Philippines: Obtaining More Books Than You Can Read
I’ve heard many expats in the Philippines complaining about the lack of books. That can be easy to 
Unfortunately, I don’t have one, yet. I have more pressing needs and thus can’t get one at this time. I wish I could give you a personal review but I can’t. I would love to hear from people that have Kindles, regardless of where you live.
If in the states, you can download directly to your Kindle with a free wireless connection. But you can download to your PC from any where and then transfer to your PC.
There are more than 190,000 books to choose from plus all the major papers and magazines are available. Best sellers are available for $9.99! and you don’t have to wait for the items to be shipped. The resolution and look of the screen is above that of normal computers. It looks like real paper.
Instead of a heavy book, you carry a very thin electronic item with you and when you move, no need to move all those heavy books! Some books are meant for show, buy those, but the ones you read, the best place for them is a Kindle!
Get Best Sellers even in the Philippines. You can also get the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, WashingtonPost, Forbes and many top international newspapers. It has been hugely popular and sold out quickly after they went on sale. Production has been stepped up and the price has fallen by about fifty bucks since it first came out.
Thousands of Amazon readers gave it an average four star rating. I sure would love to have one. In fact, if you just dying to buy me something for Christmas and its not a camera, this would be it! 
The device is tiny too, making it easy to travel with. It is about the size of a pencil.
While Amazon does not ship this unit to the Philippines, you can send it to Johnny Air Cargo (JAC) and they will deliver to you in the Philippines. Amazon does ship books to the Philippines but I don’t think they ship the Kindle here and it would be best to send it through JAC and avoid the Customs Hassels. You can text JAC through Jesse at 63-917-623-3910. Tell her Rusty sent you. I don’t get anything, she might give me a discount on my next shipment though. There prices are MUCH cheaper than FedEx and UPS and about as fast as UPS. Takes about a week after it arrives in JAC. If you don’t have a credit card, they will even buy it for you!
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If you’d like to have me order one for you. Please get in touch with me and I’ll be happy to work something out with you.
Hey Joe,
I live in the Philippines and I got my Kindle last year when I was an intern in NYC.
I love it. I know people think it’s ugly, but I totally adore my Kindle. I bring it with me everywhere. I get delayed in airport security most of the time, because I have to have it hand-inspected, along with my notebook, but hey, I don’t care!
I opened an account in New York and I still keep it open for my Amazon purchases. I just transfer funds to my US account to feed my Kindle obsession.
It’s also very easy to transfer your Kindle purchases to the device if you are not within the Whispernet range.
About the lack of books in the Philippines:
It’s really a non-issue. Powerbooks, National Bookstore and Fully Booked carries a lot of US titles. If they don’t you can ask them to place an order for you.
Or as Joe Expat said, order from Amazon. It takes about 2 weeks to be delivered.
Hi BB, hmmm I must have failed to save my reply as I did reply to you yesterday.
And it is not here.
What part of the Philippines do you live in? I’ve heard many expats complain about getting books but then most expats might complain about anything.
You think the Kindle is ugly? LOL
I don’t have one, sure wish I did though.
The availability of books is pretty good in Manila, but in the provinces, not so. Iloilo City is basically a big college town but the only bookstores I am aware of are two National Bookstore branches that mostly sell school supplies, not books. I received a Kindle for Christmas. I was able to register it on the Amazon web site and download content. I love being able to read my favorite paper (Financial Times) with breakfast. Readability and navigation are fine. Kindle is another step in making expat life a breeze.
Hi Isleidyll,
Hope I spelled that right, hard to see this tiny print for a guy that broke his glasses.
What you report is what I have found to be the case as well, except I haven’t been to Manila, well other than the airport.
I’m very envious that you have a Kindle. They seem a bit over priced to me but Amazon has to recover its R&D cost too. When a new model comes out, perhaps then I can get one. I might be able to find a used on on e-bay too but that is full of other potential problems.
Most of the Christmas season, Amazon was sold out of Kindle. I haven’t looked recently.
It is good to hear that you can actually download via their connection. I don’t think that was true when it first came out. Sounds like travelers are using it a lot and they made the move to expand that service!
Hi Isleidyll,
I’m going to send you an email. Please let me know if you do or don’t get it. Thanks!
I live in Manila. You can actually buy books from Powerbooks.com & FullyBooked.com, the shipping fee will be much cheaper than Amazon. True, their collection is limited compared to Amazon. But they usually have the bestsellers.
I heard that the Kindle will start shipping again on March 2009, I know a lot of people who ordered their Kindle last December and will be getting it mid-March.
I didn’t think Kindle is ugly. I would never say that about my Kindle. LOL.
But I heard people say that it’s an ugly brute.
Anyway, Whispernet (the wireless service) doesn’t work outside the US, so you have to buy books in Amazon.com, download it in your computer & transfer it via the USB cable. All you need is a US credit card.
I live in Bogo City, if there is a book store here, I’m not aware of it.
I was in Cebu yesterday, saw a Powerbooks store, first time I noticed one. I didn’t go in though. Yea, I’d only order from Amazon as a last resort but it is an option if one must to get what they want. With the books stores you mentioned willing to order for you is also a great help.
Thanks for the heads up on the Powerbooks.com site. I’m going to go check that out. My gf loves to read. That might come in handy.
The single most useful thing I’ve learned about the Philippines and had re-enforced over and over is that one should avoid applying their own experiences in the Philippines across all of the islands. The differences from island to island are great.
I know pretty much nothing of Manila. I want to visit there and do see some advantages of living in a city of ten million or at least I would think there would be advantages but I’ve never been there so I don’t know. I know there are lots of problems too but the advantages might out weigh those, regardless o all the warnings Ii get.
Tell me, do you like Manila?
Hi Joe!
I need your suggestion..
I got atleast 5 titles that I want to purchase from Amazon. The books are cheap but the shipping cost is too much.
How can I go about this? Thanks!
Cheers,
IRa
Ira, other than ask a local book store to order them for you, which they might do, I covered all my ideas above.
Amazon has a new Kindle 2. I wish I had one.
hey joe can you give me a book for free,i mean inspirational books..as in totally free….thank you and God bless…
Hi Mr. Rusty!
I had the chance to order the Amazon Kindle 2.0. I had it shipped thru my sister-in-law’s address in CA. And eventually she sent the Kindle with other items to the Philippines. Fortunately it arrived in Manila. We used a local forwarder to send in Cebu but along the way the van they used has been forced open along the traffic in Binondo and got our 2 boxes of shipment which also contains my Kindle. So that was goodbye to my Kindle! We were informed the next morning about the incident. When I traced my Amazon account, I found there was a wireless downloading done on the kindle and it was charged to my credit card. I informed Amazon about it.What they did was deregister the Kindle and asked me for a police document.I hope they can help me trace my Kindle. I know it’s quite impossible but at least an effort has been done. So my advice to people who have Kindle,always be on guard with your unit or else they might get to your credit card.
I highly recommend you look into using Johnny Air Cargo in the future. Email jessep_johnnyair@yahoo.com and ask her to set up a free account for you. The shipping to the Philippines will be much cheaper and take about the same time as it does to get a package via UPS. For example, I am building a PC. The parts weigh around 11 pounds, that will cost me around 3000P and get here in 10 days or less. They will deliver to your home, for free, in some areas or you can pick it up at SM mall.
Sorry about your Kindle, that sucks, so you never got your hands on it? Amazon refunded the downloaded books? They should have. Can’t expect them to refund the Kindle but would be awesome of them to do so.
Let us know how it turns out. I would sure like to hear from someone that uses one in the Philippines and let us know how well it works. I might just treat myself to one!
Thanks Mr. Rusty.I’ll try to get in touch with her.