"Danger, Will Robinson! Danger!" Robbie the Robot

Barnes & Noble introduced a new ebook reader today. In case you haven't heard of these things, they're electronic devices on which you can download any book that's been digitalized. Probably millions of them by now. It's B&N's answer to Amazon's Kindle and the Sony Reader. All of these digital readers are well over two hundred bucks.

I love books. I love bookstores. I love to browse bookstore aisles waiting for books to leap into my hand. Little plastic devices just don't do it for me. For one thing there's no colorful cover art to lure me in. No promise by publishers of the delights to come. No tantalizing re-cycled paper smell.

Electronic readers by definition require batteries, and cords, and have confusing little buttons that make no sense, taking you forward, backward and everywhere in between seemingly at random, and then stops for no apparent reason. And you can't figure out how to turn them on, or bookmark a page, or, or...too much.

I want simple. Curl up on the couch, turn on the lamp, open the book. Easy-peasy.

So no, dear Support Staff, I don't want any book that requires tech support for Christmas.