The reports of the Kindle's demise were greatly exaggerated. As I was searching the Amazon Kindle site pages for information on buying a new Kindle, transferring the books from old one to the new one, I came upon a FAQs page for troubleshooting.

It said to move the on/off toggle to the off position and hold it there for 25 seconds, thus forcing a hard re-boot.

Sure enough, 25 seconds, release the switch, plus another 30 seconds later of waiting, and my Kindle was up and running just fine. Kindle and Mark Twain both got to read their obits a little early.

I have bought a case for it. Very handy to keep notes and the recharging cord alongside the Kindle itself. And it's nice to know I wouldn't lose all my books if I had to switch to another Kindle.

I also learned from the FAQs that up to 6 Kindles can share the same account, thus being able to share the same books among the group of 6 users. Amazon should make that a selling point; that capability, if commonly known, would answer a lot of the critics and encourage families to buy/share books on Kindle. If Anne, Louise, Barbara, Jane, Ivan and I share the same Kindle account, then the book I just bought for $9.99 costs only...um...you do the math (I'm a philosophy major)...per person.

Just finished reading The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins. Not only a good detective/mystery novel (I've heard that it was the first), but also biting satire on mid 19th century English society and religious practices. My Kindle price? $0.

Now go ahead and divide *that* by 6.