The Amazon Kindle may seem like just another fancy gadget for techno geeks. But make no mistake, this is the biggest invention since the cell phone. And with the release of the new and improved Kindle 2, it’s even bigger.

Here’s a picture of me holding 245,000 books in one hand. Or more accurately, access to said number of books. The latest version of the Kindle is the width and height of a small book, the thickness of a pencil, and it weighs just 10 ounces. But this little device hooks you up to practically unlimited knowledge. It’s like holding an entire bookstore in your hand. (And on the actual screen, you don’t see any glare like you do in this photo.)

Anytime you feel like reading something, just switch on your Kindle, browse the available listings, and wirelessly download a book in less than a minute, for less than the cost of a paperback. (Sorry, overseas friends – the Kindle is currently available only in the U.S. because of its reliance on Sprint’s 3G network. Verify that Kindle wireless coverage is available in your area.)

This is not some big clunky object. The Kindle 2 has a very sleek design, much better than its predecessor. It’s comfortable to hold, and it doesn’t get hot like a computer. The battery charges in 4 hours and lasts 4 days. It’s easy to use, with no technical skills needed. There are no contracts or anything to sign up for (assuming you already have an Amazon account). You really just take it out of the box and follow the simple on-screen guide to get started.

But what’s so great about this?

How is a Kindle that much better than just carrying a book around with you? Well, the difference is that with the Kindle, you’re not carrying around one book, but up to 1,500. (If you actually download that many books, you can delete them to free up space, and re-download them for free later.) Never again will you have an excuse for having nothing to do, or not knowing what book to take on a trip with you.

Here’s an example of how you might use it. You arrive at the airport, and find that your flight’s been delayed by 4 hours. Other people might be upset in that situation, but not you, because you have a Kindle.

You pull it out of your carry-on bag, and flip the switch. Two seconds later, the Kindle automatically loads the book you were reading last, opened to the exact page you were on. You were near the very end of the book, so you quickly finish it. What next? With a nearly infinite selection available, you feel like a kid in a candy store.

You remember people saying good things about Tribes by Seth Godin, so you decide to take a look. You press the Menu button and select “Shop in Kindle Store.” There are handy links to national best sellers, Kindle top sellers, and Amazon’s recommendations for you, as well as options to browse books, newspapers, magazines, and blogs.

You browse the book selections, and instead of choosing one of the 24 categories, you just type “Tribes” into the search engine. The Amazon rating and reviews for Tribes come up, but you’re more interested in downloading the free sample chapter. And you like it, so you decide to buy the book.

Your Kindle-less friends paid $13.57 plus shipping, and waited for 5 days. But you’ll pay just $9.99 and be reading it in less than a minute. (New releases are generally $9.99, even if the print version is $25 or more. Some cost less, and some are even free.)

While everyone else is twiddling their thumbs or trying to sleep on the airport benches, you’re soaking up Seth Godin’s wisdom and not even noticing the passage of time.

At first, I basically saw the Kindle as a fun and easy way to read more books. I really don’t read enough, and I know I’m going to be reading more now that I’ve got convenient, nearly unlimited access wherever I go. I’ll expand my knowledge, and thanks to the free sample chapters offered for many books, I’ll be able to take no-risk looks beyond the topics I usually read about.

However, I found the Kindle to be even better than I expected. I thought it would be the next best thing to having a real book, but it’s actually far superior to a printed book in several ways. For one thing, the readability is just amazing.

The picture above shows someone reading her Kindle in bright sunlight, without any glare. You can tilt it at any angle, and the text is always sharp and clear (more so than it appears in this picture). Sun or shade or indoors, it all works. You don’t need a great light source like you do with a printed book. There’s no backlighting you so can’t read it in total darkness, but pretty much any indoor location will be bright enough.

There are six different font sizes to choose from, so you can pick the one that’s best for your eyes. There are 16 shades of gray, so pictures look good. It really is gentler on your eyes than a computer screen, or even a printed book. The narrow column helps you read faster and not lose your place.

Read it in bed just like a regular book. You don’t need to turn any pages – just push one of the “next page” buttons that will naturally be under either of your thumbs. You don’t need a bookmark either – set it down when the phone rings and it will eventually go into power save mode, but it will never lose the page, even if you turn it off or start reading another book.

You can search within the book, mark sections to come back to later, and type up notes while you’re reading. Move the cursor to any word, and the built-in dictionary gives you a definition. You can have the Kindle read to you with its text-to-speech feature, but it sounds as bad as a GPS unit, and I don’t see why anyone would use this unless they have severe vision problems. You also have web access (currently in the experimental stage), though I found using Wikipedia to be painfully slow.

The Kindle also has a number of advanced features that I don’t really need, like the ability to take a Word or PDF document on your computer and email it to your Kindle account, having it converted to Kindle format for a charge of ten cents. But the advanced features stay out of your way, and don’t interfere with the basics.

Things the Kindle could do better:

1. When someone’s Kindle arrives on their doorstep, they’re eager to get started immediately. And while it’s easy to learn how to use it, you’ll quickly run into the problem of not having any books on it. Needing to stop and decide what book to start with really breaks your momentum. The Kindle should come with some books to get you started. Why not give the user Kindle access to all the books they’ve previously bought from Amazon?

2. They need to expand their selections, but of course they’re already working on that. They’ve got a huge number of books already, but if you’re looking for something in particular, it might not be available on the Kindle.

3. With the profit margins being so high on electronic books, they can afford to offer package deals. Like the complete works of Michael Crichton, for a huge discount.

4. The Kindle really needs a carrying case. While it’s easy to hold, it’s not so easy to take with you, because the way you would naturally carry it would put a thumbprint on the screen. I see now that there are some fancy cases available on Amazon, but the Kindle should at least come with a cheap pouch just so you have something protecting the screen. If I were to take it on a plane right now, I’d stuff it in my carry-on after wrapping it in saran wrap!

Is it worth the price?

The Kindle 2 sells for $359, the same as the Kindle 1 sold for. So far, they’ve focused on making the new model much better instead of bringing down the price. The Kindle 2 looks and works great, so I don’t see a need to wait for the next one.

Some people balk at the price, but I think it’s perfectly reasonable. Remember the $600 iPhone and PlayStation 3? Don’t forget that you’ll save money on books. If you buy 24 books at $9.99 on the Kindle instead of $24.99 for paperbacks, the Kindle pays for itself.

I know, it would take a while for that to happen, but the point of the Kindle isn’t to save money on books. It’s to immerse you in knowledge, insight, thought, and entertainment wherever you go. That’s worth a few hundred bucks to me.

Oh, and for your first Kindle book, consider UR, Stephen King’s $2.99 novella written exclusively for the Kindle. It’s about an English teacher who orders a Kindle after his ex-girlfriend asks him, “Why can’t you just read off the computer like the rest of us?”

• PhotoReading: Become A Superhuman Reader
• How To Launch The **** Out Of Your Ebook
• What Is An Ebook Worth?
• The 10 Most Readable Blogs (That I Like)