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> GP: It's a crime this isn't on the Kindle. > I wouldn't consider buying this without a Kindle option. I completely don't grok how you could use delivery mec
by keyist 17y ago
> GP: It's a crime this isn't on the Kindle.
> I wouldn't consider buying this without a Kindle option.
I completely don't grok how you could use delivery mechanism as the sole criteria for passing up on knowledge. It's a book for crying out loud, not some giant machine that takes up half a room.
EDIT: bad assumption, consider the above more a reply to GP than parent. That said I am always bemused by disdain for physical books. If you worry about bulk you can always read it then resell it or give it away. For books deemed worthy, the knowledge gained is well worth the sticker price even if you don't end up keeping it.
- unalone 17y agoThere is more knowledge available in front of me at the moment than I can ever digest. I have several months of music which I haven't heard yet and never will hear. I've got a gigabyte in text of unread literature. There are a hundred million blogs and papers that I've wanted to read but haven't found time for yet, and I want to reread all the things I have read. Coders At Work barely appeals to me. If I could easily get it, I would think about it, since there's no risk to Kindle purchases. On the other hand: In my room right now I have a total of five books, which have been carefully selected as the only books I felt were worth bringing with me, so that when I move out I don't need to worry about having lost a thing. Coders At Work doesn't deserve to be mentioned alongside those five books, and it will not have a place in my room unless it's digitized and e-paper'd.
- davatk 17y agoThis is offtopic, but I'd be curious to hear which five books you chose.
- unalone 17y agoSure, if it's not a huge digression. Gravity's Rainbow and In Remembrance Of Things Past, which I haven't read yet and are long enough to justify print reading. House of Leaves, a favorite book of mind which has a very unusual typographic layout. A Best of The Onion encyclopedia, for reading when I have to kill a little time. The last book is called Syrup, by Maxx Barry, and is maybe the best light reading I've ever come across. It's not at all deep, but it's three hundred fast-paced pages and I've read it more than anything else I can think of, because I've never been in a mood where I've picked up the book and it hasn't been appealing. Then on the Kindle I have all the Asimov, medium-length novels, nonfiction, kid's books, essays, etc. It's a dream set-up and it all fits in a backpack.
- antipaganda 17y agoFive books? What do you do the next day?
- unalone 17y agoI don't read much. My childhood was a childhood of literature: For me, there's more joy in undiscovered mediums than there is in one that I mined. So I'm more frequently following RSS feeds while listening to new music, or I'm watching movies.
- antipaganda 17y agoFair enough. My childhood was also spent reading books, but I haven't stoppped. I read while the lights change. In queues. Making love. Nah, not really. That's mental. Reading in your car is dangerous.
- jeremyw 17y agokeyist: This would seem to make sense, but the Kindle has completely changed how I read and despite my fondness for the physical sensations of paper, I just don't have the patience for its limitations anymore. It's like using a 90s mobile brick when you've seen the iPhone. My understanding is this is a common reaction. Also note related death of reading, death of concentration memes/psychology.