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I love almost everything on this blog but it is super hard for me to read long texts on a screen. Would be amazing if the author publishes each series as a book

I love almost everything on this blog but it is super hard for me to read long texts on a screen. Would be amazing if the author publishes each series as a book.

packetslave 3y ago
"Would be amazing if the person giving me all this amazing FREE content would do a bunch of additional work because I don't like how they did it" is peak 2023 Internet.
- hef19898 3y ago
  From GP: >> Would be amazing if the author publishes each series as a book. Seems like someone having problems reading long texts on a screen, which I get, and would be willing to pay for a physical book of the same content.
- Turing_Machine 3y ago
  > Would be amazing if the person giving me all this amazing FREE content He has a Patreon with 1,300 paid subscribers, bringing in nearly $6,000/month. > would do a bunch of additional work Like hef19898, I suspect the OP would be very happy to pay for a book.
  - thebooktocome 3y ago
    Not behind the paywall = free content. That’s the fundamental rule of running a Patreon.
    - CydeWeys 3y ago
      As a subscriber to Bret's Patreon for over a year now, I'm doing it as a donation to support his work, not as a quid pro quo to get access to more stuff.
- paxys 3y ago
  Where exactly did they imply that the book has to be free?
- _jal 3y ago
  "I would rather scold people than read for comprehension" is, well, sadly typical HN any year.
  - psd1 3y ago
    A more charitable interpretation for that cohort of comments would be: - I have a physical disability or a deficiency in my personal technological capital that reduces the accessibility of this content - TFA is good but could be improved even further by [more accessible presentation|change in format] and here are some specific ideas that I submit for your consideration Humans seem to take ambiguous content in the most negative way - and online comments, lacking social cues, are often ambiguous. It's a real benefit to discussion to read with a charitable eye. Do you really believe GGP to intend to scold TFA?
sporadicallyjoe 3y ago
You could use a free text to voice application e.g. https://www.naturalreaders.com/online/?s=V3715efd32dc2c474090c4cd9695c4f086.txt&t=Shared%20Text%20File%202023-07-28T18%3A15%3A41.549Z https://www.naturalreaders.com/online/?s=V3715efd32dc2c47409...
OfSanguineFire 3y ago
If you consider an e-book reader an experience closer to a book than a phone/computer screen, there are already browser extensions that can export any webpage’s Reader view as an EPUB or MOBI file.
- andai 3y ago
  Did Kindle's Experimental Browser ever stop being experimental? Sounds like a Reader Mode could do the exact same thing (plus save the book!)
  - paxys 3y ago
    They removed the Experimental tag. It is a full browser now, and has a built-in reader mode.
    - mjcohen 3y ago
      Tried it, and you are right about experimental being gone. I tried signing into google and got a message about browser doesn't support Javascript. Gave up.
      - macintosh-hd 3y ago
        I got there just by searching directly and it works. I wish the reader mode had an option to make it work like a book though, web scrolling is a nightmare on this thing.
      - paxys 3y ago
        You can turn JS on or off from settings, but IMO having limited support is a feature. The average site would wreck havoc on a Kindle's processor and battery life if it could run all scripts normally.
  - OfSanguineFire 3y ago
    I dunno. My advice to new owners of a ebook device has always been to put it in airplane mode the second it comes out of the box. Get all the ebooks you want to read from LibGen or Anna’s Archive and sideload them over USB.
rs_rs_rs_rs_rs 3y ago
It's the choice of colors that make it hard for me. Reader Mode in Firefox makes it much better and easier on the eyes.
- dfox 3y ago
  Quite recently on ACOUP appeared an button to switch the color scheme (the circle with flame emoji in the lower left corner). Somewhat ironically for me (who mostly reads it on iPhone) the button itself is somewhat distracting while I'm perfectly fine with the original dark color scheme.
SonicScrub 3y ago
Not a book, but the acoup blogs are available in audio form: https://m.youtube.com/@AGreatDivorce https://m.youtube.com/@AGreatDivorce I am not sure if that helps your situation, but I personally prefer to "read" this blog in this format. Life is busy and this lets me learn while doing mindless tasks like cooking/cleaning.
- LanternLight83 3y ago
  Thanks!
boveus 3y ago
I have always struggled with just how difficult it is to retain long form text over HTML. Even if you block the ads, the hyperlinks and strange font choices can make it difficult. The solution I figured out was to use a Kobo e-reader with Pocket. The integration with Firefox is actually quite seamless. You can basically just take a webpage, save it to pocket, and then sync it to your e-reader and read the article there. I have found this to be the best way to consume acoup's content.
themadturk 3y ago
These work really well when sent to Kindle with...umm, Send To Kindle. I usually read them on the web, but they're great as ebooks.
hnbear 3y ago
He’s working on a Roman history book. He’s shared excerpts with Pareon subscribers. I’ll definitely buy it. As for the rest, maybe a neat pamphlet. He’s great at long form, in depth content. Some of the series like making iron or bread are fantastic.
dredmorbius 3y ago
The Einkbro web browser (Android) has a print-as-ePub feature. You can print multiple documents to the same ePub file, effectively creating a book with a chapter for each document. The ePub can be read using Einkbro itself or in your choice of ebook reader software (e.g., Koboreader, FBReader, Pocketbook, Neoreader, etc.) And you can transfer the file to another device if you prefer through any standard Android file transfer method. (My preferred route is scp or rsync under Termux.) <https://github.com/plateaukao/einkbro https://github.com/plateaukao/einkbro>

I love almost everything on this blog but it is super hard for me to read long texts on a screen. Would be amazing if the author publishes each series as a book.

packetslave 3y ago

"Would be amazing if the person giving me all this amazing FREE content would do a bunch of additional work because I don't like how they did it" is peak 2023 Internet.

hef19898 3y ago
From GP: >> Would be amazing if the author publishes each series as a book. Seems like someone having problems reading long texts on a screen, which I get, and would be willing to pay for a physical book of the same content.
Turing_Machine 3y ago
> Would be amazing if the person giving me all this amazing FREE content He has a Patreon with 1,300 paid subscribers, bringing in nearly $6,000/month. > would do a bunch of additional work Like hef19898, I suspect the OP would be very happy to pay for a book.
- thebooktocome 3y ago
  Not behind the paywall = free content. That’s the fundamental rule of running a Patreon.
  - CydeWeys 3y ago
    As a subscriber to Bret's Patreon for over a year now, I'm doing it as a donation to support his work, not as a quid pro quo to get access to more stuff.
paxys 3y ago
Where exactly did they imply that the book has to be free?
_jal 3y ago
"I would rather scold people than read for comprehension" is, well, sadly typical HN any year.
- psd1 3y ago
  A more charitable interpretation for that cohort of comments would be: - I have a physical disability or a deficiency in my personal technological capital that reduces the accessibility of this content - TFA is good but could be improved even further by [more accessible presentation|change in format] and here are some specific ideas that I submit for your consideration Humans seem to take ambiguous content in the most negative way - and online comments, lacking social cues, are often ambiguous. It's a real benefit to discussion to read with a charitable eye. Do you really believe GGP to intend to scold TFA?

sporadicallyjoe 3y ago

You could use a free text to voice application e.g. https://www.naturalreaders.com/online/?s=V3715efd32dc2c474090c4cd9695c4f086.txt&t=Shared%20Text%20File%202023-07-28T18%3A15%3A41.549Z https://www.naturalreaders.com/online/?s=V3715efd32dc2c47409...

OfSanguineFire 3y ago

If you consider an e-book reader an experience closer to a book than a phone/computer screen, there are already browser extensions that can export any webpage’s Reader view as an EPUB or MOBI file.

andai 3y ago
Did Kindle's Experimental Browser ever stop being experimental? Sounds like a Reader Mode could do the exact same thing (plus save the book!)
- paxys 3y ago
  They removed the Experimental tag. It is a full browser now, and has a built-in reader mode.
  - mjcohen 3y ago
    Tried it, and you are right about experimental being gone. I tried signing into google and got a message about browser doesn't support Javascript. Gave up.
    - macintosh-hd 3y ago
      I got there just by searching directly and it works. I wish the reader mode had an option to make it work like a book though, web scrolling is a nightmare on this thing.
    - paxys 3y ago
      You can turn JS on or off from settings, but IMO having limited support is a feature. The average site would wreck havoc on a Kindle's processor and battery life if it could run all scripts normally.
- OfSanguineFire 3y ago
  I dunno. My advice to new owners of a ebook device has always been to put it in airplane mode the second it comes out of the box. Get all the ebooks you want to read from LibGen or Anna’s Archive and sideload them over USB.

rs_rs_rs_rs_rs 3y ago

It's the choice of colors that make it hard for me. Reader Mode in Firefox makes it much better and easier on the eyes.

dfox 3y ago
Quite recently on ACOUP appeared an button to switch the color scheme (the circle with flame emoji in the lower left corner). Somewhat ironically for me (who mostly reads it on iPhone) the button itself is somewhat distracting while I'm perfectly fine with the original dark color scheme.

SonicScrub 3y ago

Not a book, but the acoup blogs are available in audio form: https://m.youtube.com/@AGreatDivorce https://m.youtube.com/@AGreatDivorce I am not sure if that helps your situation, but I personally prefer to "read" this blog in this format. Life is busy and this lets me learn while doing mindless tasks like cooking/cleaning.

LanternLight83 3y ago
Thanks!

boveus 3y ago

I have always struggled with just how difficult it is to retain long form text over HTML. Even if you block the ads, the hyperlinks and strange font choices can make it difficult. The solution I figured out was to use a Kobo e-reader with Pocket. The integration with Firefox is actually quite seamless. You can basically just take a webpage, save it to pocket, and then sync it to your e-reader and read the article there. I have found this to be the best way to consume acoup's content.

themadturk 3y ago

These work really well when sent to Kindle with...umm, Send To Kindle. I usually read them on the web, but they're great as ebooks.

hnbear 3y ago

He’s working on a Roman history book. He’s shared excerpts with Pareon subscribers. I’ll definitely buy it. As for the rest, maybe a neat pamphlet. He’s great at long form, in depth content. Some of the series like making iron or bread are fantastic.

dredmorbius 3y ago

The Einkbro web browser (Android) has a print-as-ePub feature. You can print multiple documents to the same ePub file, effectively creating a book with a chapter for each document. The ePub can be read using Einkbro itself or in your choice of ebook reader software (e.g., Koboreader, FBReader, Pocketbook, Neoreader, etc.) And you can transfer the file to another device if you prefer through any standard Android file transfer method. (My preferred route is scp or rsync under Termux.) <https://github.com/plateaukao/einkbro https://github.com/plateaukao/einkbro>