’m the delighted owner of a Kindle Fire. A book with its own light source? Immediate downloads? What a time to be alive!
Now, I realize not everyone else is hip to this brave new world. A portable electronic-reader device is a big commitment if just about everything you read is available on paper and you prefer it that way. But what if you have an author friend whose latest publication is available as an e-book only? There’s no chance you’ll ever get to read it, right?
Wrong!
You can, in fact, download an easy-to-use program for your computer. Amazon’s Kindle-for-PC program will allow you to purchase, download, and read electronic books right on your computer. Never fear, Luddites! There’s no hidden cost, no troublesome obligations! It’s just a feature that lets you (on the rare occasion you’d like to) read e-books without buying a portable device. (The program is free and, often, Amazon has offers of free e-books too!)
Just head over to Amazon’s Kindle-for-PC page. When it prompts you to “run, save, or cancel” – choose “run.” After that, it will ask for your Amazon account email address and password. It’s that simple! To get you started, Amazon gives you (for free!) “Aesop’s Fables,” “Pride and Prejudice,” and “Treasure Island.” After that, books you buy from Amazon in electronic format will show up without fuss or difficulty. This is simplicity I can applaud. And, if you run into any problems, I invite you to send me an email. (As your fellow Luddite, I will give you instructions that are simple and make sense. Or, in the case of utter failure, I’ll commiserate and help you blame the computer.)
Kelly Horn 