Electronic books

Looking for info/reviews of various e-book devices out there. I've thus far been resistant to the idea (old school), but have recently had the following two thoughts:

My wrists are usually sore at night and it is often difficult/awkward to hold a heavier book while lying down on the couch (my usual evening position). I hear these machines are pretty lightweight so that may be a solution.

When I'm in the garden I often run into the house to look something up in one of my reference books, tracking in dirt and removing my gloves after I have pulled the book from the shelf (more scattered dirt). Thinking that if reference books are available, it may be pretty handy to just carry one of these around with my garden tools.

Any thoughts to share? One brand over another? Cost of downloads (no clue how that works)? Availability of garden reference books in this media?

I move on new technology at about the speed of molasses - still 'thinking about' upgrading my 2006 cell phone...so no rush.

My son's gal friend has a kindle. She loves it. Thats all I know. They want me to get one but I have a back log of books until --- Well I might die before reading them all. One to many visits to the used book store.
Good luck with that. I will be interested to know as well.

I am as much help as Julia as I have never owned any of the electronic books, but I will say that I had a customer that brought in her kindle while she was waiting for some work to be done on her car, and she let me play with it a bit and I was impressed. WAY lighter than a lot of books.... adjustable text size so you can even read when you don't have your reading glasses handy, AND it was a bright sunny day and she let me take it outside... believe it or not, it was much easier to read in direct sunlight than a normal book is. The screen was still a matte finish in the bright light. I was impressed.

I just bought a Kindle, and I love it. Easy to read, user friendly. No garden book downloads yet, since I keep and reread them.

How do the download work? Can you keep several books on the device at once, or is there a limit? I was kind of picturing a portable library, but maybe that isn't how they are structured. I've never actually even looked at one, so this is all new to me.

I have submerged 2 Iphones, 2 Ipods, 1 laptop, 3 digital cameras and several dozen books. The books I can still read (when the sun is out) but the rest are expensive replacements. I who sail, live aboard a boat in SE AK, canoe, hike in the mountains, and exist in the world of moisture shall never get any of these electronic devices to read. I suggest for the weight to get paperbacks. They dry much more quickly. LOL

I bought mine from Amazon.com, which is selling the 3G version for $139 now. I didn't mention that I had help setting up from teenage son, who seemed to think it was cool. You shop in the Kindle store with the 5 way controller, select a book, purchase it, and it downloads. Books range in price, but aren't a real bargain. You can store a lot of books on it, but I don't know how many. To read your downloads, press the home button, select the "new" book at the top of the display and press the 5 way controller to open the book.

About a year ago I received 2 gifts from 2 different people who don't know each other. One was a Nook and the other a Kindle. It is difficult to use them as references - I tried with a few dictionaries. I took the Kindle on a flight to Portugal, fell asleep with it on my lap, and when I awoke it was gone. I don't miss it. One of my kids gave me the Nook and when they visit I put it out next to my bed so they think I use it. I embrace all sorts of technology, but I like real books. I am always in front of a computer - at work and the volunteer stuff I do with Architects without Borders, and it is nice to take a break from techy stuff. I would suggest getting an ipad instead, since you can download books on it, and it has other functions. More $$$ but multifunctional.

I love my kindle. I only use it to read, but I think you can do other things with it. The user manual that comes with is very limited in the info.
Amazon has the kindle book stor and almost everything is on Kindle these days. Wordpress has a very extensive library of free books if you have time to brouse thru them or search for somthing you are looking for. I had stopped pleasure reading for a very long time due to issues with book print and my eyesight. Problem solved now.