Monday, September 16, 2013
Oyster surprise
I'm beta-testing Oyster, and I like it for a few reasons I didn't expect, while disliking it for the reasons that I expected to like it.
My usual grumpiness about ebook readers is that they focus much more on the shopping experience than the reading experience. But the shopping experience in Oyster is fabulous. I am totally sold on the $10/month all-you-can-read plan. It is THE most fun to see a book I want to read, click on it and just start reading. The book selection contains a lot of slightly older, semi-popular books that I hadn't read mainly because I didn't feel like spending $12.99 on each one of them. A subscription model unblocks that problem. Granted, I am only selecting books I already know something about, so I don't need a lot of editorial context and reviews. And I know that most of the books I'm looking at now, I won't want to keep and re-read. As my sister the librarian puts it, these are "cuddle books," books to read for pleasure.
There's also a concern that this model requires a connection for some tasks. I'm curious to take this into the subway tomorrow and see what those tasks are.
The reading experience, which is what interested me in the first place, is actually not that great yet. It feels very proof-of-concepty -- there are just 5 options for font/color packages, all of which are quite nice; 5 type sizes; and a slider bar for screen brightness. All these options are accessed through a separate menu instead of Stanza-style on-page controls. And you're still forced to right-justify, which makes the pages look ugly, and the view only works vertically, as far as I could tell, which makes for some very short and airy force-justified lines. The page framework never really disappears, and it's very easy, especially because the controls are on the right-hand side and I'm right-handed, to trigger the full suite of page controls when you're just trying to turn the page. Page turn gesture is also still horsey -- you have to flick up, instead of tapping, and the page turn is animated, which is just silly in 2013. I get the feeling more options are on the way, which will be nice -- this version is built just for iPhone, not even for iPad yet. So I'm hopeful that the view improves, but the store and business model are already pretty amazing.
Monday, September 2, 2013
Let's agree it is still not completely pleasant to buy and read ebooks. My suggestion for what's missing: monks.
To compare: Among the pleasures of reading a physical book are the experience of browsing shelves in a store, a library, or your house; flipping open a book at any point to look at it for as long as you like before committing; being able to pay for or check out the book in a few simple ways; and reading a well-laid-out page that is free of typos.
In the ebook market, no one seems to be working on these problems (maybe because of the distraction of building hardware, making markets, price-fixing). Because who works on the day-to-day usability of a book? The monks who work in bookstores and libraries and obsessively shelve, neaten and re-order; the monks who edit, proofread and typeset physical books and magazines. In new media, where I work, the monk class has not yet arisen, and when individual examples of the type arise, no one really knows what to do with them. There's no room in fast-moving, fast-changing new media for monks who do one small, audience-facing thing well, over and over.
Sub-thesis: Trying to buy an e-audiobook is so much worse I can't even start. Sorry, Mom & Dad, for our failed attempt yesterday to acquire you a Jo Nesbø audio mystery for your 8-hour drive.
To compare: Among the pleasures of reading a physical book are the experience of browsing shelves in a store, a library, or your house; flipping open a book at any point to look at it for as long as you like before committing; being able to pay for or check out the book in a few simple ways; and reading a well-laid-out page that is free of typos.
In the ebook market, no one seems to be working on these problems (maybe because of the distraction of building hardware, making markets, price-fixing). Because who works on the day-to-day usability of a book? The monks who work in bookstores and libraries and obsessively shelve, neaten and re-order; the monks who edit, proofread and typeset physical books and magazines. In new media, where I work, the monk class has not yet arisen, and when individual examples of the type arise, no one really knows what to do with them. There's no room in fast-moving, fast-changing new media for monks who do one small, audience-facing thing well, over and over.
Sub-thesis: Trying to buy an e-audiobook is so much worse I can't even start. Sorry, Mom & Dad, for our failed attempt yesterday to acquire you a Jo Nesbø audio mystery for your 8-hour drive.
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
20 maxims for life, from philosopher Thomas Davidson
From Thomas Davidson: A Knight-Errant of the Intellectual Life, by William James:
... Davidson's idea of the universe was that of a republic of immortal spirits, the chief business of whom, in their several grades of existence, should be to know and love and help one another.
We all say and think that we believe this sort of thing; but Davidson believed it really and actively, and that made all the difference. When the young wage-earners whom he addressed found that here was a man of measureless learning ready to give his soul to them as if he had nothing else to do with it, life's ideal possibilities widened to their view. ... In one of his letters to the class, Davidson sums up the results of his own experience of life in twenty maxims, as follows:
1. Rely upon your own energies, and do not wait for, or depend on other people.
2. Cling with all your might to your own highest ideals, and do not be led astray by such vulgar aims as wealth, position, popularity. Be yourself.
3. Your worth consists in what you are, and not in what you have. What you are will show in what you do.
4. Never fret, repine, or envy. Do not make yourself unhappy by comparing your circumstances with those of more fortunate people; but make the most of the opportunities you have. Employ profitably every moment.
5. Associate with the noblest people you can find; read the best books; live with the mighty. But learn to be happy alone.
6. Do not believe that all greatness and heroism are in the past. Learn to discover princes, prophets, heroes, and saints among the people about you. Be assured they are there.
7. Be on earth what good people hope to be in heaven.
8. Cultivate ideal friendships, and gather into an intimate circle all your acquaintances who are hungering for truth and right. Remember that heaven itself can be nothing but the intimacy of pure and noble souls.
9. Do not shrink from any useful or kindly act, however hard or repellent it may be. The worth of acts is measured by the spirit in which they are performed.
10. If the world despise you because you do not follow its ways, pay no heed to it. But be sure your way is right.
11. If a thousand plans fail, be not disheartened. As long as your purposes are right, you have not failed.
12. Examine yourself every night, and see whether you have progressed in knowledge, sympathy, and helpfulness during the day. Count every day a loss in which no progress has been made.
13. Seek enjoyment in energy, not in dalliance. Our worth is measured solely by what we do.
14. Let not your goodness be professional; let it be the simple, natural outcome of your character. Therefore cultivate character.
15. If you do wrong, say so, and make what atonement you can. That is true nobleness. Have no moral debts.
16. When in doubt how to act, ask yourself, What does nobility command? Be on good terms with yourself.
17. Look for no reward for goodness but goodness itself. Remember heaven and hell are utterly immoral institutions, if they are meant as reward and punishment.
18. Give whatever countenance and help you can to every movement and institution that is working for good. Be not sectarian.
19. Wear no placards, within or without. Be human fully.
20. Never be satisfied until you have understood the meaning of the world, and the purpose of our own life, and have reduced your world to a rational cosmos.
... Davidson's idea of the universe was that of a republic of immortal spirits, the chief business of whom, in their several grades of existence, should be to know and love and help one another.
We all say and think that we believe this sort of thing; but Davidson believed it really and actively, and that made all the difference. When the young wage-earners whom he addressed found that here was a man of measureless learning ready to give his soul to them as if he had nothing else to do with it, life's ideal possibilities widened to their view. ... In one of his letters to the class, Davidson sums up the results of his own experience of life in twenty maxims, as follows:
1. Rely upon your own energies, and do not wait for, or depend on other people.
2. Cling with all your might to your own highest ideals, and do not be led astray by such vulgar aims as wealth, position, popularity. Be yourself.
3. Your worth consists in what you are, and not in what you have. What you are will show in what you do.
4. Never fret, repine, or envy. Do not make yourself unhappy by comparing your circumstances with those of more fortunate people; but make the most of the opportunities you have. Employ profitably every moment.
5. Associate with the noblest people you can find; read the best books; live with the mighty. But learn to be happy alone.
6. Do not believe that all greatness and heroism are in the past. Learn to discover princes, prophets, heroes, and saints among the people about you. Be assured they are there.
7. Be on earth what good people hope to be in heaven.
8. Cultivate ideal friendships, and gather into an intimate circle all your acquaintances who are hungering for truth and right. Remember that heaven itself can be nothing but the intimacy of pure and noble souls.
9. Do not shrink from any useful or kindly act, however hard or repellent it may be. The worth of acts is measured by the spirit in which they are performed.
10. If the world despise you because you do not follow its ways, pay no heed to it. But be sure your way is right.
11. If a thousand plans fail, be not disheartened. As long as your purposes are right, you have not failed.
12. Examine yourself every night, and see whether you have progressed in knowledge, sympathy, and helpfulness during the day. Count every day a loss in which no progress has been made.
13. Seek enjoyment in energy, not in dalliance. Our worth is measured solely by what we do.
14. Let not your goodness be professional; let it be the simple, natural outcome of your character. Therefore cultivate character.
15. If you do wrong, say so, and make what atonement you can. That is true nobleness. Have no moral debts.
16. When in doubt how to act, ask yourself, What does nobility command? Be on good terms with yourself.
17. Look for no reward for goodness but goodness itself. Remember heaven and hell are utterly immoral institutions, if they are meant as reward and punishment.
18. Give whatever countenance and help you can to every movement and institution that is working for good. Be not sectarian.
19. Wear no placards, within or without. Be human fully.
20. Never be satisfied until you have understood the meaning of the world, and the purpose of our own life, and have reduced your world to a rational cosmos.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)