I ŠGOT a Kindle for Christmas. This might not seem like an earth-shattering event, but this smart little gadget has already made a big impact.

ŠI’d even go so Šfar as to say that it has revolutionised my daily habits. I used to be a keen reader, but some time over the last decade, I got out of the habit of reading for pleasure.

Life took over.

ŠI was too busy dashing around the world snapping Ševerything that moved – Šand lots of things that didn’t – in my previous life as a travel photographer.

Before assignments I would immerse myself Šin books – mainly of the cartographical variety – mapping my way around whichever country I’d been commissioned to photograph.

ŠPlotting, for example, how I was going to get from the laid-back Luang Prabang, beloved of Buddhists and backpackers, to the mysterious collections of giant stone urns at Phonsavan.

Only two inches apart on the map of Laos, but with no Štransport in between, a seeming impossibility.Š

ŠIn the end I hired a minibus, driver and guide, for a two-day whistle-stop tour of the mysterious phenomenon known as the Plain of Jars.Š

This involved having to shell out vast fortunes by Laos standards, although it would have barely covered the petrol costs over here.

During the trip, thick fog reduced visibility to the length of a gnat’s kneecap. Incessant torrential rain caused mudslides, turning this normally treacherous journey through the mountains into a truly death defying expedition.

Despite his Buddhism, the driver refused to let Fate intervene and got us there in one (shaky) piece.Š

The rain continued to hammer down for the entire two days; grey jars barely visible in the swirling grey mist.

Thank God for modern technology; the geeks who invented ŠPhotoShop and enabled me to drop a blue sky on the finished result should be knighted.Š

At the end of each action-packed day, I would take out my precious English novel, read a few lines and promptly fall asleep.Š

Times move on and, as befitting my esteemed new position as news reporter and Jack of all trades on the Examiner, Šnot to mention several New Year resolutions to improve myself, I decided to take up the noble art of reading once more. Š

My lofty aim was to expand my cultural references – and read whodunnits in bed without getting a stiff neck.Š

The new baby Kindle dutifully arrived in my pillowcase on Christmas morning: one of 1.3 million e-readers to be delivered by Santa last month.

Being more of a Luddite than an early adopter, I was surprised to discover that it is an object of some beauty.Š

It has slender, sleek lines, a tasteful gunmetal grey exterior, it is smooth to the touch and can be held in the palm of a hand.

Three quarters of a million books literally at my fingertips. I browsed the 300+ free books and downloaded a couple of dozen.Š

I felt a little guilty doing so and tried to banish the image from my mind of the small bookshop-owners I was putting out of business.

But if something encourages us to read more books, it surely can’t be a bad thing, can it?Š

Some argue that e-readers like the Kindle also encourage creativity.

After years of unsuccessfully trying to get their novels into print, many dozens of talented writers are now publishing ebooks and some of the more successful are being offered contracts by traditional publishing houses.

A friend, Jan, got a Kindle for Christmas 2010 and went from hardly reading anything to devouring 35 books last year. Another chum, Jonathan, got one last month, downloaded a free copy of Pride and Prejudice, which he had been meaning to read for years, and had finished it two days later.

For the first time in donkeys’ years, I’m spending an hour or so a day reading.

I love the novelty of Šthe Kindle, holding it in the palm of my hand– it’s very tactile – and flicking through the pages with an almost imperceptible bend of the finger.Š

One of my favourite features is the in-built Oxford English Dictionary which tells you at the push of a button what every single word means and where it comes from.Š Another is that you can choose the size of the print – ideal for people with poor eyesight.

My literary horizons know no bounds. I’m currently reading a book of Greek mythology, a psychological thriller called Max, and South: The Story of Shackleton’s 1914 – 1917 Expedition – and none of them cost me a penny.Š

We live in a fast changing world where we cannot stop the inexorable advance of technology.

We have to learn to adapt and adopt the best of it.Š