4 ms·

I really pity the author. He's lost the ability to enjoy a book and throws a fit when typesetting is flawed. A sure path to disappointment and unhappiness is to

by nether 12y ago

I really pity the author. He's lost the ability to enjoy a book and throws a fit when typesetting is flawed. A sure path to disappointment and unhappiness is to demand only "the best" in everything. He should just learn to read his books as they are.

leereeves 12y ago
"Reading books is a large part of how I make a living." Sounds like he spends a lot of time reading, and it's natural for minor annoyances to become like Chinese water torture when one does something often.
jfb 12y ago
Why should someone choose to read on Amazon if the experience is so hostile? It's a lament for a lost opportunity most of all.
- Spooky23 12y ago
  Amazon's octopus stranglehold on books. He mentioned that he reads a lot and listens to audiobooks... audible is basically the only game in town, and Kindle editions add $1 to the cost.
  - fpgeek 12y ago
    While you're right about Amazon's bundling advantages (with both Audible and MatchBook), there are other audiobook alternatives (e.g. Downpour, which sells many DRM-free audiobooks).
MBCook 12y ago
Have you used a Kindle? It's not small nitpicking, sometimes they layouts it makes are laughably bad and hard to read. Basic stuff that anyone who has read a book would notice at some point and it hasn't been fixed in YEARS.
- epochwolf 12y ago
  I use my Kindle Voayge daily. I have no issues with strain on the buttons. I did need to adjust them to the lowest pressure and highest feedback before I was happy with them. As for full justification, I don't really mind it. It's not a pain point for me. If I wanted to be picky, I could come up with a list of minor issues. The problem is the Kindle is the best reader out of a category of really shitty products.
- peatmoss 12y ago
  Novels on Kindle are bad enough in this regard, but they are head and shoulders better than anything resembling a textbook--particularly if the textbook has anything like mathematics or code in it. I've started seriously contemplating going entirely to scanned, pirated PDFs and simply mailing the author a check the retail cost of the book. I'd love for technical books to start rendering PDFs for multiple common ereader screen sizes. Journal articles are too much to hope for.
  - dragonwriter 12y ago
    > I'd love for technical books to start rendering PDFs for multiple common ereader screen sizes. Google Play Books supports having both EPUB and PDF for the same document, and, I believe, chooses between them based on screen size or other platform features. I don't think it supports having prerendered pages for different layouts yet, but certainly the "buy a title, which might have multiple formats for different devices" thing is already established there, so its not a big jump to see it being done with more specificity.
    - peatmoss 12y ago
      Thank you for this. I know where I'll be buying my next technical e-book from.
jacobolus 12y ago
Wait, what? Shitty typography makes a book substantially harder to read. With good typography, the color of text blocks is even and flowing, and logical structure of headings, captions, block quotations, etc. is obvious and clear without calling attention to itself. With shitty typography, the eye is constantly pulled away from a regular flow by the uneven color within text blocks or by distracting elements on the page, certain words or phrases are illegible and require scrutiny (in some cases, switching focus back and forth between two places on the page or even between pages) and effort to figure out, and inconsistencies impose a small but continuous mental tax on the reader.
- delecti 12y ago
  If I had to guess, the parent commenter hasn't experienced bad typography on a kindle. Typography is very much one of those things that you only notice when it's poor, or if you're really deep into it. I'm certainly not, and I've never given two thoughts about typography except when weird things happen with it.

by nether 12y ago

leereeves 12y ago

"Reading books is a large part of how I make a living." Sounds like he spends a lot of time reading, and it's natural for minor annoyances to become like Chinese water torture when one does something often.

jfb 12y ago

Why should someone choose to read on Amazon if the experience is so hostile? It's a lament for a lost opportunity most of all.

Spooky23 12y ago
Amazon's octopus stranglehold on books. He mentioned that he reads a lot and listens to audiobooks... audible is basically the only game in town, and Kindle editions add $1 to the cost.
- fpgeek 12y ago
  While you're right about Amazon's bundling advantages (with both Audible and MatchBook), there are other audiobook alternatives (e.g. Downpour, which sells many DRM-free audiobooks).

MBCook 12y ago

Have you used a Kindle? It's not small nitpicking, sometimes they layouts it makes are laughably bad and hard to read. Basic stuff that anyone who has read a book would notice at some point and it hasn't been fixed in YEARS.

epochwolf 12y ago
I use my Kindle Voayge daily. I have no issues with strain on the buttons. I did need to adjust them to the lowest pressure and highest feedback before I was happy with them. As for full justification, I don't really mind it. It's not a pain point for me. If I wanted to be picky, I could come up with a list of minor issues. The problem is the Kindle is the best reader out of a category of really shitty products.
peatmoss 12y ago
Novels on Kindle are bad enough in this regard, but they are head and shoulders better than anything resembling a textbook--particularly if the textbook has anything like mathematics or code in it. I've started seriously contemplating going entirely to scanned, pirated PDFs and simply mailing the author a check the retail cost of the book. I'd love for technical books to start rendering PDFs for multiple common ereader screen sizes. Journal articles are too much to hope for.
- dragonwriter 12y ago
  > I'd love for technical books to start rendering PDFs for multiple common ereader screen sizes. Google Play Books supports having both EPUB and PDF for the same document, and, I believe, chooses between them based on screen size or other platform features. I don't think it supports having prerendered pages for different layouts yet, but certainly the "buy a title, which might have multiple formats for different devices" thing is already established there, so its not a big jump to see it being done with more specificity.
  - peatmoss 12y ago
    Thank you for this. I know where I'll be buying my next technical e-book from.

jacobolus 12y ago

Wait, what? Shitty typography makes a book substantially harder to read. With good typography, the color of text blocks is even and flowing, and logical structure of headings, captions, block quotations, etc. is obvious and clear without calling attention to itself. With shitty typography, the eye is constantly pulled away from a regular flow by the uneven color within text blocks or by distracting elements on the page, certain words or phrases are illegible and require scrutiny (in some cases, switching focus back and forth between two places on the page or even between pages) and effort to figure out, and inconsistencies impose a small but continuous mental tax on the reader.

delecti 12y ago
If I had to guess, the parent commenter hasn't experienced bad typography on a kindle. Typography is very much one of those things that you only notice when it's poor, or if you're really deep into it. I'm certainly not, and I've never given two thoughts about typography except when weird things happen with it.