11 Benefits Of A Kindle Over Regular Books

Purchasing a Kindle was one of the best decisions that I’ve made this year.

Not only am I reading significantly more, but I actually find the entire experience better – and I was the type of person that didn’t feel like I’d convert over to an e-reader.

In this article, I’d like to share all the benefits of making the investment, and why I consider the Kindle Paperwhite or Kindle Oasis to be such a fantastic purchase.

Note: This article contains no affiliate links – this is my pure, unbiased opinion.

1. E Ink Truly Looks Like A Real Book

This isn’t necessarily an advantage, but it’s a major reason I put off getting a Kindle for so long.

There is something special about holding an actual book in your hand and seeing the ink on the paper, that an LCD screen such as an iPad can’t replicate.

And while you still miss out on feeling the book in your hands, the smell of the paper and so on… E Ink looks exactly like an actual book. I remember looking at it thinking,

“Wow, it looks like somebody ripped out a page of a book and slid it under a thin layer of glass!”

Seriously, it looks fantastic. And best of all, there isn’t any eye strain, even when reading for hours at a time!

2. Instant Access To Your Entire Library

Though I mostly read at home and work through one book at a time, I do like to catch up on some reading while traveling, or simply to sit outside in nature.

This is perhaps the most obvious benefit of owning a Kindle – you get to keep basically your whole library on your device, and take it with you wherever you go.

Books very quickly get quite heavy (especially for nonfiction or fantasy readers) and lugging a bunch of them around can be a real hassle – not to mention having dig through to find the book you’re looking for, remember exactly where you were reading… and so on.

It also makes moving to a new house much more convenient – as I recently learned the hard way.

Even the smallest size Kindle is capable of holding thousands of books, which is more than most of us will ever own.

3. Books Can’t Get Damaged

If you have young kids, you probably know what it’s like to find pages ripped out of your book, or find your child’s latest work of art somewhere on the paper.

Even if you don’t, books naturally degrade and become damaged over time.

Digital of course, is an exception to this. While I don’t exactly like being trapped inside of Amazon’s ecosystem and there is the risk that Amazon will remotely delete books that are removed from their store, the fact that you can carry around thousands of perfectly-readable books on one device is wonderful.

4. Highlighting, And Notes

If you read nonfiction or you simply want to remember important points from your books, highlighting is a really neat future that’s simple on Kindle.

As someone that reads a lot of nonfiction and actively takes a lot of notes to improve my absorption of the material, this was one of the biggest things I cared about.

Highlighting on Kindle is extremely quick, and only takes a fraction of a second to start and stop. If you’ve used the Kindle app on your phone or tablet before, highlighting on the actual Kindle device itself is only slightly slower.

Typing isn’t the most pleasant experience on E Ink devices, but it is bearable.

Kindle also allows you to view or export your notes and highlights to view elsewhere.

5. Built-In Dictionary + Wikipedia Search

Having trouble understanding something in your book?

In the past, I would have to close my book, grab my phone and look it up on my phone. This wasn’t terrible, but it slowed down the speed in which I was able to get through complex books.

On Kindle, all you need to do is touch and hold the word or phrase, and you have several built-in dictionaries to look from. You can also instantly pull up Wikipedia articles about the topic. I often do this to learn more about famous places that are referenced in the book.

Nonfiction and fiction lovers alike will love this feature, as many fiction books are set in different time periods and reference ideas, objects or places that most of us are unfamiliar with today.

As an added bonus, you can also quickly translate any of the words or phrases mentioned in the book. Some books use foreign words or phrases, which you’d previously need to look up. No longer!

6. Search Within The Book

This is a neat little feature that I don’t use too often myself, but has immense value when I need it.

Kindle allows you to search throughout the entire book.

This is useful if you use certain books for referencing, or you need to go back and remember something about a minor character.

For example, I’ve read The Sears Baby Book cover-to-cover. Parents who own this book can attest to how enormous it is – Amazon lists 785 pages.

If I want to find everything the book says about babies and dentists, I can just type in the word ‘dentist’ and Kindle will pull up all of the different sections of the book that have the word ‘dentist’ in them – then jump straight to what I’m looking for.

This is a huge time saver, even for books that have indexes in them.

7. It Saves Paper

There’s no denying it – books use a lot of paper.

Especially if you consider the fact that some books may only be read once, then sit on a bookshelf forever without a second thought ever paid to them.

We have a more environmentally-friendly option available to us now. You can feel good knowing that many precious trees were saved.

As an added bonus, because there are no manufacturing costs, Kindle books are often cheaper than their paperback or hardcover counterparts.

8. Change Fonts And Font Sizes

Part of the beauty of Kindle is the ability to fit the device to your liking.

One of the first things you’ll want to adjust is the size of the font you use, and the actual font itself.

This makes it easy to find a combination of font, font size, and font thickness that is perfectly comfortable for you to read.

You may find yourself adjusting this depending on the reading situation that you’re in.

For example, I like to read in bed, but also while on the treadmill. I enlarge the font size when on the treadmill (since the Kindle is further away than normal), and lower it back down again when I’m in bed and the Kindle is much closer to my face.

This is something I could never do with a physical book.

9. Nobody Can See What You’re Reading

I’m a pretty social person and don’t really have anything I want to hide, but sometimes I just don’t want others to know what I’m reading.

Maybe it’s a feeling of being judged. Maybe I’m just not in the mood to make small talk with strangers.

This benefit is going to be more important to some people than others, but it is something nice to keep in mind and potentially help you with your decision.

10. Read At Night

Like many others, I enjoy reading in bed.

Also like many others, I have a partner I share the bed with, who prefers to sleep without distractions.

The Kindle has adjustable brightness that only takes a few seconds to change. The Kindle Oasis also features a color temperature feature, to further adjust the way the colors look.

Because blue light has been scientifically proven to make sleep more challenging, adding warmth can aid for those with insomnia – and the Kindle screen is already miles ahead of a regular tablet screen for night readers.

The other nice thing about reading at night with a Kindle is that it’s very light, and easy to hold for hours.

The Kindle Paperwhite is only 7.2 ounces, while the Kindle Oasis is 6.6 ounces. Adding a case to either adds a little bit more weight, though not enough to make it uncomfortable to hold.

One could read for hours without experiencing fatigue from holding the device.

11. Kindle Unlimited + Free Books

Finally, we have the sheer volume of books available. Let’s start by talking about Kindle Unlimited.

Though I advise against needlessly signing up to more subscription services, if you’ve stumbled across an article like this one it’s fair to predict that you’re probably a more frequent reader than most people.

Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited program gives you unlimited access to over 1.4 million books. While admittedly these are mostly self-published and a large portion are quite low quality, there are still plenty of great reads here should you wish to dig into the vast catalog.

Kindle Unlimited is currently $9.99 a month. If you find yourself reading enough to where the program saves money, it can be a great way to get access to a lot of books all at once.

However, even outside of Kindle Unlimited, there are plenty of free sources available online (such as Project Gutenberg), especially for classic books.

See, you aren’t only limited to the books on Amazon’s store. You are free to import books directly onto your Kindle from outside sources, as long as they are the proper format.

Pretty neat!

Conclusion

Is purchasing a Kindle worth it? That’s up for you to decide.

Between the cost savings, the convenience, and all of the extra little features to improve the reading experience, I’ve found it to be one of my favorite purchases all year.

Do you have any thoughts or ideas you’d like to share? What do you plan on using your Kindle for? I’d love to hear your thoughts through the comment form below!

Note: Kindle is a registered trademark of Amazon.com, Inc, who we have no affiliation with. Device pictured in this article is a different tablet, not a Kindle.

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