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Tuesday, December 08, 2009 The Flow of the Kindle By Diana Hsieh @ 8:00 AM I have a love-hate relationship with my Kindle. I wasn't ready to buy one, but Paul gave me his smaller version when he upgraded to the larger version about two months ago. I love having so many books at my fingertips, in a slim little device. I'm even going to be able to read some hard-to-find books -- like the complete works of Frances Hodgson Burnett. That's 35 books for a mere five dollars. (You can find free versions, but apparently these sets are nicely formatted.) It's easy to read on the Kindle, particularly with the adjustable font size. However, its clunky interface leaves much to be desired, as does its lack of any easy software for managing files. For example, changing the meta-data in files requires something on the order of sacrificing a goat. (Yes, I'm fussy about that kind of thing.) Basically, I hate the fact that the Kindle is not a Mac. But once you get used to it, it's okay. So far, I've mostly used the Kindle to read fiction. That works fine, although I'm a bit frustrated by my inability to determine (in some easy way) how far I have to finish a chapter. However, my first attempt to read something serious on it -- namely Tara Smith's Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics -- was an abject failure. We've just started the book in 1FROG, and I thought I'd try to re-read it on the Kindle. It was a disaster -- not just for the discussion but also just for my own understanding. Without physical pages, I simply couldn't get a handle on the structure of the text. I felt lost in a Heraclitean stream of words. I couldn't remember what was where. The more that I flipped back and forth, the more confused I got. I could make notes in the text, but not useful notes. The keyboard is too tiny for substantive notes, and I can't implement my super-handy system of tiny little margin notes. My margin notes are a huge help to later skimming. (That's critical for group discussion.) And they help me retain the material as I read it, in that I pause to think and process in the course of making those notes. In short, trying to read Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics on the Kindle felt like I was trying to remember the progression of a run done on the treadmill, where the scenery is always the same. In contrast, reading a physical book was like remembering a similar run done through some neighborhood, where the varying landscape cements memories. I'll likely be able to use the Kindle for reading serious material -- provided that I'm just doing a survey, rather than a serious, intensive read. I'll have to read on the Kindle like I'd listen to an audiobook. Basically, I'll need to set lower expectations for retention and integration. That means that most of the time, when reading a serious work of non-fiction, I'll prefer a physical copy -- at least for now. Still... if all that I ever do with the Kindle is read fiction (and lighter non-fiction) on it, I'll be pretty happy. Given my mixed experience, I'm really amazed by these sales numbers, given in an interview with Amazon.com head honcho Jeff Bezos. Of all the books that Amazon sells, what percentage are digital books? For every 100 copies of a physical book we sell, where we have the Kindle edition, we will sell 48 copies of the Kindle edition. It won't be too long before we're selling more electronic books than we are physical books. It's astonishing. Of course, most readers don't have my need for intensive reading of serious books. Yet still, WOW. Oh, and this exchange is pretty funny: What do you say to Kindle users who like to read in the bathtub? I'll tell you what I do. I take a one-gallon Ziploc bag, and I put my Kindle in my one-gallon Ziploc bag, and it works beautifully. It's much better than a physical book, because obviously if you put your physical book in a Ziploc bag you can't turn the pages. But with Kindle, you can just push the buttons. What if you dropped your Kindle in the bathtub? If it's sealed in a one-gallon Ziploc bag? Why don't you try that experiment and let me know. Jeff Bezos does seem a bit prickly! (Via Jason Crawford.) Note for the sake of the vicious statists at the FTC: If you buy something from Amazon using the links above, I might earn a few pennies. Labels: Business, Epistemology Share |    E-mail Diana Hsieh     PermaLink ()    Comments (New Page)   Subscribe to NoodleFood Blog Posts via Feed Reader   via E-mail Subscribe to NoodleCast Podcasts M4A via iTunes (MP3)   via Feed Reader   via E-mail

Comments
	Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 8:34:10 mst Comment ID: #1 Name: Alex Knapp E-mail: jalexknapp(at)gmail.com URL: http://www.hereticalideas.com "I felt lost in a Heraclitean stream of words." That is a fantastic turn of phrase.
	Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 8:35:55 mst Comment ID: #2 Name: Tod URL: http://www.todarrow.com I want to love my Kindle, too. I can overlook the lack of folder organization, because that could be solved with a software update (when?). The real issue is that I underestimated how useful visual-spatial thinking is when I read. Reading on a Kindle is fine for straight narratives, but I feel lost in any kind of non-fiction book. I don't remember where things are anymore. It's like reading a long monster of a web page from 1997. I mainly use it to read articles from the internet, to save my eyes from staring at a glowing screen for too long. A kindle or a paper book probably contributes to myopia just as much, but at least I can read in a position other than what's possible in my office chair.
	Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 9:26:15 mst Comment ID: #3 Name: PDS E-mail: pdspds(at)gmail.com My kindle is more like a treadmill than you might have intended to say: also expensive and very willing to gather dust from under-use.
	Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 11:27:08 mst Comment ID: #4 Name: RussK E-mail: rkeni(a_t)netscape.net hmm. If those numbers continue and eReaders become even more popular, the price of regular books seems likely to increase. Generally, if I buy non-fiction, I buy hardcover edition, and a price increase would definitely not be desired.
	Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 11:51:41 mst Comment ID: #5 Name: RT Re the chapter issue, many books now (and the periodicals I read (WSJ, etc.)) have little 'dots' on the status bar to show the chapter locations. So you can see how far you are through the book as well as the current chapter/article. (May only work on the Kindle 2 though -- not sure).
	Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 12:03:07 mst Comment ID: #6 Name: KPO'M E-mail: ka84796(at)comcast.net Now let's see if the Estate of Ayn Rand will strike a deal to get her books on the Kindle.
	Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 12:08:32 mst Comment ID: #7 Name: Paul Hsieh E-mail: paul(at)geekpress(dot)com URL: http://www.geekpress.com KPO'M: As you may already know, most of Rand's nonfiction is already available on the Kindle, as is some of her early fiction. From what I've been told by a source I consider reliable, the stumbling block for getting her two major novels onto the Kindle (Atlas and Fountainhead) is not the Estate, but rather negotiations between the publisher (Penguin?) and Amazon. Both parties know that sales could be extremely high, and they have to negotiate a mutually-acceptable split of those proceeds. It is those two parties who have yet to strike a deal (not the Estate). Like you, I hope they do so soon!
	Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 14:13:25 mst Comment ID: #8 Name: Ari Armstrong E-mail: ari at freecolorado com URL: http://freecolorado.com Publishers easily could put page numbers in the formatted digital books to match the printed books. That would help a lot, and it would be a trivially easy fix. Please encourage publishers to do that!
	Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 14:20:08 mst Comment ID: #9 Name: Diana Hsieh E-mail: diana(at)dianahsieh.com URL: http://www.dianahsieh.com/blog Ari -- That would help for citing text, but it wouldn't solve any of the "endless flow" problems that I discussed. Those problems are inherent in e-books, I think. Notably, Kindle does have its own version of page numbers, common to all Kindle versions of the book. Although somewhat less-than-optimally implemented, a person could reference those numbers in citing some bit of text.
	Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 18:42:07 mst Comment ID: #10 Name: Doug Krening I think the chapter problem could be easily solved. They currently have a % complete indication for the entire book. If they added a % complete for the current chapter, I would know whether I should stop reading now or plow through to the end of the chapter.
	Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at 0:37:48 mst Comment ID: #11 Name: Anonymity I heard of a student somewhere who was reading some book and making notes on it. At some point Amazon, for whatever reason, decided not to offer that book on Kindle anymore, and poof!! Not only was the book gone from his Kindle, but so were his notes about the book, forcing him back to square one in terms of some paper he had been writing.
	Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at 3:27:09 mst Comment ID: #12 Name: -- Hal Brown E-mail: hdbrown(at)gmail.com URL: http://weblogredux.com This is the best non tech/spec review I've seen. I am disappointed with my Kindle for most of the same reasons in this article. I've decided - for me - that Kindle is OK for quick light reading. Otherwise, I don't really like it that much. Cost for good books is another factor. They are not much less expensive that paper. I record books on occasion. Kindle is awful for this. As is note taking. In hindsight, I would not buy one. Maybe in the future, when it is more like a 'real' book.
	Wednesday, December 9, 2009 at 10:47:05 mst Comment ID: #13 Name: Dana H. "...trying to read Ayn Rand's Normative Ethics on the Kindle felt like I was trying to remember the progression of a run done on the treadmill, where the scenery is always the same. In contrast, reading a physical book was like remembering a similar run done through some neighborhood, where the varying landscape cements memories." Another fantastic turn of phrase. Apart from the useful content, stylistically this is a vivid, beautifully written post.
	Thursday, December 10, 2009 at 17:47:28 mst Comment ID: #14 Name: Adam Reed E-mail: adamreedatalumdotmitdotedu URL: http://www.calstatela.edu/faculty/areed2 I use Kindle software on my Sony P-series. It is small enough and light enough to use anywhere I might use the Kindle device, but the P-series is a real PC that has a real keyboard. The P-series has its problems, and Sony support is abominable, but for this application it is perfect.
	Sunday, December 13, 2009 at 18:59:59 mst Comment ID: #15 Name: Heike Good review. I love my Kindle for having multiple books with me when I travel: I like to have 2-3 different types of books to read, especially with long airline flights, and the Kindle is great for that, and also for getting more books on the run. Light fiction reading is wonderful - I love that I can do it with one hand, while standing in line at airports or on a bus etc. I have the same issues with using it for intense reading: I am doing a book review right now, and it is cumbersome to review and find the passages that I found interesting. While some of the drawbacks are 'inherent' in any e-book, I think others could be solved in the future. For instance - with a touch screen, it would be much easier to highlight and take notes. Also, once more books are bought on e-book, authors could include an 'outline' that has more detail than just a table of contents - and if you could easily get to it, and get back to where you last were (touchscreen, one soft key on the screen), that would help a lot in staying located mentally in the overall flow of the book. I bet, as long as competition exists and the government doesn't get in the way, that some smart company (Apple?) will come up with a device that gets us much closer to an e-book that you can actually work with.
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