Category Archives: Reading

Good perspective on the Kindle

Reading, Technology

Molly Wood nicely expresses some of the same thoughts I’ve had on the Kindle (which is now due to arrive in just 5 days!):

I’m not going to argue that the Kindle is any kind of a bargain. It’s an expensive device that performs limited functions. if you’re not passionate about its value proposition—reading books, magazines, newspapers, and other documents on the go and buying new content anytime the impulse arises, saving space, and helping out the environment by easing demand for paper—it’s easy to decide not to buy the Kindle. That’s the very definition of a luxury device, or at least an elective gadget. On the other hand, almost anyone would covet an iPod Touch, but few can afford it. Kick up a fuss about that The Kindle 2 is a niche device, and it shouldn’t have to apologize for that fact. It doesn’t have to apologize to me, anyway. I’m an early adopter of second-generation hardware, I read almost constantly I’ll buy 60 books within a year or two, max, and I’ve been saving up. I pre-ordered mine today

excerpt from The Amazon Kindle: no, it’s NOT too expensive | The Molly.

Magazines

Reading

When you consider that a fairly hefty slice of the success of my company still depends on the health of print media, it’s a little alarming to note that I’m actually surprised by just how many print magazines we still receive here in the Morrow household.

Magazines have been an easy place to cut spending iver the past year, but we still get a bunch.

Do we read them? Do you read all your magazines? Us neither.

Here’s a rundown of mags you’ll find around here:

Currently Receive

Let Them Expire in the Last Year

Ones I May Subscribe to (Again) Soon

(inspired by the Plinky prompt for 2/14/09)

Hey—what do you read? What am I missing out on?

There’s a Kindle a-coming

Reading

I ordered one of them fancypants ee-lectronic book readers from The Amazon, and if their delivery status is correct it will arrive two short weeks.

Last May, I wrote the following about my desire (and hesitations) about the Kindle:

As someone who always has at least two books on his person at almost all times and who agonizes about which books to bring along on a trip, I really like the idea of a smallish device with an entire library on-board, ready for any reading whim that may strike. I love the idea of decreasing the amount of physical clutter in our home that my book addiction creates (and I know my wife will appreciate this too!). I even like the idea that reading a book on-screen may even be helpful to the environment. I like the idea of searchable, easily retrievable notes and annotations, and the promise of instant, wireless delivery of a passing fancy.

And:

So could I be afraid that I’ll like an e-book reader too much? I think that may be closer to the truth. As a bibliophile, what does it mean if I prefer this new experience to the more tactile act of reading a paper book?

Once it shows up, I’ll keep you posted on the experience.

In the meantime, do you have any suggestions for my first Kindle reading experience?

Gene Wolfe book club

It's a SciFi World, Reading

Because I’m a glutton for punishment, and for grandiose resolutions, and for Gene Wolfe’s fiction…

I’m going to try to read all 12 books in Wolfe’s Sun series this year. I already had written “read a bunch of Gene Wolfe” on my list for 2009, then ran across John Klima’s introductory post of The Gene Wolfe Book Club over at Tor this afternoon, and so here I go.

The Gene Wolfe Book Club.

I’d better start reading.