A year after commiting to an iPad Pro, I bought a Kindle Paperwhite in May 2021.

I resisted getting a device that was black & white (as I had a habit of using color-coded highlights) - I decided my eyes were more important and that trying to use a 12.9" tablet as a Kindle in bed was awkward at best (in fact, it's bopped me on the head a few times falling asleep - ouch!)

I'm amazed how great the e-ink looks outside and in sunlight. The first book I committed to read is the Zeitgeist Movement - it is in alignment with Maintenance and Care (in fact, the latter focuses on what it means to develop a maintenance mindset, something I feel is a critical component to radical social change)

While the refresh rate is a bit slow, it's not enough to be annoying. My biggest nitpick is the web browser is underpowered - while the whole point was not to get distracted by "web surfing" - the ability to read footnoted, referenced articles while reading (a deep dive in context) is admittedly very convenient & makes a difference when reading passages that really resonate and you are curious in regards to what is backing up a particular statement. The problem is it takes forever (sometimes a minute) to load complex pages (the layout of most media sites like the NYT are fancy & require horsepower) and I ran into a page (of the 10 or so references I tried to open) that crashed my Kindle & discovered it takes minutes to reboot what I thought was a simple device (just underscores the CPU must be easy underpowered indeed!)

So immediately a device I just bought feels like it will be obsolete by next year and it's a bit disheartening considering (1) I am trying to avoid Planned Obsolescence and (2) the very essence of the Zeitgeist Movement is to optimize based on durability - that this would be fine if it were easy to upgrade the CPU (because the screen is fabulous!) or if we were in an "access-based" society where I would use it as long as I needed it (like checking it out from the library)

Fact of the matter is I paid $80+tax secondhand (Swappa rocks!) and the device is definitely not worth $129 it retails for new.

I expect to get decent resale value for it as the going resale price hovers closer to $90 & I'm happy to pay for the privilege of using it over the next year for $3/month and get back $40 (doable considering it came with a cute $10 case so it's a bundle deal)

I have mixed feelings about Amazon, I am admittedly a happy Prime user (aka consumerist), and I'm just working within the means I am given to optimize what financial funds I do have access to.

At the end of the day, I like my Kindle and expect it to continue to provide value despite its shortcomings.

It helps fulfill my primary goal to stay focused on reading in a world that is distracted. I've come to terms that a Kindle is a device I accept using (to save trees) using my 24/6 tech shabbats.

ps. The vocabulary builder is a great unexpected feature!