Who buys books on Christmas Day?

I've tried to ignore the articles for the past few days but now that academics have started to send this around en masse to their associates (and I'm sure to see this a few more times once winter break is over), I want to point out a few things about this news story from the Guardian.

• Who is on the computer buying books from Amazon on Christmas Day?


• There's not much to do with a Kindle after buying it other than adding books. And since you can do it on the machine, there's no need to go to the computer and isolate yourself from the family.


• This article's only source of information on this is a press release Amazon sent.


• Amazon isn't releasing hard data, just a statement that this happened. I would like to see the sales figures and maybe have some investigative reporting rather than reiteration from a company touting it's device.


• This passes for journalism today?

To confuse things a little bit more, they waste space with descriptions that have absolutely no bearing on the story. Check out the last paragraph:

The Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury made the 2009 Wisden Cricketers' Almanack available as an e-book for the first time this year, while Penguin has been selling a range of its classics in electronic form with extra features such as contemporary recipes.

Unless Bloomsbury has changed their name to "Harry Potter publisher Bloomsbury," I have no idea why they mention a series that isn't available in e-book format (and may never be) in a sentence about an almanack. Unless the journalist thought a reference to Harry Potter would add punch to the item. Also can't wait for those recipes that come with "The Picture of Dorian Gray", A Clockwork Orange, and On the Road (Chris Croissant of Penguin Digital's three favorite Penguin Classics according to the Penguin Classics UK book shop).

It's going to be an interesting year on the e-book front.