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E-books on the rise

2002-02-28 15:51:10+00 by Dan Lyke 6 comments

Fluffy Salon article says e-books on the rise, but the one I don't get is from Patricia Schroeder, former Congrescritter and president of the Association of American Publishers[Wiki]:

"Can I label myself a creature of habit?" she said. "I'm 61 years old, and I think this is going to be harder for people like me to change.

"Besides," she added, "I have a lot of other stuff to schlep around."

One of the reasons I like reading on my Palm is that then I don't have a lot of other stuff to schlep around.

[ related topics: Books ]

comments in ascending chronological order (reverse):

#Comment made: 2002-02-28 16:13:49+00 by: Larry Burton

The thing I've grown to like the most about reading books on my Palm is that I can find my place fast enough to make a couple of minutes reading time worth it.

The thing I hate most about it is that correct lighting is so much more critical.

#Comment made: 2002-02-28 16:52:56+00 by: Shawn [edit history]

I've been wanting to do more reading on my palm [Visor] but I'm having two problems:

  1. I'm having trouble finding anything that I'm interested in reading. I only read fantasy (or the occasional sci-fi) novels (for leisure) or computer/technology books (for work). For news, the web is so much more convenient (see point 2).
  2. The time I have to actually read is very limited and isolated. It's almost always when a paper book is more convenient/appropriate (like catching a chapter or two before I go to bed). Or while in front of the computer - which makes the 'net more convenient.
I'd like to find a nice novel or two to keep in my Visor though, for those occasions where I find myself waiting in a lobby or alone at some restaurant - situations that are far and few between, but generally leave me extremely bored.

#Comment made: 2002-02-28 17:09:36+00 by: Larry Burton

Shawn, I've found Peanut Press to have a fairly decent selection of fantasy and sci-fi books available. I understand your frustration, though. Maybe Tor will decide to take the plunge and release their authors in e-book format.

#Comment made: 2002-02-28 17:48:42+00 by: Dan Lyke [edit history]

There are tons of good freely available books out there too. I recommend everyone with any political interest at all read Men Against Fire[Wiki](which I mentioned here) for a military perspective on battlefield operations, but also a view of what motivates people.

For pulp sci-fi, there's always John Scalzi's Agent to the Stars.

I guess part of my enthusiasm is that there's gobs of stuff out there, shareware, pay, and free, on the web that I haven't read yet that I want to read.

#Comment made: 2002-02-28 18:59:08+00 by: Shawn [edit history]

Yeah, I've got several e-content sites bookmarked (including Peanut Press, Larry ;-), but haven't gotten around to really digging through them yet. (A quick search didn't reveal much that looked interesting).

So what does everybody think is the best reader app [for PalmOS 3.x] out there? Or do you just get whatever one you need to read a particular book - and wind up with several different ones installed?

#Comment made: 2002-02-28 19:12:26+00 by: Dan Lyke

I use iSilo. Lightweight, uses HTML so it's easy to import stuff. A few Perl scripts and Emacs macros can pull almost anything into a form it can use.

I explored all the DOC file readers a while back, but most of them were more cumbersome and harder to transfer into, and although one of them did editing since I discovered PalmWiki[Wiki] I've stayed with the memo pad.