Posted: June 23, 2020

Updated: September 23, 2020

My girlfriend bought me a Kindle Paperwhite 10th generation for my birthday. I’m really happy with it overall: it’s easy to use, waterproof, lightweight, and compatible with Linux.

If you do a lot of reading, I heartily recommend an e-reader.

Pros of e-readers

• The screen is easy on the eyes like paper
• You can easily read at night without disturbing others
• The screen can be read in sunlight
• Supports open formats (epub)
• Lightweight
• Waterproof (reading at the bus stop just got better)
• You can keep your library with you
• You can customize the font size
• You can search within the book
• Get instant delivery of books
• Possibly good for the environment (no paper, yes tech waste)
• Ideal for travel
• Long battery life

Cons of e-readers

• You don’t get that nice paper smell
• Holding the e-reader comfortably takes some getting used to
• Ebooks feel less durable than dead trees, ie you might lose your library someday when tech trends change
• Not all books are available in epub format
• Diagrams, charts, and images don’t work very well
• Highlighting is different (you can somehow highlight with the touch screen but it seems like a big hassle)
• You can’t legally give your books to your friends
• Some ebooks have DRM
• You’re supporting the AMZN engine
• Generates electronic waste

Syncing books on Linux

On Arch Linux, all I had to do was install the calibre package.

Importing books in Calibre is extremely simple - basically just plug in your e-reader and click a couple of buttons. Select the files you want, and you’re done. The whole process takes under 30 seconds.

Ebook formats

The main ebook formats are:

• epub, an open format. Often has the smallest file size. My top choice.
• mobi, Amazon’s version of epub. Meh. If I have to, I’ll use it.
• pdf, the one we know and love/hate. I haven’t tried this yet, but I suspect it will look or perform worse based on the last time I used an e-reader (10 years ago).

I highly recommend that you get an e-reader which supports epub (which should be most of them).

Cases, sleeves, and screen protectors

I use a neoprene sleeve on my e-reader (this is the one).

It keeps the screen safe while it’s in my backpack.

A lot of people like the folding cases which cover the screen and can be folded away to read. I don’t like these, because they make the e-reader more bulky while reading.

I like that I can just remove the e-reader from the sleeve and use it in its natural state. I’m not going to drop this thing.

I cannot recommend a screen protector. I’ve read that they can cause glare or make the screen harder to read. The e-ink display is perfect already.

Airplane mode

I always leave my e-reader in airplane mode. Doing this extends battery life, improves privacy, and makes the advertisements generic (ie ignorable).

Conclusion

Overall, I love this thing. The Kindle Paperwhite seems to be an exceptionally good value.

Tips

For some reason, the estimated time to complete a chapter can become inaccurate on a Kindle Paperwhite. A chapter that might take me 30 minutes to read might say, for example, that it will take only 10 minutes.

Sometimes, I will be stuck for 5 minutes with “1 minute remaining”. This is incredibly frustrating.

To fix it, open the menu at the top, search, and type ;ReadingTimeReset (case sensitive). It will say no results found, and when you go back to the book, it will start recalculating your reading estimates. source