Saturday, July 14, 2012

Worst. Idea. Ever.


Sheer. Unadulterated. Animal. Rage.

That's what I felt when I saw the idea that "inspired" this post.

I'm rarely apoplectic. I just try not to let things bother me that much, so my true anger is usually reserved for child molesters and people who speak at the theatre. Occasionally I yell at Calvinists or adherents to the LDS Cult of False Expectations when I need to stay awake in the car, and Susan isn't with me. Or maybe if I want to vent, but I'm not actually mad when I do that. But sometimes I run across something so evil or so boneheaded that my blood begins to boil.

Today I saw this:



...

What?

...

Are you serious?

...

I don't even . . . I have no words to describe the level of stupidity this idea demonstrates. There isn't a term in any language in any corner of any universe from the depths of Hell to the presence of the almighty God himself for how ridiculously asinine this idea is.

What the devil is the point of a book if it doesn't last? Why on earth was the printing press so revolutionary? Why was it listed as the most important invention of the previous millennium (and rightly so, in my opinion) by a number of different people?  Because books last. Books allow us to pass on the knowledge and wisdom of the previous generations to the current and future ones. Books are the foundation of education, knowledge, literature, science, philosophy, heck, just about everything. This idiot idea undermines the entire point of a book. Can you imagine if Gutenberg had decided to use disappearing ink on his Bibles? What's the bloody point of a library if your books don't have words in them? Why do you think humans invented the written language in the first place? This idea actually sets human history back. By centuries.



This has to be the dumbest idea in the history of dumb ideas. "Many people who hear [The Worse Idea Ever] with no preparation have been known to sustain mild to fatal internal bruising and/or mental damage. Most people report a 3/4 drop in I.Q., as well as some men losing up to an inch in height." Sounds about right to me.

From the video: "Because there's a lot of literature out there that doesn't deserve to wait on a shelf."

The entire point of books is that they sit on a shelf so that person after person after person after person can read them. Books aren't a one-off, you twits.

Also from the video: "And ours won't wait [on the shelf] at all." Apparently yours won't merit a second reading ever, either. Oh, you didn't think of that, did you? Or what about lending them to friends?

"Oh, I read this great book the other month."
"Can I borrow it?"
"Nope, the ink disappeared. Sorry."

And what good are your books going to be after the ink has vanished? Actually, I have one thought. I don't generally approve of book-burning.

In this case I'll make an exception.

Tuesday, July 10, 2012

Never Going to Run Out of Books

So, a little while ago Susan and I received a Kindle as a gift. This seemed a little out of place in our one-bedroom apartment with 8 bookshelves. We do like our paper books. (Actually, I don't like moving them, but whatever.)

It was really nice, though. I would go to Project Gutenberg and download books for free, and she'd browse the kindle store for free books of interest. It was how I re-read the Barsoom novels last year and it now holds the complete collection of Conan the Barbarian short stories and few other SciFi books in the public domain. I also much prefer reading on it to the reading I've done on iPads. I will own an iPad one day, but the digital ink is a lot easier on the eyes than a screen. So the Kindle was overall a good thing, and I can see why they (along with Nooks) are so popular. I'm still grumbling over the fact that Borders didn't jump on that bandwagon soon enough. RIP.

Susan and I are also in a book club. Actually, we're in two if you count the Cranney family book club. A little while ago we were to read The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, which, by the way, is a great book. Susan had her copy borrowed from her Dad, and I wanted a copy of my own. I forget how I had this idea, as it had been floating around for a while, or who gave me the idea in the first place, but I decided to check on our local library's website to see if it was available to electronically borrow. It was, so I clicked through it.

It showed up on my Kindle 30 seconds later.

I read it. Had a great discussion about it at book club.

2 weeks after I got it, the file became unreadable. ("This file will self-destruct in 2 weeks," a la Mission Impossible.) No late fines. Sweet!

It was great. Had such an easy time to get that book and read it. The pictures weren't all that great, but that's okay. It's a limitation of the Kindle technology. Maybe someday they'll have full color full resolution digital ink, but I'm not holding my breath and the Kindle is more than adequate for just reading text.

Then I discovered the Overdrive website through this CNN article on library ebook lending.

A huge website that has links to every library (well, I can't say that for sure) and their digital borrowing library?

Yes please.

I'm never going to run out of books to read again. And I can borrow them from the comfort of my own air-conditioned home, like I am currently doing with The Life of Pi. Those of you who like to read . . . you should check Overdrive out. This! Is! Awesome!