Flutterby™! : 2000-03-24 05:07:05+00

2000-03-24 05:07:05+00 by Dan Lyke 7 comments

A comment of no particular wisdom just 'cause I got bit in the @$ by my own user interface and made a double entry which I should edit to two distinct entries: I now read all my favorite comics on the web, of the SF Examiner and the Marin IJ which I could read in my local coffee shop as part of my morning routine, each carries only one of them (different ones). I'm also realizing that the thing keeping me from living in a smaller house is the size of my library, something I'm trying to solve by finding more of my reading material on digital form (the Palm Vx ain't perfect, but I find it usable, certainly better than trying to read big heavy hardcovers). No conclusions that haven't already been made, but another data point.

Just because it was there and cheap I bought Stephen King's Riding the Bullet this morning. I loaded it into my Palm IIIx and read part of it during lunch. I'm impressed by how well I adjusted to reading this book on my Palm. I can see moving my library to a few CDs in a very short time.

Welp Dan, I hope you don't give up on the hardbacks entirely. I think there is a certain quality to reading a hardcover that dosen't translate to the tiny screen. Being a owner of a PalmV I find it very useful as a portable database but as I am struggeling to read through Machiavelli's Prince on it. I find it not nearly as cozy as our dead tree media. One caveat though... Since my brushed aluminum friend is always with me. It's quite nice to read chapter while waiting in a clients lobby :)

I have also been dumping smaller amounts of text into my Palm V, great in bathrooms and while waiting in restuarants. But I like the feel and smell of books, especially when reading in bed.

As someone who often writes more than he reads, perhaps I shouldn't comment, but I have recently returned to writing some with a college rule notebook and pen after years of writing via the computer. There is a difference; I choose words more carefully when I write longhand. There is a difference in reading also. I can make notes my way in the margins, not aseptic "cybernotes." There is also no substitute for finding a random book strewn thru my apt. and spending the afternoon with it.

"Print is dead." -Egon Spengler Okay, as usual Egon was a bit ahead of his time, but I'm utterly hooked on reading on my Palm IIIxe. The screen's tiny (I'm waiting for the larger color-displays to come down to $300-$350 before I buy one), but I can hold it in one hand, without having to cramp my hand holding the book open (but hopefully not cracking the spine in half), getting gorilla arm by holding a 2kg hardcover up. Reading in bed? I *hate* shifting around to try to find a comfortable position to hold the book so I can see both open pages. And as for the smell and feel of paper... Get one paper book for the fetish, hollow it out, and put your palmtop inside it, if that's what gets you off. Me, I could live without the stench of rotting paper, and definitely without the countless meters of shelf space I'm using to store my current book data.