Amazon Kindle portable reading device

This summer, Oprah received a gift that she says changed her life. "It's absolutely my new favorite favorite thing in the world," she says.

Meet the Amazon Kindle™, a wireless portable reading device with instant access to more than 190,000 books, blogs, newspapers and magazines. Whether you're in bed or on the train, Kindle lets you think of a book and get it in less than a minute.

Although the Amazon Kindle costs $359, Oprah looks at it as an environmentally friendly investment. "I know it's expensive in these times, but it's not frivolous because it will pay for itself," she says. "The books are much cheaper, and you're saving paper." New York Times Bestsellers and New Releases are $9.99 or less, unless otherwise marked. 
Oprah and the Amazon Kindle

Oprah says she will talk about her Kindle with anyone who's willing to listen. "Anyone who knows me knows I'm really not a gadget person at all, but I have fallen in love with this little baby," she says. "If you're like me and a little computer challenged, do not be afraid of the Kindle—do not be afraid—because you don't even have to have a computer for it to work. That's the brilliant thing about it."

Being able to download a book to your Kindle allows you to take your entire library any place at any time! The Amazon Kindle is equipped to hold about 200 books, but if you pop in a simple memory card, you can have more than 4,000 books at your fingertips. "Before I had this, I had 17 books on vacation this summer," she says. "You don't have to do that anymore!"
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos

Amazon.com founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is the man who dreamed up the device that Oprah takes everywhere. "We started working on this several years ago," he says. "It takes a long time to design something like this, and we really wanted it to be something that would improve upon the book."

The Amazon Kindle is kind of like a cell phone, Jeff says. "It has a wireless radio built right into it and so you can shop right from the device. And anytime you want to get a book, you can have it in less than 60 seconds," he says.

That's a feature that Oprah's already put to the test many times. Right before a recent flight with Stedman, Oprah says she saw a book advertised in a newspaper she was reading and downloaded that very book as they were heading down the runway. "The other day, too, I didn't want to go out and get the paper. It was Sunday. It was raining," she says. "I go, 'I will download The New York Times,' and I just read from my bed on my Kindle."

Another one of Oprah's favorite features? The built-in dictionary! If you don't know a word, you only have to hit a button to get the definition instantly. "I was always trying to guess the definition from the context, and I found I'm not as good as guesser as I thought I was," Jeff says.

In addition to being able to download songs for background music, you can ask your Kindle any question that's on your mind. Simply send it off and a group of people called "electronic Turk workers" will research it and send you a reply within five minutes.

Afraid you might lose your Kindle? Jeff says Amazon's got you covered. "Every time you buy a book, we store an archival copy for you at Amazon," he says. "So if you ever want to delete something off your Kindle or if you lose your Kindle, you can always get your books back, re-download them back anytime you want for free."
Jeff Bezos and Oprah

She loves it now, but Oprah says she was reluctant to try the Amazon Kindle when she first heard about it. "I had a couple electronic books before, and I wasn't there because I was like, 'I need the book; I have to have the paper. I'm a reader. I'm a professional reader,'" she says.

When her friend brought her Kindle with a book already downloaded, Oprah was sold. "It was so easy," she says. "And the fact that it's wireless and you don't have to download them from your computer."

So what's on Oprah's Kindle? The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, of course. Also, The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama, Ageless: The Naked Truth About Bioidentical Hormones by Suzanne Somers, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, The Forever War by Dexter Filkins and Crack the Fat-Loss Code: Outsmart Your Metabolism and Conquer the Diet Plateau by Wendy Chant.

Jeff says he's just finished Oprah's Book Club selection and Pulitzer Prize–winner The Road by Cormac McCarthy. "Unbelievable," he says. "It's fantastic and deeply disturbing." He's also downloaded The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life by Alice Schroeder and Cryogenic Engineering: Fifty Years of Progress by Klaus D. Timmerhaus and Richard P. Reed. "I'm a rocketry enthusiast, so liquid hydrogen is interesting to me," he says. "I realize how nerdy that is."

"You can tell a lot about a person by what's on their [Kindle] homepage," Oprah says.

Ready to build your Kindle library? Take Jeff Bezos' Kindle class—watch now! Watch

From the Kindle to the kitchen...get delicious and cost-effective recipes from one of Oprah's favorite chefs.

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