It’s amazing. I just read Neil Gaiman’s wonderful collection, M Is for Magic. But here is the amazing part: I made the decision to buy the book, sitting on a stool in my kitchen — and less than 60 seconds later, I held it in my hand and was guffawing my way through the first story, “The Case of the Four and Twenty Blackbirds.”

A little later, I decided I might try out a subscription to The Atlantic Monthly. About 45 seconds later I held my first issue in my hands.

How is this possible? I’m reading them on my new Amazon Kindle.

On November 19, 2007, when Amazon introduced its new ebook reader, the thing sold out in less than six hours. I didn’t bother to order one; I was a skeptic. I like the way books feel in my hand, the smell, feel and turn of the paper. I didn’t see how an electronic device could replace that.

Which the Kindle doesn’t. Nothing will ever “replace” a paper-based book. But man, is the Kindle a genuinely great invention. Jeff Bezos got it right. As Neil Gaiman says (in his little Kindle-interview, which you can see here, along with more from Toni Morrison, Guy Kawasaki, Daniel Handler [aka Lemony Snicket] and others), “Like a book, it disappears in your hand, and you’re on the other side of the text, experiencing the world of the story.”

After reading what these authors had to say, I bought one—and fell in love.

Along with M Is for Magic and The Atlantic Monthly I have a few blogs, a few other journals, Kindle versions of The Go-Giver and You Call the Shots—and have room for about 200 more books. All instantly searchable, delightfully readable, entirely portable.

The Kindle is a breakthrough—not for tekkies, for book lovers.

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