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Thread: What your bookshelves say about you...

  1. #61
    Registered User timbp's Avatar
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    Re: What your bookshelves say about you...

    Quote Originally Posted by Dreadful Scathe View Post
    I disgaree - a normal book is almost impossible to dry out if you drop it in the bath and you cannot turn pages if its sealed in a plastic bag - you Can, and I have done, put a PDA in a sealed watertight bag with no trouble and the buttons are still easy to press
    Drop a book in a bath -- you have lost that book.
    Drop a PDA in a bath -- you have lost expensive hardware and probably all the books you "own".
    I lost a lot of music I "owned" just because I reinstalled Windows and my backups weren't as complete as I had thought.

    And what is the computer equivalent of cleaning under the bed, finding a book one hasn't read for years [OK, so maybe I should clean under the bed more often], and rediscovering an old favourite author?

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    Registered User Beowulf's Avatar
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    Re: What your bookshelves say about you...

    I don't think DS was saying use a PDA instead of having heaps of books. I sure know that's not what I meant.

    Granted it's not the same experience as a well thumbed novel in your back pocket but when I'm travelling I don't want to take a suitcase full of books with me , so I may take one or two (or three.. or four.. or) but I also have a collection on my PDA.

    I have lots of purchased books on there too, not just project guttenberg texts. Lots of well known authors and some very modern and new works.

    A PDA will not replace a book yet.. but it's a good alternative to carrying your library around with you in a small truck I use my PDA to suppliment not replace my book collection.

  3. #63
    Registered User timbp's Avatar
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    Re: What your bookshelves say about you...

    Quote Originally Posted by Dreadful Scathe View Post
    I read the DavInci Code on it
    Is that meant to be a recommendation?
    (At least I got through The Da Vinci Code. I gave up on Angels and Demons after a couple of chapters.)


    On the other hand, I can see the advantage of reading a book where I can just say to the reading device, "This is as bad as Dan Brown. Delete it".

    Even better, text tagging and spam filtering may reach the stage where no novel that bad ever gets to my reader.

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    Registered User Beowulf's Avatar
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    Re: What your bookshelves say about you...

    Quote Originally Posted by timbp View Post
    Is that meant to be a recommendation?
    (At least I got through The Da Vinci Code. I gave up on Angels and Demons after a couple of chapters.)
    I read Da Vinci Code, Plodded through Angels and Demons, Trudged though Deception Point and struggled though Digital Fortress. Talk about forumuaic.. the bad guy is always the one you trust the most and expect the least.

    Quote Originally Posted by timbp View Post
    On the other hand, I can see the advantage of reading a book where I can just say to the reading device, "This is as bad as Dan Brown. Delete it".
    haha.. yes very true.

    Quote Originally Posted by timbp View Post
    Even better, text tagging and spam filtering may reach the stage where no novel that bad ever gets to my reader.
    now that would be good.. even better if it analyses my reading matterial and gives me suggestions on what I really would like.. not just what i think I'd like

  5. #65
    Registered User timbp's Avatar
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    Re: What your bookshelves say about you...

    Quote Originally Posted by Beowulf1970 View Post
    when I'm travelling I don't want to take a suitcase full of books with me , so I may take one or two (or three.. or four.. or) but I also have a collection on my PDA.
    I must admit I'm not a traveller.
    I must also admit I'm willing to read absolute rubbish (or even Dan Brown) if that's all that is available.

    But...[as I was writing, I realised our definitions may be different]
    When you say "book" I think first of a novel for entertainment, secondly of a non-fiction work. I do not think of reference works such as maps, encycopedias or even tourist guides.

    But I can't imagine taking a suitcase full of books with me.
    Sydney to Europe is about 24 hours -- 2 books will be quite enough for the journey. Once I get to London, well, I'm sure a world-famous city must be able to supply English language books.

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    Re: What your bookshelves say about you...

    I understand the attraction of PDAs, I also understand the magnetic pull of real books and bookshelves, however I use the real thing not for that reason at all.. My reason is that having been staring at a PC all day, I really want to escape the digital world, and go somewhere else, somewhere where I don't have to type or click on buttons...



    Whitetiger

  7. #67
    Registered User Beowulf's Avatar
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    Re: What your bookshelves say about you...

    Quote Originally Posted by whitetiger1518 View Post
    I really want to escape the digital world, and go somewhere else, somewhere where I don't have to type or click on buttons...

    such a place exists?? you're talking to a person who needs to carry a monitor housing casing with him.. if I want to speak to someone I pop it over their head so that it looks like i'm having a video conversation

    my mouth and ears have healed over and my fingers are now irreversably bonded to the keyboard.

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    Re: What your bookshelves say about you...

    Quote Originally Posted by timbp
    Drop a PDA in a bath -- you have lost expensive hardware and probably all the books you "own".
    Thats what the plastic bag is for, and i would never have an files i want to keep, stored in just one place - you could simply lose the PDA!

    Quote Originally Posted by Beowulf
    I don't think DS was saying use a PDA instead of having heaps of books.
    Certainly not, I have loads of books - a PDA is just a handier alternative and something you can carry with you at all times. Useful when your train is late etc..Ive read all sorts of books I wouldnt have otherwise read - The Jungle Book, Oliver Twist, The Time Machine etc...

    Quote Originally Posted by timbp
    Quote Originally Posted by me
    I read the DavInci Code on it ... It was hardly worth it for that particular book
    Is that meant to be a recommendation?
    er..no! But I did find "Digital Fortress" hilarious. I'm not sure it was meant as a comedy!

    Quote Originally Posted by quiet flame
    nor can you stumble upon a book you haven't read in a while just sitting down staring at a pda, letting your eyes wonder, like you can with a bookshelf.
    Quote Originally Posted by timbp
    And what is the computer equivalent of cleaning under the bed, finding a book one hasn't read for years
    Looking through your hard drive and finding a book you havent read in years and adding it to your PDAs card. Then next time you're stuck somewhere going 'oooh Ill read THAT one' A veritable library on the move.

    Also, I tend to get a lot of books via bittorrent sites and usenet. It has introduced me to new authors, saved me going to the library, and given me eCopies of books that I own but havent read. DRM is way too limiting to bother with - a new licencing model is in order methinks. (The one DRM book I ever bought had its own dodgy reader software which failed to work after a week - luckily the book "Gods Debris" by Dilbert bloke Scott Adams eventually came out for free download...about a year later. Incidently, that book has a warning at the beginning that it shouldnt be read by anyone under 15 ).

  9. #69
    Registered User timbp's Avatar
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    Re: What your bookshelves say about you...

    Quote Originally Posted by whitetiger1518 View Post
    I understand the attraction of PDAs, I also understand the magnetic pull of real books and bookshelves, however I use the real thing not for that reason at all.. My reason is that having been staring at a PC all day, I really want to escape the digital world, and go somewhere else, somewhere where I don't have to type or click on buttons...
    I recall reading a report of some study in which the researcher caught buses at random, then approached people on the bus who were not reading and asked them about their reading experience. (I didn't go on to read the detail of how she finally picked her subjects.)
    I always imagined I was the sort of person whom this researcher would approach.
    In my work as a copyeditor, I am reading. But when I'm sitting on a bus travelling to or from work, I am enjoying the time not reading.

    In my spare time (when I'm not dancing) I read. Occasionally I turn on the TV, but I always read a book at the same time, and usually pay more attention to the book than the TV show.

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    Re: What your bookshelves say about you...

    Quote Originally Posted by whitetiger1518 View Post
    I really want to escape the digital world, and go somewhere else, somewhere where I don't have to type or click on buttons...
    You switch on, it remembers the page you were on and a touch of the screen or button turns the page. You switch off and forget about it and in the next 5 free mins, switch on to be instantly where you left it.

    If you think about how many thinks you push and pull* apart from computers all day you'll realise you're being a bit of a luddite when it comes to pdas

    *doors, kettles, zips, shoelaces, lift buttons, phones...etc....etc..

  11. #71
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    Re: What your bookshelves say about you...

    its really my eyes that complain - lift doors are not lcd - at least ours aren't

    Whitetiger

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    Re: What your bookshelves say about you...

    Quote Originally Posted by Beowulf1970 View Post
    Talk about forumuaic..
    I'd like to, but I don't recognise the word.

    FORUM...UAIC...

    Is it like, phonetic spelling of a word used in Scotland? "You Way I See it, Jimmy..."

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    Re: What your bookshelves say about you...

    Quote Originally Posted by whitetiger1518 View Post
    its really my eyes that complain - lift doors are not lcd - at least ours aren't

    Whitetiger
    Palm PDAs have an optional backlight - i usually have it off (ooer) so its no worse than reading paper really.

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    Re: What your bookshelves say about you...

    Quote Originally Posted by Emma View Post
    I like to live dangerously and take library books to read in the bath.
    Emma, you're the sort of evil creature who gets people banned from libraries.

    When I were a lad, I got banned from my local one, because the person before me had got a book I borrowed (a Harrison Ford biography) soaked in the bath (least, I hope it was the bath...). I got accused of ruining the book, and I refused to pay the fine on principle. And got banned until I moved house and re-registered.

    Anyway, I suppose what my bookshelves say is that I'm untidy (as someone keeps reminding me... )

    My bookshelves are a bit like tree rings. So it starts with a couple of school prize books: The Little Grey Men go Down the Bright Stream by "BB", stuff like that. This led naturally to Tolkien, though I'd discovered Douglas Adams as well by then, then Donaldson - that's pretty much all that's left of my sci-fi/fantasy teenage reading (I used to have a complete set of Target Doctor Who books). Plus Catch-22, which was the only book from English O-Grade which I kept. Then there's the classical music period, a shelf of books about Neilsen, Prokofiev, Mozart, Shostakovich, etc. The interest in Russian composers led to the Russian literature period, going from Pushkin and Gogol via Chekov, Zamyatin (anyone who thinks Orwell's 1984 was original should read We - it's 20 years older and Orwell nicked much of the plot: more importantly it's a lot funnier), Bulgakov right up to Pelevin (Clay Machine Gun is well worth a look). Then there was the "I must get round to reading all the classics" period, resulting in a bundle including Melville, Swift, Conrad, GG Marquez, and Joyce - who led to the Irish period which ended somewhere around the middle of Emerald Germs of Ireland by Patrick McCabe. Joyce also led to the Scottish section, by way of Alastair Gray's Lanark. Here and there on the shelves are things like Brookmyre, Banks, Heller and various history books, or political/cultural analysis like Joel Bakan's The Corporation. Overall, mostly I'd say it's satire, humour, sci-fi, and the classics.

    Ylandier, the bookcrossing thing sounds great - currently contemplating what obscurity to release...

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    Re: What your bookshelves say about you...

    Quote Originally Posted by Stuart M View Post
    Emma, you're the sort of evil creature who gets people banned from libraries.
    I can assure you Stuart, I am entirely innocent. Please admire my halo:

    I've never yet actually dropped a library book in the bath (famous last words). If I do I promise I'll 'fess up, though.

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    Re: What your bookshelves say about you...

    Quote Originally Posted by Stuart M View Post
    Ylandier, the bookcrossing thing sounds great - currently contemplating what obscurity to release...
    may many books roam free

    I have left lots of mine on trains or at stations - have about 1/2 dozen to release at the moment - as I am rarely on public transport I'm rather short of places to leave them. London trip will be good for getting ride some of them - 4 underground trains and the train to and from Dundee should do the trick if i can fit them in my back pack

  17. #77
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    Re: What your bookshelves say about you...

    Quote Originally Posted by Dreadful Scathe View Post
    Palm PDAs have an optional backlight - i usually have it off (ooer) so its no worse than reading paper really.
    I always leave mine on. You don't get eyestrain from a PDA - computer eyestrain comes from monitor flicker, which isn't a problem at all with a PDA. (or with a TFT monitor, come to that)

    I do most of my reading these days on a PDA. Books are great, but it'd be tough lugging a couple of hundred with me everywhere I go (I never know in advance what I'm going to be in the mood to read)

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    Registered User Beowulf's Avatar
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    Re: What your bookshelves say about you...

    I too love the idea of that book crossing thing.. have some books I could release unto the world

    DS what palm do you have? I used to have the Tungsten T3 but I upgraded from Palm to the dark side and went pocket PC with my IPAQ H5550. I LOVED my T3 though and it was so much smaller and portable than my current housebrick.

    however that Said it was necessity that made me upgrade and now I'm used to it's little Microsoft quirks I'm happy with it. It has a 512mb SD card and an optional (and removable) sleeve that gives me two further compact flash slots and extra battery power.. but when Its on I say house brick and I mean HOUSE BRICK.. will take a pic tonight when I get home.. My t3 fit neatly into my shirt pocket.. this fits neatly (just about) into my combat trouser pockets

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    Re: What your bookshelves say about you...

    Quote Originally Posted by Dreadful Scathe View Post
    You switch on, it remembers the page you were on and a touch of the screen or button turns the page. You switch off and forget about it and in the next 5 free mins, switch on to be instantly where you left it.
    A simple bookmark will do the same job!

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    Re: What your bookshelves say about you...

    Quote Originally Posted by Yliander View Post
    may many books roam free

    I have left lots of mine on trains or at stations - have about 1/2 dozen to release at the moment - as I am rarely on public transport I'm rather short of places to leave them. London trip will be good for getting ride some of them - 4 underground trains and the train to and from Dundee should do the trick if i can fit them in my back pack


    When they arrest you as a terrorist suspect, having stopped the 8:50 Edinburgh-Aberdeen because of a suspicious Pratchett left in 1st Class, call me as a character witness...

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