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The Kindle- is it a boon or a drain

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Charlottesquare
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The Kindle- is it a boon or a drain

#89687

Postby Charlottesquare » October 21st, 2017, 12:34 am

I have been using my Kindle for a fair few years now, but get very mixed feelings about what it offers.

On the one hand vast catalogue to chose from, but there can be the problem, if you do not know what you want to read finding books by new authors requires one to either be guided by reviews (the direct opinion of others) or leap into the dark re quality. Now with bookshops you sort of had the same problem, though could open and read a bit to get a feel re writing style, and yes, you sometimes can get samples online (though you cannot chose where in the book at random), but the worst bit is individuals publishing with no restraining hand of an editor or proof reader can make reading painful, there are far more mistakes, typos etc than in printed books, and if I get one or two of these a page I tend to start losing interest in the book. At least with bookshops someone did a little quality control before it got its place on the shelf.

Now I have found new authors via Kindle, and some really good reads, but I have also downloaded a few which will now sit unread until I have finished reading the backs of all the cereal packets in the house.

So views, a boon re variety or a drain re lack of quality control?

redsturgeon
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Re: The Kindle- is it a boon or a drain

#89697

Postby redsturgeon » October 21st, 2017, 8:17 am

Charlottesquare wrote:I have been using my Kindle for a fair few years now, but get very mixed feelings about what it offers.

On the one hand vast catalogue to chose from, but there can be the problem, if you do not know what you want to read finding books by new authors requires one to either be guided by reviews (the direct opinion of others) or leap into the dark re quality. Now with bookshops you sort of had the same problem, though could open and read a bit to get a feel re writing style, and yes, you sometimes can get samples online (though you cannot chose where in the book at random), but the worst bit is individuals publishing with no restraining hand of an editor or proof reader can make reading painful, there are far more mistakes, typos etc than in printed books, and if I get one or two of these a page I tend to start losing interest in the book. At least with bookshops someone did a little quality control before it got its place on the shelf.

Now I have found new authors via Kindle, and some really good reads, but I have also downloaded a few which will now sit unread until I have finished reading the backs of all the cereal packets in the house.

So views, a boon re variety or a drain re lack of quality control?


You seem to be conflating two issues here.

1. The difficulty of previewing a book via Kindle ( by which I assume you mean any electronic reader)

2. The uneven nature of self published works

I find my Kindle very useful and will often download something that catches my eye, while browsing the internet, for later consumption. Actually having the kindle app on my phone has also been very useful since I can then read something in any odd downtime that crops up without having to carry around the actual Kindle. For instance, coming home on the train last night, it was so busy that I had to sit separately from my wife and my son so I had an hour where I just opened up a book on my phone a read. ( I finished off a travelogue and read a Philp K Dick short story)

I don't tend to read novels by unknown writers but I do read travelogues and they are often by unknowns and I am happy that these days they find it easier to publish their work.

John

moorfield
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Re: The Kindle- is it a boon or a drain

#89730

Postby moorfield » October 21st, 2017, 1:11 pm

redsturgeon wrote: Actually having the kindle app on my phone has also been very useful since I can then read something in any odd downtime that crops up without having to carry around the actual Kindle.


Yes I find the Kindle Cloud (and the send via email thing) actually more useful than the Kindle itself, a very useful place for dumping all the various PDFs I have accumulated over the years. I don't use a Kindle myself, just the app on a tablet. The juniors have a Kindle each and that's very handy for holidays etc. and because we can buy 1 copy of a book and distribute it thrice, rather than having three copies (of course they won't share!) cluttering up the bookcases in Moorfield Towers which would then eventually have to be moved on.

midnightcatprowl
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Re: The Kindle- is it a boon or a drain

#89742

Postby midnightcatprowl » October 21st, 2017, 1:39 pm

I am regretfully a big Kindle fan - I say regretfully because I am not a fan of Amazon and prefer to avoid purchasing from them when possible.

I have a 'Paperwhite' and it is definitely my preferred reading mode. All sorts of reasons from portability to being able to read in the middle of the night if I'm wakeful without having to switch a lamp on and the ability to read in bed while lying on my side with just one hand out from under the duvet. I know that technically you can do the latter with a book but an arthritic problem makes this more of a challenge and the Kindle is simply more 'holdable'. Also I now need reading glasses for a paper book but with a Kindle you just increase the print size for the same result - and again this is especially useful for reading in bed using my personal preferred method as glasses slip about when you lie on your side.

I agree book choice can sometimes be more of a challenge than if you are in a book shop or deciding to borrow books which are already on the library shelf. But it is the same issue really as buying books online or asking a book shop to order in a book for you or reserving a book at the library - the cost of reservation is obviously less than the cost of downloading a Kindle book but there is still a cost. Also a Kindle book usually costs less than the paper version so I don't feel quite so aggrieved at the loss if in the end I start it but don't finish it.

Have to admit that once upon a time I thought I loved books, since getting a Kindle I've realised I love only the contents and not the objects themselves. Heresy to some people I know but since then I've given away almost all the books which used to crowd shelf after shelf and surface after surface in my home at a considerable gain in space and reduction in dust.

Obviously Kindle versions do have limitations. If you were a great reader of art books or similar you wouldn't be very happy with the Mona Lisa or what have you as reproduced in a Kindle version. Also sometimes even fiction includes plans or diagrams and they don't come out well on a Kindle, I must admit that not being a very visual person and very much a 'word' person I often don't find plans and diagrams very helpful in any case and mostly it doesn't reduce my enjoyment of a book if the plan is unclear.

I agree that many Kindle versions have some way to go in terms of accuracy of text, although I don't associate this particularly with self-published stuff some of which seems to be done to a higher standard than commercially produced material. I find that 'classics' often seem to suffer more badly than more recently published material though I don't know why - are older works tending to be put into Kindle form by a different process to newer works? Or are living authors more likely to kick up a fuss if their book is not 'Kindalised' correctly? How much such errors bother the reader is such a highly personal thing, I 'see' mistakes but tend not to be particularly bothered by them. Partly perhaps because I always feel I know what word should be there or where a space as been missed out or an unnecessary one or more inserted. Partly perhaps because I'm a very fast reader and I think fast readers are reading the sentence rather than the individual words (poor explanation sorry but I can't do better at the moment). Partly perhaps because of my choice of reading material, very text based, non-mathematical and rarely poetry. I can imagine that someone might enjoy a poem as a whole visual thing, not just the words, so the way it was set out would be important and Kindle versions often do mangle the way things are set out.

Charlottesquare
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Re: The Kindle- is it a boon or a drain

#89771

Postby Charlottesquare » October 21st, 2017, 3:28 pm

Yes, poetry and layout can be somewhat important, here is George Herbert's The Altar in two online formats.

http://www.georgeherbert.org.uk/archive ... rk_16.html

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/44358/the-altar

The latter does sort of lose something re layout

Maps are certainly an issue though they can also be a pain in printed books, Chester Wilmot's "The Struggle for Europe" needs a lot of fingers (bookmarks) to cross refer the narrative to the geography, but Kindles are very tricky re print size and maps; have often thought that all printed military history books with multiple maps ought to have a fold out map section at the front or back so one can read about an advance from A to B and see exactly the implication without jumping back x pages to the map.

But I can live with these to a degree, it is more typos, missing words, spelling errors that really jar and disturb the flow and my enjoyment.

I suspect on balance they are a boon but just wish more care was taken before publishing.

Slarti
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Re: The Kindle- is it a boon or a drain

#89790

Postby Slarti » October 21st, 2017, 5:01 pm

I like my Kindle Paperwhite for the convenience, especially when travelling, but annoys the whatsits out of me when publishers decide that the ebook should cost more than the paperback, sometimes more than the hardback, because their costs must be minimal compared to a physical edition.

My methods for getting more books to read is to decide on a category and filter to that on Amazon and then sort with cheapest at the top. That way many free books are available.
After that I will also have a go by popularity.

Beyond Amazon, I also browse through https://www.gutenberg.org/ looking for items of interest, somewhat at random.
Oh and http://www.baen.com/catalog/category/vi ... /?limit=36 for scifi and fantasy.

If I find a free book unreadable for whatever reason I just dump it.
If I find a book so good I would like more by the author, I file it in a directory Read Want More and have a wander through there every now and then.


But I still prefer real books.
Slarti


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