Mark,
The Kindle is an "electronic reading device." It has a great screen, long battery life, and you're able to download books over the "whisper net" which is a part of the cell phone system. Books are also cheaper than printed ones, typically 9.95 as opposed to about double that. You need an Amazon account to use the device because they charge your account when you download a book on the fly, the way I did the other day at the airport. The device can hold about 200 books with internal memory and you can use SD cards to store more.
I've read several books on mine over the last few months. Found no real problems. If your mom likes to read and wants to buy through Amazon, it is the way to go. However, I also collect my favorite books in paper form so sometimes I end up buying them twice.
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PS: You can't get my book on the Kindle due to rights issues.
