Woe be unto ye

On Jan 9, 5:47*pm, Mark Allread none@none wrote:


Some day, I'll have to retire the old Palm M515 I've been using as a
"book" in favor of the real thing. It'd be nice to be able to see more
than one paragraph at a time. Still, for now it seems that all I read
are college textbooks. I'll wait a few months until I can once again
read for pleasure rather than the memorization of facts and factoids.

Not to belittle memorization of facts and factoids (as noble a pursuit
as most humans seem incapable of imagining.....let alone pursuing or
accomplishing), but reading for pleasure (which, it should be
remembered, by no means precludes edification) is, at one and the same
time, among both the most selfish and most selfless of all the
activities that one can engage in.

But, as is often the case, Mr. Clemens said it better.....and more
succinctly: "The man who does not read good books has no advantage
over the man who can't read them."

Food (and good, nutritious food at that) for thought.

Wolfgang

On Jan 9, 9:17*pm, Giles wrote:

The trouble with the iPad (as well as the applications mentioned by
Steve W.) is that it isn't a book. *Neither is the Kindle, of course,
but it looks, feels, and behaves (more or less) like a book. *[snip]
*And I don't mind any of that.....but I like
BOOKS......and if I'm going to use an electronic ersatz book, I want
one that looks and feels and behaves much like A BOOK!.....or, better
yet, a library which is, after all, simply a book to the nth power.


My cheesehead friend, I too prefer books.
However the Ipad Kindle app gives you the book behaviors you so
mention, but it also shows the illustrations.

Neither here nor there,

Giles wrote:
On Jan 9, 5:47 pm, Mark Allread none@none wrote:


Some day, I'll have to retire the old Palm M515 I've been using as a
"book" in favor of the real thing. It'd be nice to be able to see more
than one paragraph at a time. Still, for now it seems that all I read
are college textbooks. I'll wait a few months until I can once again
read for pleasure rather than the memorization of facts and factoids.

Not to belittle memorization of facts and factoids (as noble a pursuit
as most humans seem incapable of imagining.....let alone pursuing or
accomplishing), but reading for pleasure (which, it should be
remembered, by no means precludes edification) is, at one and the same
time, among both the most selfish and most selfless of all the
activities that one can engage in.

But, as is often the case, Mr. Clemens said it better.....and more
succinctly: "The man who does not read good books has no advantage
over the man who can't read them."

Food (and good, nutritious food at that) for thought.

Wolfgang

I'll read just about anything. From classic stuff to tech manuals.
Started that well before I started school. Had an extended stay in a
hospital when I was about 4 and got so bored I started reading anything
I could get. I had nurses bringing me in books from home and the local
library as well as the ones my parents would bring down.

Fast forward a few years to a speed reading course in HS. The teacher
there started out with a speed and comprehension study to see where we
were starting at. The only problem was that I was way off the top end of
the chart. Without skipping words or paragraphs the way she wanted us to
do. I ended up taking the final the second day of class.
During the same time frame I was also a Literacy volunteer at the local
neighborhood center.


--
Steve W.

On Jan 9, 10:22*pm, Wayne Knight wrote:


My cheesehead friend, I too prefer books.

I've seen some of your books. I carried one around for a few days,
afraid to touch it and kept awake nights for fear that bandits might
be coming for it at any moment.

However the Ipad Kindle app gives you the book behaviors you so
mention, but it also shows the illustrations.

Neither here nor there,

Neither here nor there is one of the two important things to bear in
mind. The Kindle was a gift, a thing I was delighted to receive and
am happy to have, but not something I desired or would have gone out
of my way to purchase.
The second (somewhat less important) thing is that I'd like it better
if it behaved more like a real book.....with certain qualifications.
Some of the features, like bookmarking, searching across multiple
volumes, and other data retrieval and manipulation functions are the
cat's ass.....things that would be welcome in REAL books, were they
possible. But beyond that, the point of the thing, as far as I am
concerned, is that it be a BOOK.....not a computer, one of whose
functions is something booklike. The iPad, one of which I have
sitting here as I type, is a fully functioning computer, and appears
(based on my very limited experience with it) to be a very good one,
but I already have a laptop and a phone with more funtions than I'll
be able to learn about and use to their fullest effect before it wears
out or is superceded by something with even more useless (to me) bells
and whistles. The iPad also has a backlit screen. I assume that the
Kindle application on the iPad (I don't see it here) cannot get around
that; the Kindle's very paper and ink like screen is presumably a
different technology. And that screen is, for me, the single most
important esthetic feature of the device.....not to mention the matter
of eyestrain that Russell brought up.

So, again, I'm thrilled with the Kindle.....but there is room for
improvement.


Meanwhile, you should be making plans to get your slenderized ass up
here in the spring. Many fish in many excellent streams (the nearest
of which is about a four minute drive away), and deluxe free
accommodations* in a beautiful sylvan setting. Ask Frank.

Wolfgang
*including two heart-healthy meals a day at no extra cost.

On Jan 9, 10:53*pm, "Steve W." wrote:
Giles wrote:

...as is often the case, Mr. Clemens said it better.....and more
succinctly: "The man who does not read good books has no advantage
over the man who can't read them."

Food (and good, nutritious food at that) for thought.

Wolfgang

I'll read just about anything. From classic stuff to tech manuals.

I'll read tech manuals......under either of two sets of conditions.
One, I absolutely MUST have the information, and there is no other way
to get it or, two, there is absolutely nothing else to do and
abolutely no other reading material available. Fotunately, both sets
of conditions are rare, and the latter increasingly so as I now have a
virtually unlimited set of books available at all times.....no more
sitting in the waiting room and suddenly discovering that there are
only two pages left!

There's other stuff that I won't willingly touch, but not so much that
I don't feel justified in claiming rather broad tastes. I've only got
a few pages of Burroughs' "A Princess of Mars" left. Classic
trash.....but trash nevertheless.

Luckily, Twain's dictum does not preclude ingestion of materials
entirely devoid of nutritional content.

Wolfgang

On 01/09/2011 01:47 PM, wrote:
On Thu, 06 Jan 2011 16:56:15 -0700, "Russell wrote:

On 01/05/2011 08:22 PM, Giles wrote:
with families and such inscrutable encumberances!



I love books. Always have. I grew up in a home without television. So
books were our escape, our entertainment. Especially during those long
Idaho/Wyoming winters.

I love to have books. I like their smell, their look, their heft. I love
to see rows of them on my bookshelves.

When I first heard of the Kindle a few years ago I considered it a
damnable object to be scorned. I saw it as a threat to those books that
I loved.

But, the more I learned and the more I thought about it the more I
realized that as much as I love books, I love more the words in those
books. I came to realize that the Kindle is a great way to carry around
those words. Lots of those words.

August 1st I preordered the new "Kindle 3" and it showed up the first
week of September. In short, the Kindle is a great reading tool. I have
read more books since September than I have in the last year and a half.
The simple reason is because I always have it with me and find all kinds
of opportunities to read. That dreaded forty-five minute wait in the
doctor's office is now a pleasant escape into some book until that
annoying nurse pops out and says, "The doctor will see you now." It is
much easier to carry around than a book (or books--I'm always reading
several books).

So congrats on the new Kindle. I think you'll enjoy it. I highly
recommend getting a cover for it. Not only does it protect it, it makes
it seem more bookish. The Amazon.com covers are very well made, but
there are lots of others out there.

I love my Kindle.

Russell

Well, I guess I'll hafta blame it on you, Russell. Bought a Kindle3
today (although it'll be a couple weeks 'til it comes in, as I went
for the free shipping - hey! Had to get the cover to protect the
investment, so felt I should save some money SOMEwhere!).

Welcome and enjoy. A word of warning. There is that issue with your
children's inheritance that Wolfgang mentioned. Amazon makes it
devilishly easy to buy new books for your Kindle.

Russell

Like a kid in a candy store.

Meanwhile, you should be making plans to get your slenderized ass up
here in the spring. *Many fish in many excellent streams (the nearest
of which is about a four minute drive away), and deluxe free
accommodations* in a beautiful sylvan setting. *Ask Frank.

Wolfgang
*including two heart-healthy meals a day at no extra cost.

Bring a "suit of lights" and your favorite set of varas for access to
the stream.
Frank "Pick-a-Door... Any door" Reid

On Jan 10, 12:51*pm, Frank Reid © 2010 wrote:
Meanwhile, you should be making plans to get your slenderized ass up
here in the spring. *Many fish in many excellent streams (the nearest
of which is about a four minute drive away), and deluxe free
accommodations* in a beautiful sylvan setting. *Ask Frank.

Wolfgang
*including two heart-healthy meals a day at no extra cost.

Bring a "suit of lights" and your favorite set of varas for access to
the stream.
Frank "Pick-a-Door... Any door" Reid

I guess the proper term is picas, though why you would fight a bull by
throwing little guinea pigs at it, I do not know.
Frank Reid

On Jan 10, 12:57*pm, Frank Reid © 2010 wrote:
On Jan 10, 12:57 pm, Frank Reid © 2010 wrote:
On Jan 10, 12:51 pm, Frank Reid © 2010 wrote:

Meanwhile, you should be making plans to get your slenderized ass up
here in the spring. Many fish in many excellent streams (the nearest
of which is about a four minute drive away), and deluxe free
accommodations* in a beautiful sylvan setting. Ask Frank.

Wolfgang
*including two heart-healthy meals a day at no extra cost.

Bring a "suit of lights" and your favorite set of varas for access to
the stream.
Frank "Pick-a-Door... Any door" Reid

I guess the proper term is picas, though why you would fight a bull by
throwing little guinea pigs at it, I do not know.
Frank Reid

In their native range they are plentiful and inexpensive.....like
rats. Elsewhere, they breed.....um.....well, like ****in' rats
(which, let's be frank here, they are). Bottom line.....cheap
ammunition. A few hundred, fired in rapid succession would, at the
very least, wreak havoc on bovine traction.....not to mention
distraction on an scale impossible for ANYTHING to ignore. However,
speaking frankly (oops, just spilled a gallon of wine on the keyboard,
breaking an ankle and severing a relatively major artery in the
process.....but, no matter) such measures should hardly be necessary
for most ordinary mortals. Prevarication, dissembling,
circumlocution, joshing, kidding, or outright lying should be
sufficient. In short, don't be.....wait for it.....frank.

Meanwhile, a day slated for reading from the new device that inspired
this thread has turned into a nightmare of trying to sate the
monster. I'd already made a trip to Project Gutenberg and downloaded
a number of items that had never particularly excited my interest but
seemed like the sort of thing that a literate boy SHOULD be familar
with. Fair enough.....into the hopper they went. O.k., let's see
what we've got. Hm.....roughly 3 gigabytes of capacity remaining.

Allright, back to PG. Hm.....Shakespeare. Yeah! That ought to do
the trick! Download. Roughly 3 gigabytes left.

Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," Stowe's "Uncle tom's Cabin," and Baum's
"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." Roughly 3 gigabytes left.

Gibbon's "Decline and Fall....," Shelley's "Letters written during a
short residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark," and Kafka's "The
Trial." Roughly 3 gigabytes left! Ack!

Christie's "The Mysterious Affair at Styles," Swift's "A Modest
Proposal," Twain's "Life on the Mississippi," and "Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn," Wodehouse's "My Man Jeeves," Cervantes' "Don
Quixote," Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass," the KJV, Smith's "An
Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," Grose's
"1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," Kipling's the Jungle Book,"
Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil,".....HAH! Roughly 3
gig......AAAARRRGGGHH!

So, I bought Twain's autobiography (the 2010 edition....volume 1, as
it turns out) from Amazon ($9.95), the Complete Works of Twain (sans
2010 autobiography) 300+ works with active table of contents ($0.99),
& the Complete Works of Kipling 100+ works with active table of
contents ($0.99). That shou......roughly 3 g WTF!!??

help me!

Wolfgang
who will gladly accept any reasonable recommendations.

On 01/10/2011 07:42 PM, Giles wrote:
On Jan 10, 12:57 pm, Frank Reid © wrote:
On Jan 10, 12:57 pm, Frank Reid © wrote:
On Jan 10, 12:51 pm, Frank Reid © wrote:

Meanwhile, you should be making plans to get your slenderized ass up
here in the spring. Many fish in many excellent streams (the nearest
of which is about a four minute drive away), and deluxe free
accommodations* in a beautiful sylvan setting. Ask Frank.

Wolfgang
*including two heart-healthy meals a day at no extra cost.

Bring a "suit of lights" and your favorite set of varas for access to
the stream.
Frank "Pick-a-Door... Any door" Reid

I guess the proper term is picas, though why you would fight a bull by
throwing little guinea pigs at it, I do not know.
Frank Reid

In their native range they are plentiful and inexpensive.....like
rats. Elsewhere, they breed.....um.....well, like ****in' rats
(which, let's be frank here, they are). Bottom line.....cheap
ammunition. A few hundred, fired in rapid succession would, at the
very least, wreak havoc on bovine traction.....not to mention
distraction on an scale impossible for ANYTHING to ignore. However,
speaking frankly (oops, just spilled a gallon of wine on the keyboard,
breaking an ankle and severing a relatively major artery in the
process.....but, no matter) such measures should hardly be necessary
for most ordinary mortals. Prevarication, dissembling,
circumlocution, joshing, kidding, or outright lying should be
sufficient. In short, don't be.....wait for it.....frank.

Meanwhile, a day slated for reading from the new device that inspired
this thread has turned into a nightmare of trying to sate the
monster. I'd already made a trip to Project Gutenberg and downloaded
a number of items that had never particularly excited my interest but
seemed like the sort of thing that a literate boy SHOULD be familar
with. Fair enough.....into the hopper they went. O.k., let's see
what we've got. Hm.....roughly 3 gigabytes of capacity remaining.

Allright, back to PG. Hm.....Shakespeare. Yeah! That ought to do
the trick! Download. Roughly 3 gigabytes left.

Chaucer's "Canterbury Tales," Stowe's "Uncle tom's Cabin," and Baum's
"The Wonderful Wizard of Oz." Roughly 3 gigabytes left.

Gibbon's "Decline and Fall....," Shelley's "Letters written during a
short residence in Sweden, Norway, and Denmark," and Kafka's "The
Trial." Roughly 3 gigabytes left! Ack!

Christie's "The Mysterious Affair at Styles," Swift's "A Modest
Proposal," Twain's "Life on the Mississippi," and "Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn," Wodehouse's "My Man Jeeves," Cervantes' "Don
Quixote," Carroll's Through the Looking-Glass," the KJV, Smith's "An
Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations," Grose's
"1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue," Kipling's the Jungle Book,"
Nietzsche's "Beyond Good and Evil,".....HAH! Roughly 3
gig......AAAARRRGGGHH!

So, I bought Twain's autobiography (the 2010 edition....volume 1, as
it turns out) from Amazon ($9.95), the Complete Works of Twain (sans
2010 autobiography) 300+ works with active table of contents ($0.99),
& the Complete Works of Kipling 100+ works with active table of
contents ($0.99). That shou......roughly 3 g WTF!!??

help me!

Wolfgang
who will gladly accept any reasonable recommendations.

All I know it that "War and Peace" and two volumes of autobiography by
Ulysses S. Grant don't make a dent.

Russell

"There's a hole in the bucket, dear Liza, dear Liza . . . "