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The Amazon Kindle is an electronic book reader made and sold by Amazon.com, the world’s largest online retailer and one of the nation’s biggest book sellers. Amazon is one of the iconic companies of the Internet era.

The company made the leap from selling others’ products to selling its own when it introduced the Kindle, a reader with the capability of downloading books wirelessly, in November 2007. A few other companies, notably Sony, had been selling electronic book readers, but Amazon’s approach seemed to create a completely new experience, offering users the chance to buy virtually any book at any time anywhere.

The Kindle uses a display technology called electronic ink that is meant to mimic the experience of reading black letters on white paper. It is easier to read in bright lights and it uses less electricity than the sort of displays used on laptop computers and cellphones.

The device was praised by Oprah Winfrey, on her show in October 2008. Shortly thereafter, Amazon sold out of the first generation of Kindle devices, missing the critical holiday selling season.

A second version of the Kindle, with more memory and longer battery life, was introduced in February 2009 at the same price. A third, large-screen version, optimized to display textbooks and newspapers, was introduced in May 2009.

By that time the Kindle had become the company’s biggest selling product. Amazon built up a 90 percent share of the American e-book market, in part because it sells most new releases and best sellers at a heavily discounted standard price of $9.99. Many Kindle owners have said the low price motivates them to buy more e-books, but publishers feared that the price would eventually erode their profits.

The Kindle’s success also brought a string of competitors into the market it had established, most notably the iPad, Apple’s tablet computer with a high-contrast color screen, Web browser, games, applications and computing capabilities.

July 19, 2010 was a day for the history books — if those will even exist in the future. Amazon announced that during the previous three months, sales of books for the Kindle had for the first time outnumbered sales of hardcover books. In that time, Amazon said, it sold 143 Kindle books for every 100 hardcover books, including hardcovers for which there is no Kindle edition.

The online version of the New York Times has dedicated an entire section of their website to the Kindle reading device. Read more…

• Shop the Kindle Store for over 620,000 Kindle books, including 109 of 112 New York Times® Best Sellers, starting from $9.99. If you are a non-U.S. customer, book pricing and availability may vary.
• Read thousands of free books, including popular classics such as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Pride and Prejudice, and Treasure Island.
• Get free book samples – read the first chapter for free before you decide to buy.
• Whispersync technology saves and synchronizes your last page read, bookmarks, notes, and highlights across your devices.
• Adjust text size to make reading more comfortable.
• Download and read Kindle books – no Kindle required.

Read Kindle books on your iPhone or iPod touch

• No Kindle required
• Get the best reading experience available on your iPhone or iPod touch
• Access your Kindle books even if you don’t have your Kindle with you
• Automatically synchronizes your last page read between devices with Amazon Whispersync
• Adjust the text size, add bookmarks, and view the annotations you created on your Kindle
• Read in portrait or landscape mode
• Select alternate background and text colors to improve reading comfort in low light conditions
• Tap on either side of the screen or flick to turn pages
• Pinch to zoom images in books
• Tap and hold on a word to create a note or highlight
• Whispersync will back up and synchronize annotations with your other Kindle devices

Don’t have Kindle, but want one…?

Reviews

“…light yet thought-provoking – humorous yet serious…. This story was a delightful read.” – Trudy Smith, OnceUponaRomance.net

“Cathy Marie Hake paints characters so real they nearly walk off the page.” – Delia Latham, faithwebbin.net

Product Description

Like a dandelion in the wind, Hope Ladley blows from one farm to the next, helping cook for the field hands during the harvest. Illiterate and often twisting cliches and Bible verses into mind-boggling observations, Hope leaves widower Jakob Stauffer baffled by her unconventional ways.

But her sunny disposition and unstinting love make changes of a different kind around the place. His little daughter and the pregnant sister he’s shielding from an abusive husband adore Hope, and things are getting accomplished even if Hope’s methods are unique.

Then Jakob’s brother-in-law shows up and threatens the newfound peace and happiness of the farm. With Jakob’s future uncertain and his heart tangled, can the farmer convince Hope to take root and remain as his wife?

Reviews

“Good-bye, ER. Hello, Critical Care! Candace Calvert delivers a wonderful medical romance that peeks inside the doors of an ER to discover a cast of real-life characters who learn to love and live and discover God’s truths, all in the high-stress world of medicine. If you like ER and House, you’ll love Logan and Claire and their friends at Sierra Mercy. Give me another dose, and soon!”
—Susan May Warren, award-winning author of Happily Ever After and Nothing but Trouble

“I’ve always said if I weren’t an author, I’d be in the medical field, so it’s no wonder I ate up Candace Calvert’s new book Critical Care. I lived and breathed the problems and struggles in ER along with the characters. Terrific story and terrific writing. Can’t wait for the next one!”
—Colleen Coble, author of Cry in the Night and Lonestar Secrets

“Finally, a reason to turn off ER and Grey’s Anatomy. Here is a realistic medical drama with heart. Candace Calvert gets it right with page-turning prose, a heartwarming love story, and hope. Don’t make us wait too long for the next one!”
—Harry Kraus, MD, best-selling author of Salty Like Blood and Could I Have This Dance?

Product Description

After her brother dies in a trauma room, nurse Claire Avery can no longer face the ER. She’s determined to make a fresh start–new hospital, new career in nursing education–move forward, no turning back. But her plans fall apart when she’s called to offer stress counseling for medical staff after a heartbreaking day care center explosion. Worse, she’s forced back to the ER, where she clashes with Logan Caldwell, a doctor who believes touchy-feely counseling is a waste of time. He demands his staff be as tough as he is. Yet he finds himself drawn to this nurse educator . . . who just might teach him the true meaning of healing.

In this smart, tender, insightful new novel, bestselling author Holly Chamberlin introduces two very different women who, over the course of two unforgettable weeks, learn about unbreakable bonds, unshakeable love, and the chances that come once in a lifetime — and change us forever…

When Elizabeth Caldwell planned a trip to Florence with her daughter, Marina, she secretly hoped for a warm, fuzzy bonding experience worthy of a Lifetime movie. But Marina — twenty-one, newly graduated, and close to her mom in many ways — has always been more the PBS type: dependable, practical, and completely in control.

Elizabeth knows Marina wants to avoid the kind of “stupid mistake” that left Elizabeth a single mother at twenty-two, and she’s bitten her tongue as Marina settles for a wealthy fiance who gives her everything she thinks she wants. After all, Elizabeth  — unable to bring herself to fully commit to the man she has dated for years — is hardly an expert in romance. Still, a lot can happen on vacation, especially in Tuscany, where every scent borne on the warm breeze inspires delight, and every view makes the heart soar.

There, on streets once walked by Dante and Michaelangelo, Marina is blindsided by a gorgeous Italian named Luca who shows her how gloriously unpredictable passion can be, and Elizabeth finally lets go of the role that has defined her for so long to embrace her own uncertain future…

The girl with the dragon tattoo is back. Stieg Larsson’s seething heroine, Lisbeth Salander, once again finds herself paired with journalist Mikael Blomkvist on the trail of a sinister criminal enterprise. Only this time, Lisbeth must return to the darkness of her own past (more specifically, an event coldly known as “All the Evil”) if she is to stay one step ahead–and alive.

The Girl Who Played with Fire is a break-out-in-a-cold-sweat thriller that crackles with stunning twists and dismisses any talk of a sophomore slump. Fans of Larsson’s prior work will find even more to love here, and readers who do not find their hearts racing within the first five pages may want to confirm they still have a pulse.

Expect healthy doses of murder, betrayal, and deceit, as well as enough espresso drinks to fuel downtown Seattle for months. –Dave Callanan

As the finale to Stieg Larsson’s Millennium Trilogy, The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet’s Nest is not content to merely match the adrenaline-charged pace that made international bestsellers out of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo and The Girl Who Played with Fire.

Instead, it roars with an explosive storyline that blows the doors off the series and announces that the very best has been saved for last. A familiar evil lies in wait for Lisbeth Salander, but this time, she must do more than confront the miscreants of her past; she must destroy them. Much to her chagrin, survival requires her to place a great deal of faith in journalist Mikael Blomkvist and trust his judgment when the stakes are highest. To reveal more of the plot would be criminal, as Larsson’s mastery of the unexpected is why millions have fallen hard for his work.

But rest assured that the odds are again stacked, the challenges personal, and the action fraught with neck-snapping revelations in this snarling conclusion to a thrilling triad. This closing chapter to The Girl’s pursuit of justice is guaranteed to leave readers both satisfied and saddened once the final page has been turned. –Dave Callanan

Once you start The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, there’s no turning back. This debut thriller–the first in a trilogy from the late Stieg Larsson–is a serious page-turner rivaling the best of Charlie Huston and Michael Connelly.

Mikael Blomkvist, a once-respected financial journalist, watches his professional life rapidly crumble around him. Prospects appear bleak until an unexpected (and unsettling) offer to resurrect his name is extended by an old-school titan of Swedish industry. The catch–and there’s always a catch–is that Blomkvist must first spend a year researching a mysterious disappearance that has remained unsolved for nearly four decades.

With few other options, he accepts and enlists the help of investigator Lisbeth Salander, a misunderstood genius with a cache of authority issues. Little is as it seems in Larsson’s novel, but there is at least one constant: you really don’t want to mess with the girl with the dragon tattoo. –Dave Callanan

All New, High Contrast E-Ink Screen: Our graphite Kindle DX uses our all new, improved electronic ink display, with 50% better contrast for the clearest text and sharpest images

Beautiful Large Display: The 9.7″ diagonal E-ink screen is ideal for a broad range of reading material, including graphic-rich books, PDFs, newspapers, magazines, and blogs

Read in Sunlight with No Glare: Unlike backlit computer or LCD screens, Kindle DX’s display looks and reads like real paper, with no glare. Read as easily in bright sunlight as in your living room

Slim: Just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines

Books In Under 60 Seconds: Get books delivered wirelessly in less than 60 seconds; no PC required

Free 3G Wireless: No monthly payments, no annual contracts. Download books anywhere, anytime

Long Battery Life: Read for up to 1 week on a single charge with wireless on. Turn wireless off and read for up to two weeks.

Carry Your Library: Holds up to 3,500 books, periodicals, and documents

Buy Books Once, Read Them Anywhere: Kindle books can be read on all your devices. Our Whispersync technology saves and synchronizes your Kindle library and last page read across your Kindle(s), PC, iPhone, Mac, iPad, Android phone, and BlackBerry device

Social Networks: Share your passion for reading with friends and family by posting meaningful passages to Twitter and Facebook directly from your Kindle

Global Coverage: Enjoy 3G wireless coverage at home or abroad in over 100 countries.

Built-In PDF Reader: Carry and read all of your personal and professional documents on the go. Now with Zoom capability to easily view small print and detailed tables or graphics

Auto-Rotating Screen: Display auto-rotates from portrait to landscape as you turn the device so you can view full-width maps, graphs, tables, and Web pages

Read-to-Me: With the text-to-speech feature, Kindle DX can read newspapers, magazines, blogs, and books out loud to you, unless the book’s rights holder made the feature unavailable

Large Selection: Over 620,000 books and the largest selection of the most popular books people want to read, including 109 of 112 New York Times® Best Sellers, plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs. For non-U.S. customers, content availability and pricing will vary. Check your country.

Out-of-Copyright, Pre-1923 Books: Over 1.8 million free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books are available to read on Kindle, including titles such as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Pride and Prejudice, and Treasure Island. Learn more

Low Book Prices: New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases from $9.99.

Free Book Samples: Download and read first chapters for free before you decide to buy.

Slim: Just over 1/3 of an inch, as thin as most magazines

Lightweight: At 10.2 ounces, lighter than a typical paperback

Books in Under 60 Seconds: Get books delivered wirelessly in less than 60 seconds; no PC required

3G Wireless: 3G wireless lets you download books right from your Kindle; no annual contracts, no monthly fees, and no hunting for Wi-Fi hotspots

Global Coverage: Enjoy 3G wireless coverage at home or abroad in over 100 countries.

Paper-Like Display: Reads like real paper without glare, even in bright sunlight

Carry Your Library: Holds up to 1,500 books

Long Battery Life: Read for up to one week on a single charge with wireless on. Turn wireless off and read for up to two weeks.

Social Networks: Share your passion for reading with friends and family by posting favorite passages to Twitter and Facebook directly from your Kindle

Built-In PDF Reader: Carry and read all of your personal and professional documents on the go. Now with Zoom capability to easily view small print and detailed tables or graphics

Read-to-Me: With the experimental Text-to-Speech feature, Kindle can read content out loud to you, unless the rights holder made the feature unavailable

Large Selection: Over 620,000 books and the largest selection of the most popular books people want to read, including 109 of 112 New York Times® Best Sellers, plus U.S. and international newspapers, magazines, and blogs. For non-U.S. customers, content availability and pricing will vary.

Low Book Prices: New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases from $9.99

Out-of-Copyright, Pre-1923 Books: Over 1.8 million free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books are available to read on Kindle, including titles such as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Pride and Prejudice, and Treasure Island.

Free Book Samples: Download and read first chapters for free before you decide to buy.