A History of Reading

(Or the story of Superfudge)

The history of my personal reading habits can be traced back to the Judy Blume classic, “Superfudge”. It is the first novel that I ever read and it was the start of my love affair with books. Actually, to be entirely truthful, it probably started earlier than that. My parents are both enthusiasts of the written word, and they instilled that in me from a very early age. My earliest memories include those of my Mom reading, “The Wizard of Oz” and my Dad reading to me, “Cars and Trucks and Things that Go”. Every day had reading time, and after I while I would “read” books to my parents because I had memorized the words and the page turns.

My parents encouraged me to read, and the first novel that I ever read entirely myself was, “Superfudge” back when I was 7 years old. I can remember being so proud of having read a novel and I probably was one of the first in my class to do so. After whetting my appetite, I read several more Judy Blume books, including, “Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing” and several others. I moved on to many of Beverly Cleary's books, from the Henry Series (they were awesome!) to the Romona series. From there, I read everything that I could put my hands on. From light reads like the Hardy Boys to better material such as, “Island of the Blue Dolphins”. I read dozens and dozens of books, but the one that stands out in sharp relief from all the others was, “A Wrinkle in Time”. That is hands down the best book that I read as a child. I think that I was 10 because I remember reading the sequel on the plane we took back from our Florida family vacation when I was in grade 5. Wrinkle was a book that I would recommend to any advanced reader of that age. It was a book about children, but didn't write condescendingly down towards them. It dealt with heavy topics and was very cleverly written. I re-read the book years later when doing my undergraduate degree, and equally enjoyed it then, and perhaps I'll give it another read soon.

As I got older, I still read some of the young adult books like Gordon Korman's, “Bruno and Boots” series but also included classics like, “The Hobbit”. I can also remember early forays into fantasy like The Magic Kingdom series. I also began to read more sci-fi, especially Asimov (I, Robot, the Robot Detective novels, etc) This continued until I was probably in my mid-teens when the demands of studying began to wear into my reading time. Soon, books took a back seat to other time-sinks of a teenager. Surely, they were never forgotten, but I didn't read as much as I did when I was younger. During my undergraduate degree, I still took the time to read novels. I began to get into the Star Wars books, (If you're at all a Star Wars fan and haven't read the Timothy Zahn novels, shame on you!). I also continued into fantasy reading with many out of the Shanarra series. A few standout novels of that time include, “1984”, “The Positronic Man”, “Catcher in the Rye”. In the last year of that degree I began to read more when I read a whole bunch of Dragonlance books (guilty pleasure, don't judge!) as well as the first four Harry Potter books. The next true flood in reading came a bit later, just after I graduated from my Computer Science Degree. Most of my friends had moved away and I found myself with a lot of time on my hands, so I turned back to reading. In six months I probably read 20 or 30 books, most notably the Belgaried, The Melorian, and a huge swath of Star Wars books. I also began reading more biographies, which was a genre I hadn't touched before. Perhaps the most fun of these was, “I am Spock” by Leonard Nimoy. He is a very funny man and I would highly recommend that book. Another fantastic book I read about that time was, “Universe on a T-Shirt”. Physics was always my favorite science, and this does a great job at explaining the theories that govern our universe at a understandable level.

After about six months of reading at that pace, I found myself much busier and unfortunately reading again took a back seat to other demands in my life. Oh sure, I would go through spurts where I read a few books here and there, but it was never the same as that 6-month period after my undergrad. After a couple of years in IT, I left the industry and went back to school to study to be a pharmacist and whatever free time I had was now most definitely gone. In those 5 years of studying for that degree, I may have read 4 or 5 novels. I simply just didn't have the time, and after pouring through the books studying, I just didn't have it in me to read anything else.

This brings us to the present day. I've been out as a practicing pharmacist for a little more than a year, and back in May I purchased my Kobo eReader. If you read my posts from that time, I wanted the Kobo to be a catalyst for re-igniting my love (and habit) of reading. I have to say that it has been mostly successful. I simply don't think I'll ever have the time like I used to, especially now with a busier career and being a husband and homeowner. My priorities have changed and I can't stay up half the night reading any more. That being said, in the four months I've had my Kobo, I've read six novels, and while that doesn't sound like a lot, that's pretty much the same output that I had during my entire pharmacy degree compressed into 4 months. Reading is now something that I turn to when looking for something to do. I reach for my Kobo just as often as I reach from my PSP or PS3 controller. That is why I think the Kobo has helped me to return to reading.

Kobo Revisited

Looking back at my blog, I see that May 10th was the day I unboxed my new Kobo. It's been almost 4 months, so I figured that it was about time to write my thoughts on the device.

First thing I should say is that the ereader landscape has certainly shifted since I purchased it and now the Kindle 3 is actually cheaper than the Kobo. Originally, I could look past some of the Kobo's hardware limitations and simply point to the price and be satisfied. I now think if I were a new consumer, I would have a much tougher choice. The Kindle 3 is without question, a better piece of hardware. (Or at least it certainly appears so on paper). They have the luxury of being a 3rd generation device so they have learned what works and what doesn't. The are several ways that the Kindle outpaces and Kobo which are very important to the ereading experience. First: Kindle advertises that the Kindle 3 will use a slightly different eInk screen that will provide better contrast than the Kindle 2. I have used my Dad's Kindle 2 side by side with my Kobo, and I can definitely say that it has already sharper screen than the Kobo. Any additional improvement in contrast will further put the Kindle ahead. Kindle 3 also advertises 20% faster page flips than the Kindle 2, which already is very significantly faster than the Kobo. This is what I consider Kobo's greatest flaw. The nature of eInk requires that the entire page needs to flicker black, then bring the letters out in relief while the background changes back to white. Now, this may sound like an incredible annoyance, but the entire process takes only a few tenths of a second to take place. It is certainly perceptable to the eye, but as a reader, you are usually in the “reading trance” so you don't even notice it. The actual Kindle and Kobo flicker times are not all that different. Indeed, a 20% reduction in flicker time from Kindle 2 to 3 would only be a few hundredths of a second. Where the Kindle has the Kobo absolutely trounced is the amount of time between button press and page flip. On the Kindle, the time is very short, perhaps ¼ second or less. The Kobo is probably closer to ¾ of a second. While a ½ second may not sound very long, it does make a huge difference when learning to “lead” a page turn. On the Kindle, you can press the button when you're essentially on the last word or two of the page and by the time your eyes refocus back at the top, a new page is waiting for you. On the other hand, the Kobo requires you learn to press the button half way through the second to last line on the page. It's something that you can get used to (I honestly don't think about it anymore), but in my opinion it is the single thing I would like fixed the most. I really doubt if that's possible as the Kobo likely has a slower processor than the Kindle, and that additional time is required for page rendering.

From the tone of my post to this point, you must think that I hate the Kobo and would gladly trade it in at any second. That is certainly not the case, and if I had to make the decision again, I would probably still buy the Kobo. Here's why: The Kobo store. If there's anything we've learned from iTunes and other online music stores it's this: content is king. I've poked around a fair bit on the Kindle Canada store and their selection does not seem to be close to the Kobo store. I don't know if is the same with the US store, or if there are Canadian publishing issues or what, but the selection seems limited when compared with the Canadian store. I can't give you too many specific examples, but at Christmas time when looking for titles on Dad's Kindle, I felt really cramped. I searched for several of my favourite authors and several times came away lacking. A more concrete example came later when my Dad complained that he couldn't find any David Baldashi books on the Kindle store. I fired up the Kobo Bookstore and was greeted with nearly his entire library. There are very few times I've searched for a book and not been able to find what I'm looking for on the Kobostore. The selection alone makes me willing to overlook any Kobo hardware shortcomings. The other huge plus for the Kobo is that it is not tied to any one bookstore. As long as the book has been published in ePub format, the Kobo can read it. I know that it may be possible to shoehorn books from other stores onto the Kindle, it is clear that the device's intentions are to display Kindle books and no others. For Kobo, it's the exact opposite. I can basically buy from anyone but Amazon. In addition, I like that the Kobo keeps a “Virtual Library” for you. If I lost all of my hardware (Kobo and computer), all of my books are backed up on my account so if I buy a replacement I can instantly restore my library. I don't know if Kindle shares this feature, or is more similar to Apple's policy where if you delete your songs, your SOL.

So, looking at the above two paragraphs, the prospective buyer needs to weigh hardware vs. access to content. If Kindle can match Kobo's content (and they are constantly expanding their store), the game is done and they've won, hands down. There's no way to defend the Kobo, especially with the Kindle 3's $139 price, superior hardware, and similar content. Until that day, I will stand beside my Kobo and my decision to purchase it.

But I will definitely be feel some envy when I look at James' unboxing pics. :)

Will I Ever Have a Better Watch?

(Or one I like more?)

That is a question that I have to ask, I suppose. You see, way back in the summer of 1998, I took a trip to Montreal with my parents and while there, I purchased a Swatch Irony Secret Agent watch. Yes, that is the actual name of the model. Prior to this, I always had a variety of Timex, Casio, and other digital watches, and I really wanted to have a "grown-up" watch as it was the first summer after starting university. I went to a jeweler and there was this large, funky, Swiss watch that cost more than probably all the watches I ever owned combined. I bought it, and wore it proudly. Fast forward 12 years and here we are and I still have that Swatch on my wrist. I have purchased several other watches in those 12 years, but I keep going back to my good 'ol Swatch. It keeps pretty good time (and I am incredibly picky about my watches being set correctly), I like how it feels on my wrist, and to this day I like its blue face and dials. It has a chronograph, which is incredibly useful and I use it often every day(how long I've been waiting for something, break length, etc). Despite already getting a new watch in the last 12 months (and it is a fantastic watch!), I'm already lookin' for my next fix. I have a variety of watches for different settings (work, outdoors, rough wear, comfort) and I'm looking for a really cool "dressy" digital watch.



Watches between 1998 and now:
Swatch Irony Secret Agent
Vintage 1950's Timex wind-up watch (Broken)
Timex Ironman Digital Watch
Citizen Eco-Drive (Manufacturer's Defect)
Russian Army Automatic (Broken)
Fossil "Decker Black Chronograph" Watch

For trivia, since I purchased my Swatch, the second hand has gone around the dial roughly 6,307,200 times and has ticked 378,432,000 times. The fact that the watch still works perfectly is a testament to Swiss quality.

Top 13 Tweets

Yesterday I generated a 116 page pdf of all of my tweets using this utility. I sent it to a good friend of mine that I used to work with back in my computer science days and he read them in their entirity. He sent me back a "Top 13" list of his favorite tweets and I just had to repost them here. He ordered them chronologically:

• Medchem, in the immortal words of John Cougar Mellencamp: "hurts so good"
• What time is it? It's Go Time.
• agrees with the insurance broker that being a javelin catcher would be a high risk occupation.
• found it strange that the first truck on the scene at yesterday's fire alarm was one delivering compressed gas.
• Just finished up skillz lab. Still finds it funny that Therapeutic Choices was written/edited by Dr. Jean Gray.
• just sucked in some hot pepper he was cooking with and now is in the process of hacking up a lung.
• this five-hour old coffee is not bad. It's concentrated go-juice!
• Unless of course you need to turn left in any game. I guess NASCAR games are out!
• "I'm what you might call a black belt wireless e-mailer." -George H.W. Bush
• Superbowl Sunday. Let's go play ping pong!!
• Just had a hamburger for breakfast. At least it wasn't a Big Kahuna Burger.
• Thinking about making a vinegar pie.
• The bus smells strangely of feces today.

A big shout out to Jonathan for compiling this list!

Kobo Unboxing

It's a few days late, but here are some pictures from the Kobo unboxing. It is a great little machine, and it's a great entry to the eReader world. It's a fine eReader, and works as advertised, and I hope that it will become more of a mainstream device. I've read about a book and a half on it, and I'm very satisfied in how it works. The selection of the Kobo book store is at least as good as the Amazon Kindle store, and often times better, so there will be no shortage of reading content. In addition, it also will handle ePub and Adobe Digital Editions, which will allow it to take ebooks out from the library (something that the Kindle likely won't do). I wholehearted give my recommendation for it.

Straight from Chapters: It arrived the day before they were sold in stores.

I thought that it came in very classy packaging.


The package came apart like a book in a dust cover


And then opened like a book


The Kobo in all its glory


It does have a nice, slim formfactor

And this brings us to the conclusion of the Kobo unboxing. Definitely a worthy gadget to add to my collection!

Koboriffic

I’m not sure why I’m as excited for my Kobo ereader as I am. I mean, I have many other electronic devices, and yet the Kobo is rivalling the excitement level that I had when I got the PS3, and while the Kobo will be a fantastic device, it hardly, “Does Everything”. I suppose it could be that the Kobo represents a new territory for electronic devices. I feel that electronic readers will be very important to the future. I’ve heard the argument many times of people saying, “Why not just use a paper book?” or, “I would prefer books.” I can honestly understand those arguments, have even said them myself, but to those people, I want to say, “Have you ever seen eINK?” It’s a technology that needs to be seen to believed. It’s like Morpheus in the Matrix, “No one can be told how good eINK is, you have to see it for themselves.” That being said, I have no illusions: the Kobo eReader is a first generation device, similar to the Diamond Rio MP3 player of old or maybe even a first-generation iPod (if it’s lucky). eReaders of the future will do away with some of the annoyances of this generation (screen flicker in page turns, etc) and will likely be cheaper and better. The Kobo platform will allow me to carry my eBook library into the future onto those devices, as it uses the widely agreed upon standard of ePub.


The other gigantic advantage of ereaders over traditional paper books is weight and portability savings. As someone who just moved boxes and boxes of books, being able to simply carry a single CD or DVD that contains my entire library will be sweet. This extends to bringing books on trips. 1 GB of internal memory is more than enough to care hundreds of books, so next time I go on a trip I’ll be able to bring a few series of books with no additional weight cost.


I suppose the final reason why I am excited for the Kobo is I hope that it will reignite my love of reading. It’s not that I don’t love reading – I just don’t do it much any more. Historically, I have always been a voracious reader. As recently as the years from 2001-2003 I read several books per month and even up to 1 per week. That being said, I don’t think that I will ever reach those levels again as my life has changed too much. I have much less free time, but I do hope that I will at least get back into reading to some degree. I guess that is where most of my excitement lies.