Did you know the CCC (Catechism of the Catholic Church) is available in Kindle format?
I started a slow read of the CCC and began dropping some highlights to my Twitter and Facebook feeds right from my Kindle. Last night I noticed some people re-tweeting these. Also, Detroit Free Press religion writer, Niraj Warikoo, spotted my stream of tweets and alerted his followers on Twitter about the Kindle edition. I then wondered if people knew this was available on Kindle. You can get it here.
Using a Kindle
There are some real advantages to having electronic versions of books. With Kindle, once I buy it, it is accessable on my iPhone using a Kindle App, on my Kindle Fire which I purchased some months ago, and my regular Kindle bought earlier. I use the latter when I am going to read for a prolonged period of time because the graphite background with black text is much easier on my eyes. Kindle Apps can be purchased for iPads too, and other devices. What many may not realize is that you can get Kindle right on your PC. This means that you can view it on a desktop or laptop when you add a book to your Kindle library on those machines. Few people will sit and read a book on a desktop, but if you are doing research or a blogpost, a report, or a book, you can search for text by keywords, and then copy and paste. It beats all that typing.
If you don't have a Kindle reader and want to get one, there are several styles and price ranges.
I started out with a regular kindle, which had 3G. Quite honestly, for just downloading books, this was not necessary; wi-fi would have been sufficient. I've been tinkering with the Kindle Fire for a few months. I got it while off sick so I could browse the web and do some other things the original Kindle couldn't. Now, Wi-Fi is good enough if you have Wi-Fi in the home, and where you would likely be using it. It may not be good, other than for reading, when sitting in the doctor's office. Amazon is working on a 3G version. Also, with any device, watch for added cost associated with a data plan for 3G. If you want to watch movies on it from a cable or Netflix account, you'll want to consider any related costs.
Sending PDF Documents for Reading on Kindle
If you want to read something like Humanae Vitae on your Kindle, or a new encyclical that comes from the Pope, you can email a PDF of that to your Kindle email address with the word, "convert" in the subject field, and it will be there a few minutes later. You can highlight text, but you cannot publish it to Facebook or Twitter. I have done this with several documents.
Where this really came in handy was on Holy Saturday. I copied the text of the vigil Mass for the "Tridentine" and pasted it into a word document, then saved it as a PDF. When I emailed it to my Kindle email address with the word convert, I was able to then change the background to black from white. It worked like a charm in the darkness of the Church as the Paschal Candle was being blessed. I didn't glow in the dark, and the white and red text was easy enough to read. When the lights went on, I changed the background back to white.
Carmelite Works by ICS Publications on Kindle
I also want to point out that many Carmelite works are beginning to find their way into Kindle format. On Carmelite works, I like to use the versions found at the Institute of Carmelite Studies (ICS Publications).
About a year ago, I began to look for some of the primary Carmelite works in Kindle, but had only found one or two. There are many more now - lots more!
Here is what is available now on St. Teresa of Avila:
Here are more on St. John of the Cross, St. Edith Stein, St. Thérèse of Lisieux, and more...
What Catholic works are you reading on Kindle? Or, feel free to talk about other e-readers and your experience with getting Catholic works.
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The obedient are not held captive by Holy Mother Church; it is the disobedient who are held captive by the world!
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