Paper, plastic or… eReader...?
With apologies to the immortal bard; “To Kindle or not to Kindle, that is the question. Whether tis nobler in the mind to go Green with a paperless e-Reader or suffer the back ache and library fines of lugging around or borrowing piles of paper and cloth bound books?”
Well, Will old boy, you’ve got me.
On the one hand as an author of eight books to say that I’ve got a soft spot for the written word in all of its paper and ink charm, comfort and glory, is putting it mildly.
On the other hand… once again as an author, I’d have had to have locked myself in a cabin in the woods a la J.D. Salinger for the past few years not to have been impressed by both eBooks and eReaders. Not only is it coming gang - it’s already here.
It’s somewhat ironic that it’s now become only a matter of which device I’m considering to replace the printed word on paper as I have made my living in the publishing industry with magazines, newspapers and books for over four decades. But newspapers are folding left and right and the revenue from advertising that keeps magazines afloat is being challenged by those annoying but often effective pop-up’s and other ads that flood the internet, so even these venerable institutions are going to a paperless “e” format.
So what is a print lover to do?
Do you become part of the new wave and opt to start all of those venerable printed tomes on the same road as taken by the Dodo and Duck Bill Platypus toward extinction? Or should we become old ‘Book Curmudgeons’ clutching the dusty yellowed pages of our paper books as the paperless green technocrats come to cart us off to the home for old paper Luddites.
Not a pretty picture eh? But it really does present us with a dilemma. I’m sure those all of you devoted bibliophiles out there have, as I have, spent years building up a library of favorite books. And they look nice on that bookshelf don’t they? So what are you going to do as technologies’ inexorable march towards the virtual book threatens these old friends with obsolescence? On the other hand, now you’re going to have plenty of room on those bookshelves for that old college beer mug and the vacation photo of Aunt Martha and Uncle Fred.
But will a hunk of plastic and microchips really be able to provide the same satisfaction as a room filled with books of every size, shape, color and topic?
Hummmm…
The bottom line is that I need… HELP !!!!!!! - Both technically and ethically.
Technically, because I can’t decide between the traditional Kindle or the new touch screen big buzz Kindle. So if anyone out there has used one or both I would appreciate your opinion.
And ethically, because as an author and lover of books, the biggest question of all about going “paperless,” is not, “can I?” It is… “Should I?”!!!
Ric Wasley – Author – Speaker
Mystery Writers of America and the Cape Cod Writers Group
http://www.ricwasley.com/
Author of The McCarthy Mystery Series:
•The Scrimshaw – A McCarthy Mystery - 2008
•Shadow of Innocence - A McCarthy Mystery - 2007
•Acid Test – A McCarthy Mystery – 2004
Midnight Blue - A Mystery/Vampire/Romance - 2010
Echoes Down a Dark Well – Due out in 2012
And… Candle in the Wind – Due out in 2013
Novella’s
• At my Window with a Broken Wing – Contemporary/Romance – 2009
Short Stories:
• Embers – Historical - 2008
• The Night – Vampire - 2008
• Long Black Veil – (Weirdly 3 – Anthology) Historical/Paranormal – 2010
December 11, 2011
November 28, 2011
You want to live life in the fast lane but the guy in front of you won't move!
My daughter once posed this question on her very funny blog after being late for work one morning by a poky driver in front of her. "It's called the Rush Hour... So Rush!"
My sentiments exactly.
And at the risk of angering the world of poky people I have a burning question that has puzzled me all my life
Why do some people get into the passing lane and then decide to poke along at 10 MPH Under the posted speed limit?!!!
And lest you think I am blindly pointing the finger at total strangers, one of the chief offenders in this is my own father !
His rational?
"No one needs to go faster than I'm driving."
What?!!!!!
I've asked him if he thinks he's the "Road Police" and he basically feels that Yes, he has determined the proper speed and will enforce it for other drivers ... for their own good.
Grrrrr!
I on the other hand come down on the side of free will.
So if I'm doing 90 in the passing lane and someone comes up behind me who wants to go a 100, I pull over and let him go by.
It is NOT my business to police the roads.
In other countries it's even considered to height of rudeness if you don't move over to let someone else pass.
So why can't we do it here?
Where do you come down on the side of this argument?
Are you a "fast lane" or "road police" .... And why?
Love to hear from you!
My sentiments exactly.
And at the risk of angering the world of poky people I have a burning question that has puzzled me all my life
Why do some people get into the passing lane and then decide to poke along at 10 MPH Under the posted speed limit?!!!
And lest you think I am blindly pointing the finger at total strangers, one of the chief offenders in this is my own father !
His rational?
"No one needs to go faster than I'm driving."
What?!!!!!
I've asked him if he thinks he's the "Road Police" and he basically feels that Yes, he has determined the proper speed and will enforce it for other drivers ... for their own good.
Grrrrr!
I on the other hand come down on the side of free will.
So if I'm doing 90 in the passing lane and someone comes up behind me who wants to go a 100, I pull over and let him go by.
It is NOT my business to police the roads.
In other countries it's even considered to height of rudeness if you don't move over to let someone else pass.
So why can't we do it here?
Where do you come down on the side of this argument?
Are you a "fast lane" or "road police" .... And why?
Love to hear from you!
November 17, 2011
Hey Fellow Baby Boomers - Are We Destined to Become the Last Generation That Actually Likes to Read?
I think the first time I really became aware of what is going on with what seems to be waning interest of our kids generation in reading of the printed page, was when my own three children - all in their 20 ' - thanked me for their signed copies of my latest novel, Midnight Blue, but somewhat guiltily confessed, they'd probably never read it.
What!?
Hey, wait a minute, I write novels and my own kids aren't even going to read them? What gives? Have my schoolteacher wife and I somehow managed to produce an illiterate brood of offspring? Well to be fair, they do read - sometimes. However, my boys read only non-fiction business books and my daughter, as she tells me, is not 'into', my genre.
But as I began to look into this reading reluctance more closely, it seems that there is a definite trend away from reading for enjoyment in the under 30 population. And Harry Potter aside, most kids would rather watch TV or play video games, then read.
And it's not just a limited to the 'too busy' 20 Something's.
While at a book signing earlier this week, I got to talking with a young mom and her three grade-school age children, all of whom she admitted, hate to read. And not even the magic and hype of around the marvelous Harry Potter could break through their reluctance to forsake the 'Tube' for the printed word.
As near as I can ascertain, these advanced cases of 'literary phobia' seem to revolve around one a central theme. Reading is work. Videos are fun.
Oddly enough, the reading aversion doesn't seem to extend to reading off of a computer screen. But before my fellow authors start effervescing about 'e-books' replacing the printed word, I'd have to respectfully and sadly disagree. It's not necessarily the medium that delivers the story, novel or essay; its the words themselves. The generation that has been raised on the flashing lights and blaring sounds of video games, music videos and TV commercials, don't like reading blocks of words - unless they flash, move and sing.
In a nutshell, almost everyone I spoke to under the age of 30 feels that all reading means work; for school, the job, or in navigating on-line forms. And work that they are perfectly willing to do by the way for things like on-line registrations, i-pod warranties and the endless minutia involved in setting up a My space, Face Book, or any other number of on-line, 'tell-all' forms detailing everything from sexual orientation to shoe size.
In an attempt to ascertain whether or not it's the story line or plot of novels that turns today's generation off from recreational reading as a form of entertainment, I've actually discussed the plots and story lines of some of my favorite books and authors with many of these very nice and very bright, young people. Often they get really interested in them and when they do, can you guess what question they asked me? "Is it out on DVD?"
Sigh...
But maybe it's our fault. Maybe all of the electronic flashing, and jumping, noisemaking cyber entertainment and communications devices with which we've flooded our kids generation, has atrophied their ability to visualize and enjoy a written story using nothing but - imagination.
On the other hand, who knows, maybe it will all work out. Maybe undreamed of new technologies will come along to save the day - and imagination.
Perhaps we can imagine a future day when some new remarkable electronic cyber device will give kids the opportunity to imagine their own story and create it in words, pictures and sound. Perhaps in the form of holograph as in Star wars.
So buck up my fellow boomers. Maybe by the time we're all hanging out in the nursing home and cackling about our 'glory days' spent blowing out our brain cells back in the groovy '60s and '70s, our grand kids will be creating literary flights of fancy that will bring a imagination and storytelling back full circle.
Let's hope!
Ric
What!?
Hey, wait a minute, I write novels and my own kids aren't even going to read them? What gives? Have my schoolteacher wife and I somehow managed to produce an illiterate brood of offspring? Well to be fair, they do read - sometimes. However, my boys read only non-fiction business books and my daughter, as she tells me, is not 'into', my genre.
But as I began to look into this reading reluctance more closely, it seems that there is a definite trend away from reading for enjoyment in the under 30 population. And Harry Potter aside, most kids would rather watch TV or play video games, then read.
And it's not just a limited to the 'too busy' 20 Something's.
While at a book signing earlier this week, I got to talking with a young mom and her three grade-school age children, all of whom she admitted, hate to read. And not even the magic and hype of around the marvelous Harry Potter could break through their reluctance to forsake the 'Tube' for the printed word.
As near as I can ascertain, these advanced cases of 'literary phobia' seem to revolve around one a central theme. Reading is work. Videos are fun.
Oddly enough, the reading aversion doesn't seem to extend to reading off of a computer screen. But before my fellow authors start effervescing about 'e-books' replacing the printed word, I'd have to respectfully and sadly disagree. It's not necessarily the medium that delivers the story, novel or essay; its the words themselves. The generation that has been raised on the flashing lights and blaring sounds of video games, music videos and TV commercials, don't like reading blocks of words - unless they flash, move and sing.
In a nutshell, almost everyone I spoke to under the age of 30 feels that all reading means work; for school, the job, or in navigating on-line forms. And work that they are perfectly willing to do by the way for things like on-line registrations, i-pod warranties and the endless minutia involved in setting up a My space, Face Book, or any other number of on-line, 'tell-all' forms detailing everything from sexual orientation to shoe size.
In an attempt to ascertain whether or not it's the story line or plot of novels that turns today's generation off from recreational reading as a form of entertainment, I've actually discussed the plots and story lines of some of my favorite books and authors with many of these very nice and very bright, young people. Often they get really interested in them and when they do, can you guess what question they asked me? "Is it out on DVD?"
Sigh...
But maybe it's our fault. Maybe all of the electronic flashing, and jumping, noisemaking cyber entertainment and communications devices with which we've flooded our kids generation, has atrophied their ability to visualize and enjoy a written story using nothing but - imagination.
On the other hand, who knows, maybe it will all work out. Maybe undreamed of new technologies will come along to save the day - and imagination.
Perhaps we can imagine a future day when some new remarkable electronic cyber device will give kids the opportunity to imagine their own story and create it in words, pictures and sound. Perhaps in the form of holograph as in Star wars.
So buck up my fellow boomers. Maybe by the time we're all hanging out in the nursing home and cackling about our 'glory days' spent blowing out our brain cells back in the groovy '60s and '70s, our grand kids will be creating literary flights of fancy that will bring a imagination and storytelling back full circle.
Let's hope!
Ric
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