I think eBook readers are the best thing since the invention of the PDA and cell phone. They have the potential (someday) to revolutionize education and make extinct the 50-pound backpack, which is the bane of every high school and college student. I’ve been an avid eBook user for two years, and it’s the only way I read (for pleasure). My weapon of choice has been the Amazon Kindle (I have the original version), but my purpose here is not to compare them, but to “field test” the Sony Reader Pocket Edition (PRS-300).
I’ve wanted to read Stephen Fry’s Stephen Fry in America: Fifty States and the Man Who Set Out to See Them All since I’d first learned that he was to turn his BBC series into a book. Fry is known in the UK as a raconteur, author, and all-round brainy guy. Starting off after graduation from Cambridge as a sketch comedian with writing partner Hugh Laurie (yes, that Hugh Laurie), spending the late 1980s and 1990s starring with him in British television classics as Blackadder, A Bit of Fry and Laurie, and Jeeves and Wooster, Fry acquired a reputation as an author of some renown, with several novels to his credit.
In 2007, he set out across the U.S., visiting every state, riding in the most recognizable of British vehicles — he black London cab.
I was delighted to find Stephen Fry In America for download in Sony’s eBook store. Procuring the book for my new pocket E-Reader was 
simple enough. It works much like an iPod works with iTunes. Find what you want; download it and then plug the E-Reader into the computer. After quickly syncing, the book magically appeared on the reader, ready to enjoy.
(Sony provides eBook Library software, which has a simple user interface with direct access to Sony’s eBook store. But you also have the option of purchasing books online at any one of several eBook stores, including ebook.com. The vast library of free Google books is also readable on the device, and the eBook reader is able to read both “ePub” and PDF formats.)
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