I love books and I’m also a real tech geek, so the idea of e-book readers is both scintilating and off putting. I really like the idea of having one device that can be used to access all of my favourite books. The down side of this is the hefty price tag (10-15 bucks) per e-book. I can’t imagine paying to put the 400 or so paperback and hardcover books I have sitting on my shelves at home on to a reader. Reclaiming the shelf space is a nice idea, but certainly not practical or cost effective.
With all the DRM on e-books, there would most certainly not be a ‘used e-book’ store where people could sell e-books to other people at a discounted price. One of the things I love about physical books, aside from the smell, texture, and physical experience, is that they can migrate from person to person through used book stores, or regifting. I just don’t see that happening with e-books.
The thing that really gets me is that the price of e-books will generally be higher than that of a printed book. I just don’t get that at all. With cheaper publishing costs, we should be saving a relative amount of money, but that doesn’t seem to be in the plans from publishers.
Another issue that came up in a conversation is the universality of e-books to be read on different e-book platforms. Currently there is no common standard, so e-books are generally available on only one platform.
I’ll certainly be waiting to even think about an e-book reader until such time as common standards for e-book readers are in place, e-books are more reasonably priced than their printed counterparts, and DRM is such that an e-book that I buy can be disposed of or transferred in any way I see fit.
I just don’t see that happening any time soon.
Check out Johnathan Coulter. Discovered from Wil Wheaton’s Pax Proclamation.
http://www.jonathancoulton.com/store/downloads/
Geek music. Utter kewlness!
I am really happy. I feel at peace.
I’m really pleased with my personal growth and where I am at in my life.
I’ve never been busier and never had more going on in my personal life than I have now – and I am blissfully happy.
I’m ok with all permutations of life. I have learned to let go of things that may have caused me anxiety in the past.
I have learned to find joy in the moment.
I am not sure when I did… but it’s there. And in this I have learned not to question, but to accept and be thankful.
Joy. Peace. Thankful. Love.
Life is good.
I am being kept awake by persistent thoughts. My body is screaming at me to go to sleep, but my brain is moving much too fast for my body to catch and sit upon.
Long day tomorrow. Appointments in the morning, work in the evening. The weekend looks pretty damn stellar.
Started a story. Perhaps a coffee table book in the making. We shall see.
Girl.
Hot tub went cloudy overnight and I need to get the water tested.
Sleep. I want.
Happy that Katt is in a decent place and has wonderful people surrounding her.
Permutations of love.
Need more quotes.
Should make my own.
Exam soon.
Camping porn is the top search query for my blog. WTF.
I have 2 weeks off over Christmas. Major glee. Orphans christmas this year.
Muse.
Had someone support my writing many years back. Wasn’t ready to really write then.. perhaps now.
Time slips…
“Love is a temporary madness. It erupts like an earthquake and then subsides. And when it subsides you have to make a decision. You have to work out whether your roots have become so entwined together that it is inconceivable that you should ever part. Because this is what love is. Love is not breathlessness, it is not excitement, it is not the promulgation of promises of eternal passion. That is just being “in love” which any of us can convince ourselves we are. Love itself is what is left over when being in love has burned away, and this is both an art and a fortunate accident. Your mother and I had it, we had roots that grew towards each other underground, and when all the pretty blossom had fallen from our branches we found that we were one tree and not two.”
-St. Augustine (Captain Corelli’s mandolin)
“A book lying idle on a shelf is wasted ammunition. Like money, books must be kept in constant circulation. Lend and borrow to the maximum — of both books and money! But especially books, for books represent infinitely more than money. A book is not only a friend, it makes friends for you. When you have possessed a book with mind and spirit, you are enriched. But when you pass it on you are enriched threefold.” ~ Henry Miller
The above is true, yet I still quail at the thought of releasing my books to hands other than my own. Each book I have kept is precious to me, and to part with them means that the person I am lending them to is more precious to me than my books.
Thankfully, we have libraries. Books are easy to find in this day and age, as is access to all sorts of other information.
*mutters* My precious!
“To love at all is to be vulnerable. Love anything, and your heart will certainly be wrung and possibly broken. If you want to make sure of keeping it intact, you must give your heart to no one, not even to an animal. Wrap it carefully round with hobbies and little luxuries; avoid all entanglements; lock it up safe in the casket or coffin of your selfishness. But in that casket- safe, dark, motionless, airless–it will change. It will not be broken; it will become unbreakable, impenetrable, irredeemable.” C.S. Lewis
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