November 29, 2007
Well, a new experience with the Kindle, Amazon, and Macho Chef. I just bought for $1.00
a piece by Andrew Birden for my Kindle. Then I rated it and reviewed it on Amazon. I also
read it on my Kindle. This is very personal, and I enjoyed it. Maybe my youngest son will
publish something to Kindle, or my daughter, or my oldest son. Or how about the
grandkids? Has to have a price, I understand, but publications from the family are priceless
anyway and worth the money.
November 28, 2007
Today I received a paperback copy of The Golden Notebook which I must read at least
some of before December 7, when the book club meets. So, I will be able to compare
reading paper with the Kindle.
My son sent me this link.
I liked this account of a family's 7-day experience with the Kindle very much because it is a
positive report like I think mine is. He takes his Kindle to the gym; I have also used mine on
my treadmill, though I for sure don’t run. I never make it above 1.5 miles per hour.
But another interesting phenomenon in my own psyche. I have decided to cancel Netflix. I
don’t have time to watch movies when I have so much reading to do. Also, I discovered that
a movie I was requesting from Netflix was in the library I direct. And actually, my library has
lots of really good movies that I've never seen. So, if I really want a movie, I’ll get one
there.
But too, I miss Law and Order.
November 27, 2007
I am researching for my tasks. I thought I would start at Amazon where there might be
information that I need. I see that tonight Amazon has completely sold out of Kindles. For
sure, you can’t get one for Christmas. I've already said that I acted so fast because I was
ready. There must be many others ready as well; the Kindle is not all that cheap.
Well, all the discussions are tedious. I have yet to find any real information. I have looked
about 30 minutes. I found restrictions, so I know I can’t sell, rent, lease, distribute,
broadcast, sublicense or other such things. I still don’t know if I can GIVE my digital content
to my library. I wonder if I can even give my Kindle to the library and transfer ownership.
I’ll continue to look.
November 26, 2007
I think the people who wanted me to start this blog also wanted me to be a bit more technical
in my observations about the experience. So, I started reading The Kindle’s User Guide,
which is on the Kindle when it arrives. I had not bothered to do that until now. And I did
learn some things. I needed to know how to capitalize a letter—there is an up-arrow on the
keyboard. And I needed to use a symbol which was not on the keyboard. There is,
however, a SYM key that presents a menu with many symbols. The one I needed was in the
list.
But, I personally feel the Kindle is very intuitive, easy to guess how to get started. When I
decided to download some more books, I did have to call the Kindle help desk again,
because Amazon’s site wasn't too intuitive as to how to download to my computer since the
Whispernet service is not available here. I believe I've got it figured out, though I did not
remember from my first experience that the file had to be moved to the documents folder.
So, even though I knew I had transferred the files through the USB to firewire connection, I
didn't see them. I went back to the original entry in this blog to figure it out. Also, there’s
where I got the telephone number for the Kindle help desk. (Thanks, MachoChef for that
smart addition.)
I took the Kindle to work today at the library. There was a lot of interest, but one staff
member wanted to know what I meant by its being intuitive. This just leads into a task list for
me.
Can I donate my Kindle books to the library as I have done my print books through the
years? If I actually deleted the books from my Kindle and my Amazon backup, could the
library transfer the right to the books I have purchased to their own Kindle account? Can the
library even own a Kindle and check it out? My friend MP suggested that the library should
purchase one in case a patron came in to ask for a book we didn't own. We would just
download it immediately and check it out. That’s really “just in time” instead of “just in
case.” (That’s librarian speak for the change I have experienced in library acquisitions as
opposed to MP’s who bought books because they ought to be in a good library.)
November 25, 2007
So, I went about my business this morning reading the latest Newsweek (the one with the
kindle on the cover). But after coming home from playing the piano at church, I wanted to
have another book on the kindle. But I didn't know what I wanted to download. So, I
called my daughter, thinking I could download a book for her, and she could take over this
blogging thing. No soap, but they recommended two titles, neither of which were in the
kindle store, that makes three I haven’t been able to purchase. (Now, I have noticed that
Amazon capitalizes Kindle on their tabs for the Kindle Store. I probably should have stayed
with the caps since a Methodist minister whose name was Kindle was my godfather—years
ago.)
So, I browsed the Kindle Store. I purchased a book because I saw an advertisement when
I first went on the Amazon from my e-mail. (They do tend to get your number.) So, I have
purchased The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. I never
heard of this before, but I understand it is a series, I think in Africa. Well, now I know it is in
Africa because you are told about it in the first sentence.
But I also bought Boom, by Tom Brokaw. After reading the Newsweek article about this
book, I ordered through Netflix a couple of DVDs of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. And
have on order some others. The 60s were great, weren't they?
One more thing before I leave today. I called my friend, MP, who is another librarian, and
left a message on his answering machine. He called back within minutes. He had read about
the Kindle in both the New Yorker (his favorite) and Newsweek, and he was very excited
about this new development. So these two librarians (both over 70 or thereabouts) are
excited. I have seen some negative blogs on the web when I googled (Googled?) the
Amazon Kindle. I have yet to feel negative except for not getting the titles I want. Oh, yeah,
and for Fort Kent, Maine, not to be on the grid. Still, where there is a will, there’s a way.
I know cliché…..
11/24/2007
I finished The Dark Wind by Tony Hillerman today, Saturday, Nov. 24. The story sort of
ended abruptly for me. I wanted to know how Jim Chee got help. But there was a lot more
material to read.
One thing that was included was a “Profile of the Navajo Nation.” It had been on the web,
and the kindle publishers got permission to use it with The Dark Wind. As a librarian, I
appreciate their citations and permission acquiring. Copyrights are important.
There was a long list of all the books Tony Hillerman has written. I realize I have not read
them all as I thought I had. Our library is full of them, though, because I donated all my
copies that I did read.
But even more interesting is a lot of material written by Tony Hillerman himself. Worth the
price of the book alone. I can’t really discuss this because then I would be worried about
copyright violation. But it does prove that digital publishing can enhance the “book” genre
just as DVD movies have added information about the characters, actors, producers and
directors of the movies.
Two new experiences with the kindle. First, I was reading along, this time in chapter 21 or
22 and came across a word I didn't have a clue about what it meant, surcingle. I activated
the menu which gave me the option to “Look it up.” I used the on-board dictionary,
because, of course, in Fort Kent, Maine, the Sprint network Amazon uses for the kindle
doesn't work here. (I am going downstate next weekend, so I’ll see if it works further
south. Fort Kent is served by an independent telephone company. Sprint may work on
Verizon's network—Presque Isle and Caribou, Maine.) I now know what a surcingle is,
even though Word believes it is misspelled. Word suggested syringe instead of surcingle, but
surcingle is a band to put around a horse to keep the blanket on. Frankly, I would have
never interrupted my reading to look up the word in a dictionary, just skipping instead. But it
did me good to know what a surcingle was. And thanks to the kindle, I now know.
The second experience was a little spookier. I was reading along, lost in the excitement of
the book, and waved my hand to turn the page as if the kindle were a real paper book. So, I
guess the thing is a success at giving a book-like feeling. It has truly interrupted my reading
of my Newsweek magazines, of which I am now four behind.
And what is on the cover of the new November 26 Newsweek? Yep. The amazonkindle.
I’ll let you read it for yourself, but it might kind of explain my turning the page.
A little something about myself that explains why I am ready for a digital book reader which
performs as well as this one does. My job for 20 years has been in IT and libraries. I quit
printing e-mail about 18 years ago. I quit printing reports about 10 years ago. I have been
reading onscreen for a long time now and filing electronically everything I write or have to
read. Filing paper stuff is just too much, anymore.
So I was ready and jumped on the bandwagon. So far, I am not disappointed. Now, I can
take the kindle to bed with me. And I have.
But you know, I quit buying books when I became a librarian, except when I need to read
one for the book club. Even those I donate to the library and keep no library at home. So,
this will be different. A library of books that don’t get dusty, that doesn't have to be moved
cross country, packed up time and time again. It’s time has come for me.
11/23/2007
I'm taking the kindle to choir practice tomorrow. I'll see what they think. Everyone wants
me to bring it to work on Monday too.
Okay, I am at Chapter 6 in the Dark Wind. I am totally surprised that I bought a Hillerman
book I had not read. WG, my brother, got me started on Hillerman novels, and he told me
yesterday (Thanksgiving) that the Dark Wind was one of the very early ones. Well, I love
Hillerman novels and I love my Kindle.
This morning I was packing up to leave to go home from my children's home, where I had to
stay because of the storm. The youngest grandchild wanted to see the Kindle one more time.
But I already had it packed up in its nice box, so I said no. All Thanksgiving Day, the two
boys (4th and 5th graders) wanted to experience the Kindle. They discovered all the screen
savers by pressing Alt-A. Now, I just opened up my kindle (I now notice that Amazon
doesn't capitalize kindle. Amazonkindle. Okay. Anyway, I had a message that told me to
press Alt-A to put it to sleep to save battery power. So now I have a screen saver and I
know to press Alt-A to wake it up.
My youngest son wants me to describe how it feels and works. And I will tell him, I
christened it this morning as all good books are christened. It works great in the you-know-
where.
It is (exactly as they describe it on Amazon) about the size of a Harlequin novel. Remember
when we bought covers so that no one would know we were reading Harlequin novels. The
kindle comes with a cover to protect it, and it does remind me of the covers of the 60s, 70s.
But I don't really want to hide the kindle.
I am proud of it.
I put the text size to the highest. Really easy to read. But then I wanted a more book
experience and made it smaller so that the page turning wasn't so often. Little or big, the
words are crisp. Page turning is a breeze.
11/21/2007
The Kindle arrived the day before Thanksgiving. It arrived at the library.
The Reference Librarian (my daughter, Sofia) delivered it to my house. I made her stay at
the house until we figured out how to open the box and charge the battery. Before she left
we discovered we had no access to WhisperNet.
Fort Kent, Maine is off the grid. Disappointed. So I went to bed.
11/22/2007
It is snowing in Fort Kent, Maine. The Birden family was supposed to come to my house for
Thanksgiving. At which time, we would figure out how to download a book onto the Kindle
without WhisperNet. But, too much snow (8-14 inches) so I am at the Birden's with my son-
in-law, where we just discovered that the screensaver has an image of Oscar Wilde.
I brought the Kindle into the house and the kids snatched it out of my hands and the family
gathered around to gawk at this new toy. The fourth and fifth grader vied for access (let me
hold it-let me hold it!).
Son in law takes kindle upstairs. "Hey I want your password to Amazon!"
"Okay, buy the Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing."
So I searched for it and it wasn't available.
But, wanting to do this book thing on the Kindle, I bought a Hillerman novel, The Dark
Wind for $6.
But it said it was going to send it to my Kindle wirelessly, which it can't do because Fort
Kent might as well be on the Moon.
Well, not.
We called tech support at Amazon and spoke to a sweet foreign woman who did not know
what we were talking about. But she gave us another number (1-866-321-8851) for a
Kindle-only helpline.
He helped us download the novel to the computer and then we copied it to the Kindle, which
showed up as a storage device in My Computer. We found we had to place the file in the
Documents folder of the Kindle.
And now it is fine.
I just got rid of Oscar.
Love Tony Hillerman, but wanted Doris Lessing.
My son-in-law showed me how to request a book to be placed on the Kindle list.
Maybe next week.
Well, a new experience with the Kindle, Amazon, and Macho Chef. I just bought for $1.00
a piece by Andrew Birden for my Kindle. Then I rated it and reviewed it on Amazon. I also
read it on my Kindle. This is very personal, and I enjoyed it. Maybe my youngest son will
publish something to Kindle, or my daughter, or my oldest son. Or how about the
grandkids? Has to have a price, I understand, but publications from the family are priceless
anyway and worth the money.
November 28, 2007
Today I received a paperback copy of The Golden Notebook which I must read at least
some of before December 7, when the book club meets. So, I will be able to compare
reading paper with the Kindle.
My son sent me this link.
I liked this account of a family's 7-day experience with the Kindle very much because it is a
positive report like I think mine is. He takes his Kindle to the gym; I have also used mine on
my treadmill, though I for sure don’t run. I never make it above 1.5 miles per hour.
But another interesting phenomenon in my own psyche. I have decided to cancel Netflix. I
don’t have time to watch movies when I have so much reading to do. Also, I discovered that
a movie I was requesting from Netflix was in the library I direct. And actually, my library has
lots of really good movies that I've never seen. So, if I really want a movie, I’ll get one
there.
But too, I miss Law and Order.
November 27, 2007
I am researching for my tasks. I thought I would start at Amazon where there might be
information that I need. I see that tonight Amazon has completely sold out of Kindles. For
sure, you can’t get one for Christmas. I've already said that I acted so fast because I was
ready. There must be many others ready as well; the Kindle is not all that cheap.
Well, all the discussions are tedious. I have yet to find any real information. I have looked
about 30 minutes. I found restrictions, so I know I can’t sell, rent, lease, distribute,
broadcast, sublicense or other such things. I still don’t know if I can GIVE my digital content
to my library. I wonder if I can even give my Kindle to the library and transfer ownership.
I’ll continue to look.
November 26, 2007
I think the people who wanted me to start this blog also wanted me to be a bit more technical
in my observations about the experience. So, I started reading The Kindle’s User Guide,
which is on the Kindle when it arrives. I had not bothered to do that until now. And I did
learn some things. I needed to know how to capitalize a letter—there is an up-arrow on the
keyboard. And I needed to use a symbol which was not on the keyboard. There is,
however, a SYM key that presents a menu with many symbols. The one I needed was in the
list.
But, I personally feel the Kindle is very intuitive, easy to guess how to get started. When I
decided to download some more books, I did have to call the Kindle help desk again,
because Amazon’s site wasn't too intuitive as to how to download to my computer since the
Whispernet service is not available here. I believe I've got it figured out, though I did not
remember from my first experience that the file had to be moved to the documents folder.
So, even though I knew I had transferred the files through the USB to firewire connection, I
didn't see them. I went back to the original entry in this blog to figure it out. Also, there’s
where I got the telephone number for the Kindle help desk. (Thanks, MachoChef for that
smart addition.)
I took the Kindle to work today at the library. There was a lot of interest, but one staff
member wanted to know what I meant by its being intuitive. This just leads into a task list for
me.
Can I donate my Kindle books to the library as I have done my print books through the
years? If I actually deleted the books from my Kindle and my Amazon backup, could the
library transfer the right to the books I have purchased to their own Kindle account? Can the
library even own a Kindle and check it out? My friend MP suggested that the library should
purchase one in case a patron came in to ask for a book we didn't own. We would just
download it immediately and check it out. That’s really “just in time” instead of “just in
case.” (That’s librarian speak for the change I have experienced in library acquisitions as
opposed to MP’s who bought books because they ought to be in a good library.)
November 25, 2007
So, I went about my business this morning reading the latest Newsweek (the one with the
kindle on the cover). But after coming home from playing the piano at church, I wanted to
have another book on the kindle. But I didn't know what I wanted to download. So, I
called my daughter, thinking I could download a book for her, and she could take over this
blogging thing. No soap, but they recommended two titles, neither of which were in the
kindle store, that makes three I haven’t been able to purchase. (Now, I have noticed that
Amazon capitalizes Kindle on their tabs for the Kindle Store. I probably should have stayed
with the caps since a Methodist minister whose name was Kindle was my godfather—years
ago.)
So, I browsed the Kindle Store. I purchased a book because I saw an advertisement when
I first went on the Amazon from my e-mail. (They do tend to get your number.) So, I have
purchased The No. 1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. I never
heard of this before, but I understand it is a series, I think in Africa. Well, now I know it is in
Africa because you are told about it in the first sentence.
But I also bought Boom, by Tom Brokaw. After reading the Newsweek article about this
book, I ordered through Netflix a couple of DVDs of Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. And
have on order some others. The 60s were great, weren't they?
One more thing before I leave today. I called my friend, MP, who is another librarian, and
left a message on his answering machine. He called back within minutes. He had read about
the Kindle in both the New Yorker (his favorite) and Newsweek, and he was very excited
about this new development. So these two librarians (both over 70 or thereabouts) are
excited. I have seen some negative blogs on the web when I googled (Googled?) the
Amazon Kindle. I have yet to feel negative except for not getting the titles I want. Oh, yeah,
and for Fort Kent, Maine, not to be on the grid. Still, where there is a will, there’s a way.
I know cliché…..
11/24/2007
I finished The Dark Wind by Tony Hillerman today, Saturday, Nov. 24. The story sort of
ended abruptly for me. I wanted to know how Jim Chee got help. But there was a lot more
material to read.
One thing that was included was a “Profile of the Navajo Nation.” It had been on the web,
and the kindle publishers got permission to use it with The Dark Wind. As a librarian, I
appreciate their citations and permission acquiring. Copyrights are important.
There was a long list of all the books Tony Hillerman has written. I realize I have not read
them all as I thought I had. Our library is full of them, though, because I donated all my
copies that I did read.
But even more interesting is a lot of material written by Tony Hillerman himself. Worth the
price of the book alone. I can’t really discuss this because then I would be worried about
copyright violation. But it does prove that digital publishing can enhance the “book” genre
just as DVD movies have added information about the characters, actors, producers and
directors of the movies.
Two new experiences with the kindle. First, I was reading along, this time in chapter 21 or
22 and came across a word I didn't have a clue about what it meant, surcingle. I activated
the menu which gave me the option to “Look it up.” I used the on-board dictionary,
because, of course, in Fort Kent, Maine, the Sprint network Amazon uses for the kindle
doesn't work here. (I am going downstate next weekend, so I’ll see if it works further
south. Fort Kent is served by an independent telephone company. Sprint may work on
Verizon's network—Presque Isle and Caribou, Maine.) I now know what a surcingle is,
even though Word believes it is misspelled. Word suggested syringe instead of surcingle, but
surcingle is a band to put around a horse to keep the blanket on. Frankly, I would have
never interrupted my reading to look up the word in a dictionary, just skipping instead. But it
did me good to know what a surcingle was. And thanks to the kindle, I now know.
The second experience was a little spookier. I was reading along, lost in the excitement of
the book, and waved my hand to turn the page as if the kindle were a real paper book. So, I
guess the thing is a success at giving a book-like feeling. It has truly interrupted my reading
of my Newsweek magazines, of which I am now four behind.
And what is on the cover of the new November 26 Newsweek? Yep. The amazonkindle.
I’ll let you read it for yourself, but it might kind of explain my turning the page.
A little something about myself that explains why I am ready for a digital book reader which
performs as well as this one does. My job for 20 years has been in IT and libraries. I quit
printing e-mail about 18 years ago. I quit printing reports about 10 years ago. I have been
reading onscreen for a long time now and filing electronically everything I write or have to
read. Filing paper stuff is just too much, anymore.
So I was ready and jumped on the bandwagon. So far, I am not disappointed. Now, I can
take the kindle to bed with me. And I have.
But you know, I quit buying books when I became a librarian, except when I need to read
one for the book club. Even those I donate to the library and keep no library at home. So,
this will be different. A library of books that don’t get dusty, that doesn't have to be moved
cross country, packed up time and time again. It’s time has come for me.
11/23/2007
I'm taking the kindle to choir practice tomorrow. I'll see what they think. Everyone wants
me to bring it to work on Monday too.
Okay, I am at Chapter 6 in the Dark Wind. I am totally surprised that I bought a Hillerman
book I had not read. WG, my brother, got me started on Hillerman novels, and he told me
yesterday (Thanksgiving) that the Dark Wind was one of the very early ones. Well, I love
Hillerman novels and I love my Kindle.
This morning I was packing up to leave to go home from my children's home, where I had to
stay because of the storm. The youngest grandchild wanted to see the Kindle one more time.
But I already had it packed up in its nice box, so I said no. All Thanksgiving Day, the two
boys (4th and 5th graders) wanted to experience the Kindle. They discovered all the screen
savers by pressing Alt-A. Now, I just opened up my kindle (I now notice that Amazon
doesn't capitalize kindle. Amazonkindle. Okay. Anyway, I had a message that told me to
press Alt-A to put it to sleep to save battery power. So now I have a screen saver and I
know to press Alt-A to wake it up.
My youngest son wants me to describe how it feels and works. And I will tell him, I
christened it this morning as all good books are christened. It works great in the you-know-
where.
It is (exactly as they describe it on Amazon) about the size of a Harlequin novel. Remember
when we bought covers so that no one would know we were reading Harlequin novels. The
kindle comes with a cover to protect it, and it does remind me of the covers of the 60s, 70s.
But I don't really want to hide the kindle.
I am proud of it.
I put the text size to the highest. Really easy to read. But then I wanted a more book
experience and made it smaller so that the page turning wasn't so often. Little or big, the
words are crisp. Page turning is a breeze.
11/21/2007
The Kindle arrived the day before Thanksgiving. It arrived at the library.
The Reference Librarian (my daughter, Sofia) delivered it to my house. I made her stay at
the house until we figured out how to open the box and charge the battery. Before she left
we discovered we had no access to WhisperNet.
Fort Kent, Maine is off the grid. Disappointed. So I went to bed.
11/22/2007
It is snowing in Fort Kent, Maine. The Birden family was supposed to come to my house for
Thanksgiving. At which time, we would figure out how to download a book onto the Kindle
without WhisperNet. But, too much snow (8-14 inches) so I am at the Birden's with my son-
in-law, where we just discovered that the screensaver has an image of Oscar Wilde.
I brought the Kindle into the house and the kids snatched it out of my hands and the family
gathered around to gawk at this new toy. The fourth and fifth grader vied for access (let me
hold it-let me hold it!).
Son in law takes kindle upstairs. "Hey I want your password to Amazon!"
"Okay, buy the Golden Notebook by Doris Lessing."
So I searched for it and it wasn't available.
But, wanting to do this book thing on the Kindle, I bought a Hillerman novel, The Dark
Wind for $6.
But it said it was going to send it to my Kindle wirelessly, which it can't do because Fort
Kent might as well be on the Moon.
Well, not.
We called tech support at Amazon and spoke to a sweet foreign woman who did not know
what we were talking about. But she gave us another number (1-866-321-8851) for a
Kindle-only helpline.
He helped us download the novel to the computer and then we copied it to the Kindle, which
showed up as a storage device in My Computer. We found we had to place the file in the
Documents folder of the Kindle.
And now it is fine.
I just got rid of Oscar.
Love Tony Hillerman, but wanted Doris Lessing.
My son-in-law showed me how to request a book to be placed on the Kindle list.
Maybe next week.
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| The Sharon M.J.'s Kindle Blog |
