Book Lovers in Costa Rica. The Kindle is a “must have…”

One of our very, very special VIP Members in Utah (soon to be retired in Costa Rica) ‘B.E.’ sent me a Kindle as a Christmas gift last year and as a lifelong book lover, who adores the touch, feel and smell of a book in my hands, I must confess that I wasn’t totally convinced that I would use it a lot …

I was wrong!

Living in Costa Rica, I have spent a small fortune each year on Amazon.com and then another slightly smaller fortune shipping the books into Costa Rica. Costa Rica’s import taxes on books are thankfully insignificant but, the shipping and insurance can add a substantial percentage to the overall cost.

So being able to buy a book online on www.amazon.com then have it automatically downloaded to my Kindle seconds later as long as it’s connected (wirelessly) to cyberspace with no charge for delivery, is really quite a thrill and, being able to download nearly two million classic books – for free – is also a huge bonus…

The Kindle is Amazon.com’s revolutionary wireless reading device.

The quality of your reading experience using the Kindle could not be better because you’re in total control… The Kindle is small, light (only 8.5 ounces), you can easily adjust the font size, you can read it vertically like a paperback or horizontally if you wish and unlike the backlit computer screens it’s easier on your eyes too…

There are over 1.8 million free, out-of-copyright, pre-1923 books available to read on Kindle, including titles such as The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, Pride and Prejudice, and Treasure Island.

A Few Free Kindle Book Sources:

1. Totally Free Kindle Books on Amazon.
2. Project Gutenberg is the place where you can download over 33,000 free ebooks to read on your PC, iPad, Kindle, Sony Reader, iPhone, Android or other portable device.
3. At ManyBooks.net there are more than 29,000 eBooks available here and they’re all free!
4. LibriVox volunteers record chapters of books in the public domain and release the audio files back onto the net. Their goal? To make all books in the public domain available, for free, in audio format on the internet.
5. The Ludwig von Mises Institute at www.Mises.org

This is an awesome money-saving device for book lovers of every age, for homeschoolers and, you can also order and listen to audio books using the Kindle. You can find dozens of magazines and journals available for the Kindle here and, lots of newspapers here.

Another great feature is being able to email documents to your own Kindle device…

I receive a lot of important documents in .pdf format and now I can simply forward them to my special Kindle email address and it converts the documents into a format that can be read on the Kindle…

So now I can read it at my leisure even if my computer is back in the city and I’m sitting in a hammock in the rain forest somewhere and when we go up to our vacation home for the weekend, I no longer carry a heavy bag of books, I have one easy to carry Kindle which is the size of a paperback and it holds up to 3,500 books.

The Kindle really is a “revolutionary” reading device and this brief article is by no means an exhaustive list of all the features included but for book lovers, magazine and newspapers lovers in Costa Rica who crave for more reading choices, the Kindle is a “must have” tool.

Lastly, a very special thanks to ‘B.E.’ in Utah for my Kindle Christmas gift – Muchisimas gracias!

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Written by Scott Oliver, author of 1. Costa Rica Real Estate Scams & How To Avoid Them, 2. How To Buy Costa Rica Real Estate Without Losing Your Camisa, and 3. Costa Rica’s Guide To Making Money Offshore.

Andrew Makarik

to@welovecostarica.com

Andrew Makarik is the main editor of WeLoveCostaRica, a fan of this sunny country. He is also a loving husband and a has a lovely daughter. By being a devoted family man and the biggest Costa Rica fan, he wants to make more people feel at home there. WeLoveCostaRica unites people and helps them find new home or a new travel destination. This website is a friendly community where everyone can find not only information, but also new friends and travel pals. Andrew is also passionate about IT and programming, so he himself maintains a friendly atmosphere in this cozy environment of WeLoveCostaRica.com.