Jake Ludington’s Digital Lifestyle

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I found an old post I wrote back in 2004 stating that I’d never buy a device that was just for ebooks. My rationale at the time was that Pocket PC devices and others like them had gotten to the point where the screens were great for reading. Now I tell everyone I know why I love the Amazon Kindle. If E-ink had existed in 2004, I think my opinion then might have been different. At the time, everyone was touting screens that were special purpose LCD, which made no sense then and still makes no sense now. E-ink is easier on the eyes because unlike reading an LCD screen, you’re not staring into a light bulb while you read.

I find I’m reading more now that I have a Kindle because its more convenient than carrying a book around. For many types of information, like the morning newspaper, I like the format better because the text I want is unencumbered by all the ads. Not everything works on the Kindle. I don’t like reading magazines on a Kindle even though the content is largely the same. The difference is magazines have specialized in combining imagery with their text content to create something that’s better than the printed word alone. On a Kindle, the images are either gone or muted by the limitation of a monochromatic display. I don’t like these same magazines on the Web because they’ve gone to great lengths to make advertising more important than the content, so I find myself continuing to subscribe to several of the print editions.

If I were to gaze into a crystal ball and look for the device I’d really want to read this stuff on, I think my 2004 desire holds up, because I really want a multi-function tool like an iPhone or my T-Mobile G1, with all the applications that includes, plus the ability to get an E-ink experience when I simply want to read. Will we see that anytime soon? Hard to say. In the meantime, the number of books I purchased for Kindle in 2009 is close to double my book purchases for the 2 previous years. How about you? Are your reading habits changing because of technology? If so, how?

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I’m a size conscious guy, at least when it comes to gadgets. I want gadgets that don’t waste space, so I’m constantly thinking about how the size of gadgets compare to other things I use regularly, especially as it relates to things I travel with. From a travel size perspective, Kindle 2 is one of the most space conscious gadgets out there. length and width match up with a trade paperback almost exactly. The Kindle 2 is actually thinner than the iPhone. Comparing Kindle 2 to my HP Mini 1000 makes the Netbook looks fat, although I wouldn’t trade the productivity of the HP Mini keyboard for the sake of a more sleek form factor.

Kindle 2 vs. Netbook side view:

Comparing Kindle 2 to various book form factors really shows off how much Amazon thought about design. It puts hardback books to shame in a size comparison. Trade paperback size is right on. And those little mass market paperbacks may be smaller length and width, but I never really liked the hand feel of them. All in, the Kindle 2 is a great form factor for the size conscious traveler.

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I don’t own a Kindle yet because they’re never in stock and I hate waiting lists. If you’re lucky enough to already have a Kindle, you can read my blog on the Kindle via their blog subscription service. At this point, I’ll likely hold out for whatever the v2 of the Kindle is, because I’m hopeful Amazon is improving on the existing design. Nobody gets a first generation device perfect and there are a number of features I’d like to see, including support for full color images, better audio integration, and some slight variation on the design. And if we can get the FAA to let us read Kindle devices during takeoff and landing, all the better.

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I’m debating about adding the new Amazon Kindle ebook Reader as the top item on my holiday wish list. It’s about $100 more expensive than Sony’s Reader, but it seems to be better thought out by including an EVDO connection for downloading more content without a computer and supporting several more formats, as well as having the biggest bookseller on the planet behind it. A number of popular blogs are tied into the service, daily newspapers are available and a large library of books. There’s one thing Amazon does better than anybody on the planet: distribute the printed word, so I see every reason to think they may be the first company to really get the digital book right.

I know one of the key reasons book readers don’t like the idea of digital readers is because the screens have traditional been harder on the eyes than a printed page. For ages it felt too much like sitting at a computer screen to read. Both Sony and Amazon use digital ink technology (or as Amazon calls it, electronic paper), which doesn’t feel like you’re reading a screen at all. I already read a great deal of text on my Palm Treo 750, but even that starts to wear on my eyes. The electronic paper has none of the harshness of typical LCD displays.

A second key complaint I’ve heard from people who prefer paper to electronic reading is weight. Laptops make us think all portable digital screens must be heavy. Amazon got this right too, with a 10.3 ounce total weight for their Kindle device. As someone who constantly tries to trim weight from my travel bag, trading my often 500-1000 page reading material for something that is both thinner and lighter has huge appeal. Sony’s Reader is even lighter at 9 ounces (before you put on a necessary protective cover). Both weigh in at about the same as or slightly less than most paperback books.

The one thing all ebooks fail at is my take off and landing test. There’s approximately a combined hour of my time from the time I get on a plane to takeoff and from the time they make you put stuff away to landing that an ebook is completely unusable because electronic devices are not allowed. A paper book or magazine doesn’t suffer this limitation and until the FAA changes rules about flying I’m not likely to be able to completely go paperless for all my reading, even if Kindle is otherwise almost perfect.

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I’m newly obsessed with reading travel books. After visiting China twice, I accidentally ran across River Town: Two Years on the Yangtze (P.S.), a book chronicling Peter Hessler’s two years as a teacher in Fuling, China. River Town is quite possibly the best travel book I’ve ever read, in part because I can relate to many of Hessler’s personal triumphs in learning the Chinese language and partly because he’s a brilliant writer. I literally can’t wait to read the next chapter of the book. There’s a lot to be learned about experiencing Chinese culture as an outsider between the covers of River Town. Next on my list is the audiobook version of Eat, Pray, Love, which chronicles Elisabeth Gilbert’s year long travels across Italy, India, and Indonesia. Gilbert’s quest for self discovery is intriguing in her approach. Coincidentally, I’m finding out that Elizabeth Gilbert is also sharing her story on Oprah, which scares me a little because I generally don’t agree with Oprah’s taste in books.

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November is National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). The basic premise is to write a 50,000 word novel over the month of November. Don’t worry about whether it’s a great novel, just get it done (you can always go back and improve it later). I’ve have several bits of novels I’ve wanted to write kicking around for the last several years. I found out about NaNoWriMo mid-November last year, which is a bit late to cram in 50,000 words of writing. This year I’m marking my calendar early. The official site for the event offers a support group and online cheerleading section to help encourage would be writers to make it through to the end. At just over 1500 words a day, the word count should be a piece of cake – I already write several times that on any given day. If anyone wants to join me in Seattle, drop a note in the comments or shoot me an email, it would be more fun to suffer together. Don’t have a solid idea of what to write, don’t worry, the NaNoWriMo motto is: No Plot? No Problem!

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Grotesque is one of the most disturbing books I’ve read in a long time. The characters all have complex and disturbing social problems. The environment of the story, a Japanese girl’s school and Japanese corporate culture, is rife with ugly abuses of social position. And the narrator, who is indirectly the main character, is so removed from her own world that she’s seemingly unaware that she’s just as screwed up as the people she introduces. Grotesque is a crime novel after a fashion, but it’s more character study and criticism of Japanese culture than the standard fare you might see from the works of someone like John Gregory Dunne. What amazes me most about Grotesque is the story is completely translated from Japanese and reads like a brilliant work of English fiction. If you’re looking for some out of the ordinary reading material, this latest work from Natsuo Kirino definitely fits the bill.

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