Kindle App Now Includes AI Assistant for Character and Plot Questions

Authors and publishers can’t opt out, and you can’t turn it off, but you *can* delete the Kindle app 👍

I'm not a frequent reader, I will read in bursts when I go on vacation and then here and there when I'm at home. So yeah, there are times where I sometimes think "wait, am I supposed to know this character?" because they were introduced early in the book that I actually read 2 months ago. There IS a feature on the current Kindle where it will show you the page where the character was first introduced, but ... yeah, I don't hate this idea.

So what's the point of even reading the book anymore when you can Cole's Notes the whole thing?

What a useless idea.

Part way into "Murder in Paradise" by Ann Cleeves (one of her earlier books - I have read most of the later ones). Reading it on my Kindle. Sarah and Jim move to the small Scotish island of Kinness. Then a parade of characters comes at the reader so fast, it is hard to keep track of them all. Some islanders, some "outsiders". Sorta getting a handle on it (two main families I believe), but would welcome this feature to help get a better mental picture of who is who. So while I would likely not use this much, when in a situation such as Cleeves has written, it would be welcome. People always assume the worst re: AI. It has its place imho. HTH, NSC.

ps: I read a lot, and think I am pretty OK at it.

So what's the point of even reading the book anymore when you can Cole's Notes the whole thing?

What a useless idea.

As a Eng Lit BA graduate, I can't agree less?

For one: if you want to avoid reading, there are much cheaper options than buying it on Kindle.

For another: discourse and context elevate a text. It's fun to discuss your favorite characters, understand references and pick up on details you might have missed. I'm not sure if you've noticed, but even if you read carefully you almost never fully understand a text the first time you read it. The brain just isn't designed to resolve detail that way, and asking "hey I missed it, when did these two characters hook up" solves this resolution problem in a much more targeted way.

More to the Kindle point: if you're a slow or periodic reader, it can be helpful to get a reminder about who a character is and what their motivations are. I'm not proud of it but due to priorities, moods and basically just wanting to take my time it took me nearly a decade to finish "Gravity's Rainbow." Part of the problem was that every time I'd come back to it, I'd have to backtrack a chapter or two to remember what was going on, where the characters were, etc. I would have enjoyed being able to get a quick recap, especially one that avoided reading ahead.

And of course there are works written in archaic language (Faerie Queene, anything Shakespeare) where an active, on-demand plain English summary could be preferable to foot and end notes. Oh and I should include infamously dense works (Umberto Eco, DFW's "Infinite Jest"), multi-volume works, or the just plain bizarre (Doris Lessing, Haruki Murakami).

This feels like an appropriate and appropriately optional use of technology. Would I use it? No but only because I don't read on Kindle, I'm into paperbacks.

"What are you reading for?"