(See my new, improved site on the K2 and these issues)

DecalGirl.com has a variety of Kindle skins. While most have purchased these for general aesthetic reasons, I decided to purchase a couple of dark skins to see if my theory about darkening the bezel area would trick the brain into seeing the Kindle screen as lighter. I purchased the Kindle9000 and the Dark Burlwood skins. So far, I've only tried the Kindle9000 skin and it definitely accomplished my goal. It makes the screen look almost like it's glowing. The transformation is quite impressive. Others have tried different skins and most have had good success.

For the purpose of aiding readability, I suggest a uniform or subtly designed, very dark skin - something that won't distract the eye when reading.

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Kindle 9000 Picture taken indoors against a dark background using ambient daylight, no flash or other illumination. While the screen doesn't look like a sheet of paper, it does look quite nice and bright. No complaints! Note: the photo doesn't actually do it justice. Holding the K2 in front of me, the screen looks just a shad darker than "white", very impressive. For those of you familiar with optical illusions, tihs is one of them. It's all about fooling the brain into perceiving the screen as brighter, so it is certainly valid.

For those looking for more information on this optical effect, see:

(thanks to "Art&HistoryFan" on the Kindle discussion boards for this post:

Sample picture demonstrating the basic illusion

And here's the explanation of why those two gray areas are the same gray in lightness. 

And for those who want to follow this thread on the Amazon discussion boards