Although Wilson tested the Kindle in bed, on the toilet, I had the chance to use it on vacation and found myself reading a great deal more than I usually do. Unlike regular books, which cause me to fall asleep pretty readily after less than 50 pages, I'd finish about 300 pages in a stretch, with no eyestrain in dark rooms or in the sun. I suppose it felt a lot more like reading on a computer or handheld. Bezos set out to build something better to read than a book, and by vacationing standards, I think he's easily met that goal on his first try. That's my quirky experience, at least, being the type of person who hates stockpiling physical media of any sort. Of course, I found lots of other things I liked and disliked about specific to using a Kindle on vacation.

-Although I carried a dozen books with me with zero back strain or bag overflow
-Can't share a kindle with your travel partner; Unlike a regular book, you can't just hand it over without handing off your next book, too.
-If you're flying abroad, downloading books = impossible after take off unless you're lugging a laptop and want to manually sync.
-If you're waiting for your plane, you can do some great book shopping, at usually very aggressive discounts, while boarding.
-I happened to be on a beach and my hands got really really dry from all the salt and sun. Turning pages usually is as pleasant as nails on a chalkboard, but not so with the kindle.
-One handed reading, is easier on my side since I can turn pages with a click.
-Font sizes are relatively big (even at their smallest size) and so the rating of page life is drastically less effective; a page in a book could be 2 pages on the kindle. Bring your charger.
-kindle does not soak up water on a wet bathing suit.
-Kindle reading in the pool on a float is freaking scary.

As I said, I read a great deal more than I usually do on this trip and faster. How much of that was me being on vacation versus me being on the Kindle? To be honest, I haven't read very much since I've come back home. I blame the computer and internet's endless bounty of shorts, but my experience using the Kindle on vacation stands — if you're going to go on vacation a few times a year and plan on reading on the flight and during the downtime, you can probably consider the Kindle a wise thing to own. Maybe once the new ones come out, the old ones will be on sale for a song. [Photo from NYDiscovery]