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Blog Headline of the Week
Blog Line of the Week
Bookish Linkage
Nonbookish Linkage
- In the event you weren’t aware, Jezebel accuses The Daily Show (my favorite television show) of sexism, prompting a response from “the women of The Daily Show.”
- Now here’s an innovative device for parents. “Godblock is a web filter that blocks religious content. It is targeted at parents and schools who wish to protect their kids from the often violent, sexual, and psychologically harmful material in many holy texts, and from being indoctrinated into any religion before they are of the age to make such decisions.” (via Disinformation)
I sometimes feel that I should carry around some sort of rectal thermometer, with which to test the rate at which I am becoming an old fart.
Christopher Hitchens, Hitch-22
San Francisco’s health department has issued “Regulations for Preparation of Edible Cannabis Products” for the city’s medical marijuana dispensaries.
An Anchorage, Alaska, man was arrested for felony assault after stabbing his roommate with deer antlers during an argument. (via Legally Weird)
Foolishness is not the same as incompetence. Sounds like a new legal maxim to me.
Church members sue when doomsday doesn’t arrive. Seems there could be a string of these lawsuits dating back centuries.
Never look too deep into the mind of a lawyer.
Brisco County, Jr. (Bruce Campbell), The Adventures of Brisco County, Jr.
Sure, the same day my Nook arrives somebody’s gotta release some scientific study on e-readers. And what do they find? People who read books on an iPad read 6.2% slower than when they read a printed book while reading on the Kindle is 10.7% slower than print.
Now, granted, the study doesn’t include the Nook but I’m guessing that’s irrelevant, especially since my first couple days using the Nook on an occasional basis indicates the study made a few probably accurate observations. In fact, I think the slower reading time is in part due to the fact that because the pages on an e-reader are smaller than the normal printed page, there is inherently additional time consumed just “turning” the pages.
The reading speed study only used information from 24 people so I don’t know how statistically valid it is. But there’s a few things that indicate that the reaction of those involved may be fairly universal. On a scale of 1 to 7, e-books and printed books scored at 5.6 or above. Reading on a PC screen scored what was called an “abysmal” 2.6. Yes, people hate reading on desktops. In addition, those who participated in the study disliked the Kindle’s use of gray-on-gray letters and the lack of true pagination while they felt reading a printed book was more relaxing.
I would agree with all of those. Although perhaps not identical to the Kindle, I would prefer a higher resolution, color reading area and the pagination is somewhat confusing, as it takes about two and a half Nook “pages” to constitute one printed page (or so it appears). And the look and feel of the Nook are more antiseptic than a real book, which reduces the tactile experience that can contribute to making reading a printed book enjoyable. Not addressed are a couple things I’m still struggling with, such as how some of the controls are set up in the interface and what I can and can’t do as easily as I would think. The mix of touch screen and non-touch screen on the same device is also a bit confusing, especially since I use a Blackberry Storm that is almost entirely touch screen operated. I am also slowly learning which formats are better than others, such as Adobe Digital Editions or ePub over PDF or text files.
At this point I can’t say I’m totally enthralled with the Nook and would probably end up rating it in the same range as the subjects of the study did the Kindle and iPad. I am willing to recognize, though, that I am still at the point of getting acclimated to the device and the concept, so this is just an initial reaction. But it’s still a bad time to tell me it may lengthen how long it takes me to read a book.
UPDATE: This must be causing major heartburn in B&N’s legal department and executive suites. Does Amazon own the patent for the Nook?
The printed page transcends space and time.
El Lissitzky, “The Topography of Typography”
As usual, my reading personality is split this year. By the end of June, I’d read 52 books this year, 25 fiction and 27 nonfiction.
Of the fiction, nearly half (12) were works in translation with French and Spanish accounting for three each. Of the nonfiction books, 10 were history (if you include recent events, such as the Iraq and Afghanistan wars) and eight were biographies or memoirs. The local library provided nearly a third of the books (16) and publishers or publicists provided 15, which accounted for most of the 19 book reviews I’ve written of books read this year.
I would have to say Jonathan Littell’s The Kindly Ones and Philippe Claudel’s Brodeck are probably my two favorites so far. The significance, if any of the fact both are works in translation and deal with World War II is something I will leave for others.
As I’ve previously noted, though, it has not been a good year for book challenges. I’ve already dropped two of the five I planned for the year. In a third, I need to read three books this month to reach my goal, which is highly unlikely. In the one I created, I’ve only read one book but did move one I’ve been trying to read on my Blackberry onto my Nook after it arrived so I’m hoping to make more progress on it.
Of course, if what a guy’s complaining about on a three-day weekend is that although he’s read about two books a week they haven’t been ones that work for reading challenges, he doesn’t really have anything to whine about.
Books are the opposite of television. They are slow, engaging, inspiring, intellect-arousing, and creativity-spurring.
David Shenk, Data Smog: Surviving the Information Glut
It was just under a year ago that I first became aware of Book Blogger Appreciation Week. It sounded intriguing but, because I was unfamiliar with it, I basically just observed. As I did, there were aspects of it I didn’t have the time or inclination to do — and some actually seemed a bit hokey. More important, as things progressed it struck me that the award aspect of it seemed almost a product of a a mutual admiration society among a certain number of blogs. I was not the only one with that impression.
I don’t know if the activities associated will be more attractive to me but, whether in response to such concerns or others, the process for the awards has changed. Now, book blogs must register in particular niche or general categories to participate in the awards process. Other bloggers registered in the same category will then select the longlist. Although this process doesn’t necessarily eliminate cliques from dominating the categories, it has the potential of broadening the number of bloggers providing input while at the same time having it come from those arguably most familiar with the category.
 Although others with legitimate criticisms are going to sit out again this year and I’ve spent the first part of this post razzing BBAW, I decided to register in a couple categories to get better insight into the process and the concept. And since I have to register to vote for awards, I figured in for a dime, in for a dollar (or whatever the modern currency equivalent would be). Although I struggle with the idea of self-nomination, I’m taking the organizers’ view that it is simply a matter of identifying a blog as within a particular category. Besides, given I am but a mote in the universe of book blogs, I figure signing up for the following categories is essentially a frolic.
So, tossing my cyberspace hat into the cyberspace ring, I’m registering for:
- Best Eclectic Book Blog:
- Book Review: Wolf Among Wolves
- Book Review: But Beautiful: A Book About Jazz
- Book Review: Armenian Golgotha
- Welcome to the book review slums
- At least I’m an ethical pirate
- Best Written Book Blog:
- Book Review: But Beautiful: A Book About Jazz
- Book Review: The Appointment
- Book Review: Dark Heart of the Night
- I’m addicted and someone’s going to pay
- Welcome to the book review slums
For some reason, doing this on July 4 seems appropriate — you know, something about a snowball’s chance.
Criticism is a misconception: we must read not to understand others but to understand ourselves.
Emile M. Cioran, Anathemas and Admirations
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Disclaimer 
Additionally, some links on this blog go to Amazon.com. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. There is no additional cost to you. Contact me You can e-mail me at prairieprogressive at gmaildotcom.
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