When Totally Crazy Easy Florida Gardening came out at the beginning of this month, a couple of folks wrote to tell me that they don’t have Kindles… and you can’t read Kindle books without a Kindle, right?

Actually, you can! This isn’t really a garden-related post, but I hope you still find it helpful (especially since I’m releasing my new series of homesteading booklets solely on Kindle).

If you’re missing out on e-books, you’re missing out on a lot. There are lots of cheap and free books out there just waiting for you to download.

How To Read Kindle Books Without a Kindle, Technique #1

Just buy a Kindle book and use Amazon’s Kindle app to read it on your computer – that app is located here:

Kindle Reading App  

This is really useful for when you see a free e-book giveaway – and authors are regularly giving away their books on Amazon to drum up interest.

How To Read Kindle Books Without a Kindle, Technique #2

You can also download a really cool program called Calibre that will let you transform e-books and .pdf files into multiple different formats. I was tipped off to that program a year or so ago and have found it quite useful in converting some of the free books I’ve downloaded.

Here’s the link for Calibre

It’s free and it works well.

I admit that I didn’t used to be a fan of ebooks. I held out for quite a while; however, when my wife got a Kindle a few years back I was quite impressed with the display and interface. It was easy to hold and didn’t strain my eyes like staring at a back-lit screen. The technology really looks like simple words on paper, though you have to have a light to read at night since it does not glow. This is great for my eyes, because the last thing I want to do after a day of sitting at my computer is to stare at another screen.

“Finally, I can block out the view of all those nasty green trees!”

Sure, you can get readers that are more like tablets (my wife often reads on her iPad), but I don’t prefer them. I like to read without the glow of a screen. You can also read it in bright sunlight without any glare. Impressive.

My Kindle is also pre-touchscreen, which is fine with me. Despite my tech savvy, I am a Luddite at heart.

The low-end Kindle model is a decent deal at its current price of $79.99. Mine has paid for itself many times over, just in the free books I get from Amazon, not to mention the many free titles available at the fantastic Project Gutenberg site.

I’m a voracious reader and an e-book convert – but again, you can read Kindle books without a Kindle, so don’t be sad about seeing a free Kindle book offer and thinking you won’t be able to read it. Just download it and go for the free Kindle reading app or download Calibre.

(P.S. Totally Crazy Easy Florida Gardening should be out in paperback soon – stay tuned! Also, my new booklet on growing tobacco is just $1.99.)