E-books
There is nothing like the feel of opening up a brand new book, the feel of the pages between my fingers, smelling the ink, and wondering what adventure awaits, what piece of knowledge is going to impact my life. There are many books I want to read, but don’t necessarily have the funds to buy them, or the time (or will power) to go down to the library, find the book, check it out, and then be forced to read with a timeline knowing I have to turn the book back in or face a late fine. So, I’ve been researching electronic books. I found Project Gutenberg, and am amazed by the number of books available to download for free. Of course they are not new by any means, but older texts. Authors like H.G. Wells, Victor Hugo, David Hume. I don’t understand copyright law too much, but I know that after a certain period of time, works can be released without charging a fee. So I won’t be able to download the latest Harry Potter book for free, but I hadn’t planned on reading it regardless.
The problem is the books are all in .txt format. Which makes it easy to open, but not much else. I tried downloading a book to my IPAQ to test the technology, but only got frustrated. Every time I would turn the IPAQ off, or run another program, I would have to start at the beginning of the file and scroll down to where I had left off. No book marking features at all.
After researching how to fix the problem, I chose Microsoft Reader as my solution, basically because there was a free no frills e-book authoring tool for the Microsoft Reader format. It’s actually pretty cool. I can set up how I want the book to look like (font, font size, etc) in Microsoft word. I prefer a sans serif font for lighter reading, and a font with serifs for more critical reading. And then convert it to the Microsoft Reader format.
My first attempt is a book by Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince. I had overheard a conversation at work that a certain person had a Machiavelli leadership style. The book is supposed to be a guide for rulers, which some people have taken in today and use as their leadership or management style. As a Sailor, and a supervisor, I figured I would read it just to keep up with my Military duties, not that I will apply what Machiavelli is stating. Here’s a quick quote that covers the basic theme of the book.
Total Time spent formatting: 1.5 hours
$ Saved by not buying book: $4-$15
Is it worth it? Probably not. Would have been quicker to go to the library. But hey, it looks cool!
The problem is the books are all in .txt format. Which makes it easy to open, but not much else. I tried downloading a book to my IPAQ to test the technology, but only got frustrated. Every time I would turn the IPAQ off, or run another program, I would have to start at the beginning of the file and scroll down to where I had left off. No book marking features at all.
After researching how to fix the problem, I chose Microsoft Reader as my solution, basically because there was a free no frills e-book authoring tool for the Microsoft Reader format. It’s actually pretty cool. I can set up how I want the book to look like (font, font size, etc) in Microsoft word. I prefer a sans serif font for lighter reading, and a font with serifs for more critical reading. And then convert it to the Microsoft Reader format.
My first attempt is a book by Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince. I had overheard a conversation at work that a certain person had a Machiavelli leadership style. The book is supposed to be a guide for rulers, which some people have taken in today and use as their leadership or management style. As a Sailor, and a supervisor, I figured I would read it just to keep up with my Military duties, not that I will apply what Machiavelli is stating. Here’s a quick quote that covers the basic theme of the book.
Since love and fear can hardly exist together, if we must choose between them, it is far safer to be feared than loved.
Total Time spent formatting: 1.5 hours
$ Saved by not buying book: $4-$15
Is it worth it? Probably not. Would have been quicker to go to the library. But hey, it looks cool!
posted by Jason at 11:24 AM
1 comments
