Don’t get me wrong. I love my Kindle.

It lets me carry a whole library around in my backpack at less than the weight of a single book. I can easily highlight and make annotations. And I can read in bed at night without disturbing Kelly.

Bet despite this.
For me at least, the Kindle just doesn’t replace a good book in my hands.

So here is a brief list of improvements and upgrades that I would like to see in future Kindles to try and bridge the gap:

1. Screen on the back of the Kindle that automatically displays a high resolution colour picture of the book you are actually reading so you can impress other people with your literary acumen at cafes and suchlike.
2. Ditto for the spine. So you can still impress at the cafes and other public spaces even when its just peaking out from under your Leuchtturm1917 softcover writing journal in which you have just finished jotting down something probably fascinating, whilst totally exuding an impression of probably being an incredibly interesting person.
3. Multiple page screens, so that
   a) you can quickly flip through to find/review something you are looking for whilst dropping ginger nut biscuit crumbs between the screens, and
   b) when you put the Kindle down the wind can blow through the screens so you totally lose your place.
4. Built in degradation technology, so over time it develops that beaten up, creased spine, squashed bug pressing, chocolate cake icing smeared, sun-bleached, dog eared patina that is the mark of a well loved book.
5. Ability to download ‘second hand’ books that have deep and meaningful scribblings from the previous owner(s) in the margins, and underlined paragraphs, unknown phone numbers, and circled sentences with snaking arrows linking to the scribblings.
6. Variable mass weight bearing technology that makes the kindle feel really heavy to carry around when you are reading a ‘big thick’ book and super light when reading a ‘thin paperback’.
7. Aroma-book enhancement that secretes that unmistakable slightly intoxicating smell of a freshly printed book. Or alternatively, will exude the slightly damp and often mysterious half-remembered aromatics of older or second hand books.