I hope you are enjoying the holidays. From what I read, a number of people received an Amazon Kindle as a gift this year.

While standing in line at the post office the other day, I noticed a woman in front of me who was reading on her Amazon Kindle. My wife has been interested in one for a long time, so I gave her one. Also I saw a message on twitter from my blogger friend Sylvia saying that she too received a Kindle for Christmas.

Hearing about so many new Kindles sparked my curiosity, so I did a little research using Google. I learned that JP Morgan estimates that some 10 million Americans either own one of these Amazon e-book readers or plan to get one soon. Another analyst said, "the Kindle is becoming the iPod of the book world.”

Users seem to like that the Amazon Kindle is lighter and easier to hold than a mass-market paperback. Also, it weighs just 10 ounces, meaning users can bring many books with them on a trip using their Kindle, while eliminating many pounds from their bag and the resulting luggage fees. Pricing for books is also excellent, with mass-market paperbacks selling for around six dollars and older titles selling for as little as three dollars. At these prices, the Amazon Kindle version of a book is comparable in price to buying a used book. Kindle users also tend to be older and have significantly higher education.

I've read about a few aviation uses of the Amazon Kindle for pilots but wondered which were being used the most. Therefore, I put together a short survey that's intended for all pilots, whether they currently own an Amazon Kindle or not. Please take a minute to take this very short survey. Note: If you answer No, you don't own a Kindle, the survey will be very short, saving you time. However you can still see all of the survey questions (and the results) by clicking on the Results link below.

Feel free to post in the comments at the bottom of this article about your aviation Kindle experiences. Also, you can click on this link to see a summary of results from everyone who's taken the survey so far. Have fun reading!