I love to read. So I was pumped when the new Kindle came out. Of course, I still haven’t gotten one yet. But I was thinking, hard copies of books are so much more trustworthy than electronics holding the book. Granted, it is pretty cool how you can read in the dark now without a flashlight and have billions of books at your fingertips, sequels and thrillers you don’t have to wait to go back to the library for.

But, (and maybe this is just paranoia from just finishing reading 1984), the thought that those editors could change anything they wanted to put into these electronic books is a very scary thought. I mean, these editors are revising the books they want to put onto the Kindle, and they could be leaving out parts, adding parts, and even go so far as to be putting words into Shakespeare’s, Dickinson’s, Aesop’s, even Moses’ mouth! Not to mention the fact that literature is one of the most persuasive things we have in our culture. The paper, the Bible, the online blogs, they all come together to plant seeds into our minds and influence our ways of thinking.

And who knows? There has been a lot of fear going around lately, always seeming to concern the government. Social Security is going down the drain, we’re having wars with other countries, and the way we are even cared for at a doctor’s office is going to change. To some people, it might as well be the end of the world.

But really, where is all this fear coming from? People are afraid that if the government can take our whole life’s work and savings with an agreement that they had no involvement in, they can probably take anything else they want. Our homes, our families, even our way of thinking. So is the idea that the government could change the way we read and interpret some of our favorite books so impossible?

Don’t think that I’m trying to say the government is going to try and take over our lives, like some crazy movie. And don’t think I’m trying to trash talk the Kindle. All I’m trying to say is that sometimes the good, old, original truth is what everyone needs to be looking at. The truth is the only way we’ll ever know, well, the truth.

And so here is some advice. Go ahead and buy the hard copy of the book. It may cost a bit more, but maybe it will be better than the revised edition on Kindle.