I’ve never been a heavy reader. I always just thought that it was a lack of interest in reading, without giving more thought to it. Books reminded me of dusty libraries and archaic books that my English teachers made me read in high school. They mostly felt irrelevant to a pubescent teenager nor were they titillating in any way, which was the only guarantee to grab any teenager’s attention in high school. The only book that I actually remember reading from my high school years is Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut, which I misinterpreted many of the chapters to think that there were some obvious and also not so obvious sexual undertones.

I tried reading as an adult but found myself falling asleep quite quickly after only ten minutes or so into a book. I tried everything, from mysteries to spy action thrillers; anything other than the Bible and romantic novels.

I knew of electronic readers such as the Kindle or the NOOK, but for some reason I brushed them off as being gimmicky. Not only that, I didn’t feel like coughing up the extra cash for the device itself in addition to the digital versions of the books I would have to purchase. The convenience factor of being able to carry around a good portion of your library in one device was interesting, but not interesting enough for someone that has purposefully distanced himself from reading.

When the first iPad came out I downloaded the Kindle and NOOK readers onto my iPad for the novelty. Since I had already owned a device that was capable of allowing me to read digital books, I thought why not.

At first it was an interesting experience. I found myself attempting to read the first Bourne novel, but without the assistance of Matt Damon kicking ass, the words on my iPad simply wasn’t enough. Not only that, the glare from the screen made my eyes sore. I tried to read on my iPad before going to bed, but I read a study online that mentioned looking at a screen before going to bed had detrimental health effects. What’s more, I found it hard to fall asleep after staring into my iPad in bed before going to sleep. So that was the end of that as well.

Years passed, and out of necessity I had to pick up a few books here and there. Some were still a chore but some were refreshingly entertaining, such as I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell by Max Tucker. It’s hardly a literary masterpiece, but his writing style and stories were akin to reading a friend’s e-mail about his adventures and fiascos over the weekend, which made it easy for me to follow and comprehend. Surprisingly this is when I noticed something about printed pages on a book; my eyes weren’t tired and I was able to concentrate and focus a lot more than I was able to with my iPad. I was still unconvinced about electronic readers, thinking it would be pretty much the same experience as my iPad.

One day I saw someone reading a Kindle on the subway. To my surprise her screen looked just like a regular page would on a printed book. For someone that works in a field that should be on top of new technologies, I was admittedly falling behind when it came to e-readers due to my own bias. When I saw that Kindle on that subway car, I felt like it could be something I should explore. However, laziness took over and I forgot about the Kindle and moved on with my life, again. That was until about a month ago.

Yes, I know I am incredibly late to the party, but I always say better late than never.

For some odd reason, as if I was hypnotized by the sprits of Amazon, I found myself googling the Kindle. Soon I was on their ordering page trying to figure out which model would suit me the best. I ended up choosing the Kindle Voyage for its lightness and Paperwhite display. The newly released Kindle Oasis obviously has all the bells and whistles on top of the sexy new design, but it demands a price that I wasn’t ready to swallow as a Kindle novice. All I knew was that I wanted the experience to simulate reading a real book as much as possible. Even at this point I was doubtful whether or not this would actually work out for me. My idea was that I would try it out and if it didn’t work out I would just give it to my father as a gift.

The first book that I downloaded on my new Kindle Voyage was Cat’s Cradle. Not only did I want to revisit my teenage years, but I wanted to make sure that I understood the book correctly. Plus it was free with a Kindle Unlimited subscription. Not surprisingly I found out that my memory of the book was quite different from the actual book — I did get portions of it right, but most of it I had completely misinterpreted. To rectify this I kept reading the book until I found myself finishing it within a couple of days.

However, what was more surprising was not that I had finished the book, but that I was craving for more. I found the experience of holding the device in my hands and the flickering of the screen when turning the page to be strangely satisfying and pleasurable. More importantly my eyes weren’t tired even after hours of reading. My appetite for reading soon grew and now I am going though various novels, self help books, to even revisiting the classics that I should have paid more attention to back in school.

Not only is the Kindle a great device, it has made a reader out of a non-reader. I find myself reaching for it in my pocket or bag every time I have some downtime; in the subway, in the waiting room at the doctor’s office, even while waiting for my order at Starbucks. It’s not an easy task to change someone’s habits or more importantly for someone to take on new ones in adulthood, but my Kindle has allowed me to do this.

This is why I love my Kindle.