Electronic Books - You Should be Worried

Friday, August 14, 2009

A Deal Has Been Made (for some and for now)

I'm not sure if you will be able to use the copies of the link to a NY Times article published today. If you can't, here it is again: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/13/technology/internet/13reader.html?th&emc=th

This is fantastic news! I hope that Amazon and Barnes & Noble and all the publishing houses see the light. If they do, then we will be able to read practically every ebook published with the particular ebook reader of our choice. In addition, this will facilitate ebook library services - whether they be municipal, academic, or private (a la Rhapsody) libraries.

Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Barnes & Noble . . . Another Format?

I checked my email today and before the page finished opening, the absurd hit me with a left hook that practically sent me to the floor. Our friends at B & N have launched a new "ebook store" within their website and - best of all - the books are in yet another ebook format that is, as of now, compatible with iPhones, iPods Touch, Blackberries, Mac's, and PC's. Leave it to the geniuses of the publishing industry to do precisely what we don't need - more ebook formats. What is even more curious, B & N has an ebook store called "Fictionwise.com" where one can purchase and download books in Adobe and one or two formats. I can't understand why publishers, book sellers, and ebook manufacturers cannot learn from the Beta vs VHS and the HDDVD vs Bluetooth wars and come up with a standard format. Didn't they see how much money was spent by the participants during these conflicts and that the winner's return on investment was severely affected by the wars? Come on guys, please come up with one format! I don't want to be forced to buy 3 or 4 readers only to find, six months after I purchased the 4th machine that 3 or (even worse) all 4 are worthless because the book business finally did what it should have done from the beginning - establish one format. I'm leaving you some news articles from Zemanta so you can see for your self how crazy things are:

Sunday, June 21, 2009

This isn't about ebooks - it's much more important

Friday, June 5, 2009

Books read - I need to warn you

Discovering God: The Origins of the Great Religions and the Evolution of Belief… by Rodney Stark

Rarely have I been so disappointed by a book - even "Evolving God" was less disappointing. I am just under halfway through and I can't stand it any more. Stark totally dismisses Ancient Egyptian religion as a polytheistic "temple faith" that gave nothing to its people. The only thing he deems of any worth is Akhenaten's heresy because it is somehow obvious that monotheism is much better than polytheism. It seems that, for Stark, the only worthwhile discoveries of God are those of a capricious deity who deems his creations to have no value whatsoever and who consigns the overwhelming majority to eternal damnation for the edification of the infinitesimal elect. Oh, I forgot, the other acceptable and valid discovery is of a deity who takes one very insignificant group of human beings as his "chosen people" - the rest of humanity being completely unworthy of the attention of the supreme being and who should furthermore be subject to periodic genocides because of (among other terribly important factors) their inability to say shiboleth. Greek religion is also dismissed as degenerate as that of the Egyptians. A tradition that gave us philosophy, science, math, ethics, and democracy is summarily judged to be worthless superstition. (I wonder if one could even find an Athenian of the 5th century BCE who actually believed in the their creation myths as literal truth. But, suppose one could; how is that any different from the belief of many 21st century Americans that an apple and snake determined the fate of humanity?)
The faith of the Egyptians led to a civilization that lasted for 3,000 years and that left for all humanity some of its most meaningful monuments and symbols. Even the cross as a symbol of divinely granted life is something we owe as much to the Egyptians as to the Romans. The Egyptians were also the first (as far as we know) to develop the archetype of the godman whose death and resurrection redeems creation. As for their "temple faith that had nothing to do with the common man", the Egyptians enthusiastically participated in every celebration of every "god." They knew that they formed a valued part of the order of creation and that the pharaoh and priests carried out rituals necessary to maintain that order just as they carried out similar rituals that were also essential to that same divinely mandated order. Religion was an integral part of their lives - so integral that they would not understand the question; "What is your religion?" The Egyptians also understood the need for dualism in creation. They understood that it was not possible for Horus to destroy Seth because they knew that chaos was just as necessary to creation as order. If chaos seemingly gained the upper hand, Egyptians knew that that was the way of creation. They did not assume that they were worthless worms in the sight of God and that any setback or illness was because they had angered their "god." They also knew that what we take as their "gods" were nothing more than attributes of God and that their myths were just ways of finding some understanding of that which is essentially unknowable. Before you decide to jump on me, I should point out that I know that Egypt was not a paradise and that there were many priests who encouraged every superstition so that they could benefit from it. What I am referring to are their ideas - I understand that a lot was lost in their application. However, one should always keep in mind that, of all the peoples and religious systems in the world, the Egyptians were unique in one way. When they thought of paradise, they saw it as being just like Egypt, only a little better. I suppose that is of no importance to Stark. Just as it is of no importance that almost everyone who was privileged enough to experience Ancient Egypt said that the Egyptians were the "happiest and most satisfied people in the world."
I regret buying the electronic version of the book. I just don't think that returning it in an email to the publishers would have the same effect as sending back the book itself. I do not think that I should agree with the author of every book I buy, to the contrary. However, an author who publishes a book with a title such as this one should give the religions of the Greeks and Egyptians an honest review. Otherwise he should make it clear on the cover of the book that he believes that the only great religions are those that are monotheistic and that engender things like pogroms, inquisitions, jihads, and genocide.
All this aside, I should be grateful to Mr. Stark. I had been debating whether I should leave my Judeo-Christian traditions and beliefs completely behind and embrace Perennial Philosophy or not. Mr. Stark made me see the choice in the starkest of terms and, because of him, there is no longer any debate within me. He made me see that I want nothing to do with certainties of this kind of monotheism as they are false certainties that have given the human beings little in exchange for all that they have cost us. (

- out of 5 stars ) You can find other book reviews I have written at: http://www.librarything.com/profile_reviews.php?view=millsge

Sunday, April 5, 2009

Okay..

Sometimes one needs to look further into things before going off to tilt at windmills by one's self. There is a place on the web dedicated to doing something good about epublishing. If you go to the link below or if you click on the title to this post, you will find a number of books that you can read online or with an ebook reader. You can also request that particular books be made available online. You can also get involved or participate in the world of online books and epublishing in other ways as well. Go there, you will not regret it.

http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu

Advertising

At first glance, it seems as if there is some sort of a sense of irony in the "blogger" world or, one might find some strange synchronicity in the fact that there is an advertisement for the Kindle on this blog. Don't get me wrong, I would love a Kindle (are you out there Jeff?). I am not married to Sony or its E Reader. I do, however, want to see E Reader succeed in a very big way. If it does, the chances that the publishing industry, booksellers, and the electronics industry will agree on one, open format for ebooks are much larger than if Amazon is left with the lion's share of the market. It is essential that an open format be adopted. Epublishing is the future and the adoption of one, open standard is essential for open, free (or at least relatively so) publishing. Imagine what could happen if the only viable ebook reader were one controlled by one bookseller. Or, imagine if one needed 2, 3, or more ebook readers just to be able to have a reasonable chance of reading what one wants to read. As there are/were VHS, DVD, and Blueray, there must be one ebook format. Please!

Alchemy - no, not the New Age kind

A book all should read is The Alchemy Key by Stuart Nettleton as it effectively demonstrates why all literate people should know as much about alchemy as they do about literature, mathematics, philosophy, physics, etc. Nettleton's mastery over the subject (as well as his mastery over many, many other things) is beyond reproach as is his ability to present it in an amazingly enjoyable and thouroughly understandable way. I am still somewhat dizzy from the pace at which I read the book as well as from the amount of knowledge which was transmitted. My only negative experience came from the continued realization of the extent to which society and its institutions are subject to entropy and that realization is mine - it is not one of Nettleton's themes. If you want to read any extremely entertaining, literate, educating, and worthwhile book - pick up The Alchmey Key. You can review the book online by clicking the title of this post. If you want to know what this whole entropy thing is about (and see another great photograph taken by my son), see my other blog at http://notnirvana.blogger.com.