Tell Me That It's Just a Bad Dream....Please.

photo by svenwerk

Now, I know that a few of you, my dear readers, are fans of the e-book and I may have mentioned that I have an issue or two with the whole subject. Well, an article that I happened upon on The Boston Globe website brought to reality my worst fears of where the Evil E-Readers could lead. Where it will lead if many have their way, like the headmaster of the Cushing Academy.

It seems that The Powers That Be at the Cushing Academy have decided to get rid of all the books in their library. Yes, let me say that again...they have gotten rid of all the books and decided to go totally digital.

“When I look at books, I see an outdated technology, like scrolls before books,’’ said James Tracy, headmaster of Cushing and chief promoter of the bookless campus.
In place of the stacks, they are spending $42,000 on three large flat-screen TVs that will project data from the Internet and $20,000 on special laptop-friendly study carrels....And to replace those old pulpy devices that have transmitted information since Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 1400s, they have spent $10,000 to buy 18 electronic readers made by Amazon.com and Sony.

Sorry, I need to pause. I can't seem to catch my breath... ((gasp))

It seems that one issue is that books take up too much space, space that can now be used for a "$50,000 coffee shop that will include a $12,000 cappuccino machine."
The librarian is not thrilled to be in charge of a book-less library, the head of the history department is concerned with losing the 'dignity' of the traditional library.

They worry about an environment where students can no longer browse rows of voluptuous books, replete with glossy photographs, intricate maps, and pages dog-eared by generations of students. They worry students will be less likely to focus on long works when their devices are constantly interrupting them with e-mail and instant messages. They also worry about a world where sweat-stained literature is deemed as perishable as all the glib posts on Facebook or Twitter.

One student said “It’s a little strange,but this is the future."

Is it? Is it really?
I think this is one of the most horrible ideas I have heard of, an idea fraught with problems. Lack of illustrations, lack of many graphs and diagrams that are readable on e-formats. Formats that may be totally obsolete in a short amount of time as many computer technologies popular a few years ago are now. But, it seems the kids were not using the library enough, so the best idea is to just get rid of the books! Wouldn't want to address the question of how to instill a lifelong love of reading in the children. No, just get rid of the books. Cheaper, less space used. More room for a cappuccino machine. Oh yes, I can see the glow in the eyes of many an administrator.

I'm sorry, but I am feeling a little faint and need to go lie down for a minute. Then I all going to be sure all my books, my beautiful books, are safe on their shelves.

The Kindle = The Apocalypse ...Really!

Oh, what is a week without a little anti-Kindle rant? But rants, even mine, can be a little tiresome, so how about another amusing little anti-Kindle video, this one starring author Daniel Handler(Lemony Snicket) in the latest episode of The Kindle vs. The Book from the folks at Green Apple Books with special guest star, The Apocalypse!



"Read BOOKS! Read BOOKS, OR YOU COULD BE NEXT!!"

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Get Your Hands Off My Book...and That Is Not a Book!!

Oh, is it time for another one of my anti-Kindle rants?
Oh sure...there is always room for an anti-Kindle rant. And Jello, if you are old enough to remember that commercial.
Now yes, I must say that I have not used a Kindle but for more than a few minutes. But I did have the chance while on vacation to read a significant part of a book on a Sony Reader, and I was not terribly impressed. I kept reaching up to turn the page. I couldn't break the habit of decades! But beyond that, I didn't really like the way the type looked, I didn't like the way you have to hold it...like I said, I was not really impressed.

But with the Kindle, there are much bigger issues as well. Like the fact, as people have recently discovered, that Kindle has the ability to 'reach' into your device and remove a 'book'. Now they said they mishandled that episode and apologized, and no doubt promised not to do it again, but doesn't it just concern you that they can do that. Is anyone worried that someone, the Evil Amazon, has ultimate control over your books, especially since Kindle books can not be played on any other piece of non-Amazon hardware? That you have to agree to a 'terms of service" just to buy books?

But most of my latest ammunition come from this interesting article by Nicholson Baker from this months New Yorker.
First, there is the whole look of "e-paper".

"The problem was not that the screen was in black-and-white; if it had really been black-and-white, that would have been fine. The problem was that the screen was gray. And it wasn’t just gray; it was a greenish, sickly gray. A postmortem gray. The resizable typeface, Monotype Caecilia, appeared as a darker gray. Dark gray on paler greenish gray was the palette of the Amazon Kindle.

This was what they were calling e-paper? This four-by-five window onto an overcast afternoon?"

Ok, that seems to be a major issue to me. He then compared some Kindle versions to real books. Missing beautiful illustrations, missing or unreadable maps, the color coding in text books gone. Not always an issue with every book you might read, true, but with a number of books I can think of it would be extremely important. Why would I want to but a 'book' that is incomplete? He tries a newspaper subscription on the Kindle. The Kindle version

"lacks most of the print edition’s superb photography—and its subheads and call-outs and teasers, its spinnakered typographical elegance and variety, its browsableness, its Web-site links, its listed names of contributing reporters, and almost all captioned pie charts, diagrams, weather maps, crossword puzzles, summary sports scores, financial data, and, of course, ads, for jewels, for swimsuits, for vacationlands, and for recently bailed-out investment firms. A century and a half of evolved beauty and informational expressiveness is all but entirely rinsed away in this digital reductio."

Ok, that sounds like a pretty rotten way to read a newspaper to me.

He goes to Freeport, Maine to meet a Kindle owner, the manager of a British import store across the street from L.L.Bean, who is part of the “See a Kindle in Your City” promotion. It is cute, she has made a nice, little cover for it. But when taking it to the neighboring bookstore, he is surprised by how many books are not available. At home, comparing it to his own books, he is surprised at how many books he has that are not available. Of course, I know that will change when the Evil Amazon pressures every publisher and author to sign on and make available more Kindle editions. Because certainly Amazon is huge enough to exert that sort of pressure.

However, I was even more upset to find out that I noticed neither the British import store or the book store next to it on my recent visit to Freeport. I was blinded by the beauty that is L.L.Bean I assume!

Bottom line, yes, I understand the convenience of being able to carry a bunch of 'books' in one little device, the convenience of being able to order and download a book in seconds, but there is a price to pay for that convenience. An aesthetic price, in some cases, a usability price. You can't loan out your books, or sell them...speaking of which, here is an amusing video about that very issue...


But my greatest concern is when you buy an e-book, most especially when you buy it from Amazon, with their proprietary software, what are you actually buying. Did you read the small print in the "terms of service"? Will you still have access to those books years from now or will you maybe have to 'upgrade' your hardware or software at an additional cost to continue to have access to the material? That is over the $350 you already paid for the privilege of buying Kindle 'books' at a small discount from the Evil Amazon. Wow, I could buy a lot of real books for $350 and then do what I want with them. Maybe even offer thrm to my readers inn a giveaway. As Mr. Baker puts it,

"Here’s what you buy when you buy a Kindle book. You buy the right to display a grouping of words in front of your eyes for your private use with the aid of an electronic display device approved by Amazon."

Hmmmm...I'll pass on that for now thanks.

Well, in honor of Freeport, Maine, where I did not test drive a Kindle or see that bookstore (although I found another on the edge of town and bought a book. Or two), a couple of pictures of the town from my trip.



Welcome To Freeport and Hello From the Giant Freeport Indian


One Store on the L.L.Bean campus and a Big L.L.Bean Shoe in the 4th of July Parade.