When this was first announced I thought it would kill the ebook market. But then again, books have always been free at the library and for some reason Barnes and Noble and Amazon do extremely well selling books. Also, the same day that checking out ebooks from a library was announced, I bought an ebook…go figure.
So far, I’ve checked out four books from the library and I have to say its pretty sweet. I’m trying to read 52 books this year (one a week) and if I were to buy 52 books, that would add up pretty quickly (If an average book is $10 for the kindle then I’d be out over $500 on the year.). And while it’s extremely convenient to check out a book from my living room, its’ oddly frustrating because there is still a wait to check out books!? how does that happen exactly? Does the library not have enough digital copies of the book? Why in the world would you put a restriction on this? I’m sure there is some sort of limitation that requires them to do this but it was a bit of a shock to me and somewhat frustrating when all the books you want to read are checked out or have a hold on them.
Regardless, I found a few books that I checked out and the process is incredibly easy. The hardest part is navigating the library site and actually finding something you want to read (and something that is available). After you have your selection, you are a few clicks away from reading a free book on your Kindle. This is all kinds of awesome.
On a somewhat relevant topic, Amazon does let its Prime members ‘rent’ books for free through its Kindle Lending Library. Not just old stale books that everyone has read or the ones no one wants to read. They are letting users read current books that are on the bestsellers list. Very nice! The only caveat to this is that Amazon only lets you ‘rent’ one book per month. Not bad, but if you read a lot you’re still going to have to buy some books or see if they’re available at the library. So pick and choose which you buy and which you rent. Happy reading.
This was a tough book to finish. Truth be told, I started it last year sometime and had to put it down. It wasn’t bad, it was just a touch book to read – but one that I always came back to wanting to finish. Kevin Kelly is the founder of Wired magazine and throughout this book he compares how technology has evolved over centuries with how biological evolution has evolved. He shows that they follow a similar path of evolution and to fully understand where technology has been and where it is going, you need to understand how biology has evolved. Fascinating stuff but again its not light reading.
The Purple Cow is about standing out and being unique. Whether that’s creating a unique product that people can’t help but buy or maybe it’s about standing out in a job search and making yourself look better and more unique than everyone else.
This is a modern mythology story where all of the Gods from the past are walking amongst humans in the heartland of America. As people migrated or were brought to the America, they brought with them their Gods and idols. They worshipped and feared their Gods and in this new land, that’s all it takes to bring the Gods to life. Over the years however, these Gods are growing weak because people do not worship them any more and new Gods are appearing all the time (media, technology etc..) These new Gods are waging a war with the old Gods.
A great spy novel. This has been heralded as the first modern day spy novel that all others spy novels after it have been influenced by in one way or another. It was written back in the 60’s and that doesn’t hurt it a bit even 50 years later. It’s a fast-paced thriller well worth your time.
