I’ve always been a reader. I started reading when I was around 3 or 4. I really picked up the pace in high school. I read all my assigned reading, plus most of what Michael Crichton and Stephen King had written up till that point. As an adult, that started slowing down as work, school and family started taking up more and more time. In the past several years, I would try to read at bedtime and just fall asleep. I was reading maybe 2 or 3 novels a year. Yuck.

I’ve been wanting a Kindle to read on since they were introduced, but couldn’t justify the $400 price. Especially not knowing if it would increase the amount of reading I was doing. In August, Amazon introduced the $140 WiFi only Kindle and I bought one almost immediately. The device had finally hit the price point I’d been waiting for.

Since I received it in September, I’ve read more novels than I have in the past few years combined. It’s accelerating too. I’ve read more novels since the beginning of 2011 than I did in all of 2009 and 2010, including after I got the Kindle in 2010.

I think there are a couple of reasons why this has occurred. The first is that It’s just easier to keep going. Trying to read a novel the size of Under the Dome ( 4 lbs ) in bed at night can make for some very tired arms. The Kindle is so light and the page turning so easy, I just keep reading.

The other reason is more psychological. The Kindle tells you what percent complete you are with a book and also shows you little marks where sections of the book, usually chapters, are . Being able to see that I’m burning through 5 or 10 percent of a book during each session is motivating. So is being able to know I can push through to the end of the section I’m reading without having to waste time flipping ahead a few pages to see how far away I am.

I know digital readers are not for everyone, but for me it means I’m reading like I’m in high school again and that makes me incredibly happy.