The slimmer, more stylish Kindle 2—or the “Thindle,” as I immediately dubbed it in a post-announcement tweet—is everything that the first Kindle should have been. In addition to being more svelte, it has a sharper screen, a 25 percent longer battery life and at $359, sells for the same price as Amazon’s original year-old version. While it undeniably takes the e-book genre to a higher level, it remains unclear whether the Thindle can be a mass hit. Millions have taken to digitally downloading music, movies and photographs, but e-books have failed to find a similar following.

Until recently, there were good reasons for that. A few years ago I read parts of “The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People” on my Palm PDA. The novelty wore off quickly. When presented with text on a screen—whether it’s a mobile phone, a handheld or a computer—my eyes dart and wander rather than scan and savor, a tendency that doesn’t lend itself to the patience that book reading requires. I heard a similar story from James McQuivey, an analyst with Forrester Research. “I read my first e-Book in 1997 on a Psion series 5,” McQuivey says. “It was a black and white computer. It ran on AA batteries. All it had were public domain books. The low contrast of the device meant that you needed to be in good light.”

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