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" Last time Jeff Bezos was in the building, we were chatting with him about the Kindle \u2014 the first version of the Kindle, which kind of doesn&amp;#039;t count. He was talking about how, for the last twenty years, the momentum of technological change has all headed in the direction of shortening attention spans, destroying the impulse for leisurely consumption, obviating the possibility of contemplation. We&amp;#039;re paraphrasing a bit, but that was the gist. Bezos continued, saying that he believes the technological pendulum will begin to swing back, that devices like his Kindle will, for some significant portion of the population, reverse that momentum. And in the cases of the few hundred thousand who have owned the Kindle for a while, that is clearly happening. The people we know who own Kindles read more books than they did in the recent past. They consume a variety of traditional media on Bezos&amp;#039;s original device, despite the fact that it was pretty crude, really limited. The new Kindle, which is essentially the first Kindle that most people will have the opportunity to buy, is not a great leap forward in terms of user experience. It&amp;#039;s better, but not in any crucial ways. (Roy Blount really doesn&amp;#039;t have anything to worry about from that voice function.) What we&amp;#039;re endorsing here is the fact that the Kindle will drive many people to spend more time with the written word \u2014 not everyone, but, then again, most people throughout human history have not read books. But the crucial demographic of smart, thoughtful humans \u2014 people who consume media \u2014 will be encouraged to make books and other forms of print their entertainment option more often. And as electronic readers improve, as they add graphics and design and, eventually, color, even more people will opt for the more sustained, contemplative experiences more often. And all will be well with the world. RELATED LINKS: EARLIER: Barry Sonnenfeld Reviews the Original Kindle VIDEO PORTRAIT: Jeff Bezos Enters the Cube with His Kindle DAILY ENDORSEMENT: Rediscovering Reading All Over Again "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a5666/new-kindle-030209/>