Friday, November 7, 2014
By Kelly de la Rocha
Gazette Reporter
NISKAYUNA — Retiree Al Gilbert doesn’t read plain old books anymore.
You know — the kind with a cover, spine and pages.
“Well, that’s old fashioned,” he explained, his expression not revealing whether he was kidding or not.
He wasn’t.
The Glen Eddy resident reads between four and five nonfiction books a month on his Amazon Kindle e-book reader.
“Today, the Kindle is so lightweight, and it’s so bright and clear, and it’s very easy reading,” he said.
Gilbert is one of about 100 residents of the Niskayuna assisted and independent senior living community who have begun reading books on the handheld device in the past four years.
It’s no coincidence there are so many at the complex who have gone from page-turning to page-scrolling. Back in 2010, the late Myron Nichols donated $20,000 so every Glen Eddy resident could have a Kindle if they so desired.
A retired Presbyterian preacher who spent much of his life in California and Oregon, Nichols moved to Glen Eddy when it opened in 2001.
He died in 2011, but lived long enough to see the first e-book readers distributed.