When Gregg Zehr was approached by Amazon.com to develop Kindle, he asked why he should be interested. The answer they gave him: “To change the world.”

Anyway, Kindle is now here. Whether it will change the world remains to be seen. But it does allow you to take 200 books with you (virtually) on your next vacation or business trip in a device that weighs only 10.3 ounces. And you can have all of your books delivered to you in less than a minute.

Average reviews on Amazon.com give it 2 ½ stars. Here is a blurb from Wired Magazine:

• It takes four seconds to power up
• It takes a second or less to turn pages
• Connection costs $0 per month. Access is through Sprint, not Verizon
• The keyboard is not very responsive
• To convert files, set up approved e-mail addresses at www.amazon.com/manageyourkindle, and send JPEGs, Word docs and other files (NO PDFs!) to your Kindle e-mail address from your standard address
• There’s an SD card slot, but they can’t tell what its true purpose is
• Apparently limited Web browsing is possible. There’s a feature called “Basic Web browsing” available in the “Experimental” section of the menu
• It takes roughly 12 seconds to complete the search for a book
• There are 90,000 books available at the Amazon Kindle Store (including 101 of the current NYT bestsellers)

Kindle was developed at Lab 126, an Amazon subsidiary developing gadgets in Cupertino, California. Amazon started the project more than three years ago. Details about Lab 126 are now posted at its web site, including a mission statement that suggests Kindle is the first of multiple reading devices from the company. It’s vision statement on their About page states:

We envision wireless electronic reading devices that embrace a traditional book’s simplicity, utility, and the ability to disappear as we read, but offer consumers capabilities that are only possible through digital technology and wireless connectivity. Starting with Kindle, which enables consumers to think of a book, newspaper or blog and be reading it in less than a minute, we will build tightly integrated products that bring together great devices, powerful software, Amazon services, and unmatched content selection.

I read a lot of different books at the same time. I remember one recent trip where I packed eight different books in an over-sized briefcase because I didn’t know which one’s I would need. So for people like me, people with more books than space on bookshelves, the new device from Amazon called Kindle, seems like a good idea.

Too bad high school and college textbooks aren’t available on it. I see so many kids loaded down with backpacks filled with books on their way to school. They would capture an enormous market if they were to expand into that niche. And they would have customers for life.

There are several things I like about Kindle. First and foremost, the display is easy to read. You can adjust the size of text, and the text looks like ink on paper. It’s a new technology called electronic paper. It’s not backlit, so you can read it just as easily at your desk as you can sitting on the beach.

You can download a book in less than a minute and you don’t have to have a Wi-Fi connection. It uses advanced cell phone technology. And there is no charge for the wireless connection. Good, good, and good.

And I also like the fact that most books in the Kindle format, at least right now, sell for under $10.

Now for the bad. Too many of the books I want to buy have not yet been formatted for Kindle. They have 90,000 titles available for download but when I went to Amazon to buy Daniel Ladinsky’s The Gift (a book that has sold enough to make Ladinsky a very wealthy man), it wasn’t available. But in five years, I’m sure that will all change.

The price is $399. Ouch! Where is King Camp Gillette when we need him. He became rich by coaxing men into paying next to nothing for a safety razor, then hooked them into buying new blades every few days for the rest of their lives.

I don’t like the fact that the display is only black and white. I understand that color is coming, so why would I want to spend $400 when it is going to be antiquated so soon.

And then there is the issue of newspapers. Why would I want to pay to see the Washington Post in black and white on a small screen when I can view it for free on my notebook or desktop? Is this the beginning of the end for free content on the web from major publications?

Anyway, we live in a technological age. Change is the norm. It will be interesting to see how it how unfolds. Perhaps in 30 years, books will simply be uploaded into an Amazon.com memory chip in your brain.