life with my nook simple touch eReader

i've had a nook simple touch eReader for over a year now. true to its name, it is simple to use. at about $100, it is nook's least expensive model.

i can't log into the internet with it, but that's okay with me because i use it only to download books and read them. to download a book, one accesses barnes & noble via wireless and makes a few clicks. the download, even for large books, is fairly quick, about 30 seconds, i'd say. of course, one should first have set up an account with barnes & noble.

the screen is stark white, and the text is black, both of which i like. the experience is similar to that of reading a book printed on paper. it can't be read without an external source of light illuminating the screen. there is, however, a new and more advanced model, released about four months ago - i don't remember its name - priced at about $150, that has a backlit screen. that's quite an attractive feature; one can read in bed without a bedside lamp, and allow anyone else in the room to continue sleeping comfortably in the dark.

the simple touch can store about 1000 titles; its charge dissipates at the rate of about 1% per day. even if one doesn't use it.

my first download was the autobiography of mark twain, which was first published, according to his will, in 2010, the 100th anniversary of his death. it's a rambling account of his life, including many episodes concerning his friend, president grant. i skipped many parts, and that leaves me something to pick at random and read for a short period of time.

my second download was a recent book called "behind the beautiful forevers," by katherine boo, a pulitzer prize winner. it's about life and poverty in a mumbai slum. i may write about the book and its author when i have more time.

i paid about $1.99 for twain's biography, and about $11 for boo's book. older books must cost less because their copyrights must have expired, and the publisher doesn't need to pay royalties to the author. i estimate the price of the download of a recent book to be 60% of that of a paper copy.

my nook is light, compact, and easy to carry, and i do take it everywhere. best of all, i can access the page i was last reading, with a touch.

what are your experiences with an eReader? i wonder if apple's ipad has rendered all eReaders obsolete.

WillyNilly wrote:i've had a nook simple touch eReader for over a year now. true to its name, it is simple to use. at about $100, it is nook's least expensive model.

i can't log into the internet with it, but that's okay with me because i use it only to download books and read them. to download a book, one accesses barnes & noble via wireless and makes a few clicks. the download, even for large books, is fairly quick, about 30 seconds, i'd say. of course, one should first have set up an account with barnes & noble.

the screen is stark white, and the text is black, both of which i like. the experience is similar to that of reading a book printed on paper. it can't be read without an external source of light illuminating the screen. there is, however, a new and more advanced model, released about four months ago - i don't remember its name - priced at about $150, that has a backlit screen. that's quite an attractive feature; one can read in bed without a bedside lamp, and allow anyone else in the room to continue sleeping comfortably in the dark.

the simple touch can store about 1000 titles; its charge dissipates at the rate of about 1% per day. even if one doesn't use it.

my first download was the autobiography of mark twain, which was first published, according to his will, in 2010, the 100th anniversary of his death. it's a rambling account of his life, including many episodes concerning his friend, president grant. i skipped many parts, and that leaves me something to pick at random and read for a short period of time.

my second download was a recent book called "behind the beautiful forevers," by katherine boo, a pulitzer prize winner. it's about life and poverty in a mumbai slum. i may write about the book and its author when i have more time.

i paid about $1.99 for twain's biography, and about $11 for boo's book. older books must cost less because their copyrights must have expired, and the publisher doesn't need to pay royalties to the author. i estimate the price of the download of a recent book to be 60% of that of a paper copy.

my nook is light, compact, and easy to carry, and i do take it everywhere. best of all, i can access the page i was last reading, with a touch.

what are your experiences with an eReader? i wonder if apple's ipad has rendered all eReaders obsolete.

i was presented with an ordinary kindle in the summer of 2011. it was amazing to be able to store multiple books on a small device without having to chug them around. Later i bought a Kindle DX (which has the larger 9.7 inch screen) and find it very convenient to read from providing the downloaded e-book has at least hyperlinks to individual chapters in the book. The Kindle DX has free 3G internet which you can use to access amazon.com (and only amazon.com) and download other e-books. This is the future.
Have you had any experience with audio books where you hear a person reading the book aloud? If yes, your feedback?

Rashmun wrote:
Have you had any experience with audio books where you hear a person reading the book aloud? If yes, your feedback?

i listened to audio-books on two occasions, and they weren't enjoyable.

the first was a book by p. g. wodehouse, and the reader was a man with a strong american accent. it's nearly impossible to hear of the goings-on at the drones' club when it's narrated in a new jersey accent.

the second was about robin hood of sherwood forest, also read by an american. frequently exclaiming "ha ha! raahbin" does not convey the merry-making of robin and his merry men. i was listening to the tape with an eight-year-old boy. he was unscathed, but i've stayed far away from audio-books since then.

i can, however, imagine their usefulness in alleviating the boredom of long commutes.

WillyNilly wrote:

Rashmun wrote:
Have you had any experience with audio books where you hear a person reading the book aloud? If yes, your feedback?

i listened to audio-books on two occasions, and they weren't enjoyable.

the first was a book by p. g. wodehouse, and the reader was a man with a strong american accent. it's nearly impossible to hear of the goings-on at the drones' club when it's narrated in a new jersey accent.

the second was about robin hood of sherwood forest, also read by an american. frequently exclaiming "ha ha! raahbin" does not convey the merry-making of robin and his merry men. i was listening to the tape with an eight-year-old boy. he was unscathed, but i've stayed far away from audio-books since then.

i can, however, imagine their usefulness in alleviating the boredom of long commutes.

thanks. did you see the t.v. series of jeeves and wooster with laurie and fry? if yes, any comments?
i have read every single book and short story about jeeves and wooster and watched most of the episodes of jeeves & wooster starring laurie and fry. i thought the casting of jeeves as fry and laurie and wooster was inspired, though gussie fink nottle was a bit of a let down. i expected a lot more in the t.v. series with respect to the famous gussie fink nottle speech in Right Ho Jeeves, but the guy who acted as fink-nottle put in an insipid performance. there were two actors who played fink-nottle and the other guy (the one who did not give the famous speech) was a lot better. i also enjoyed watching the performances of roderick glossop, roderick spode, aunt agatha, aunt dahlia, etc. the characters of honoria glossop and madeliene basset were as expected although florence craye in the t.v. series was prettier (and sexier) than i had imagined her to be.

WillyNilly wrote:
my nook is light, compact, and easy to carry, and i do take it everywhere. best of all, i can access the page i was last reading, with a touch.

nice. i too have overcome my antipathy for reading books in any form other than print-on-paper.

what are your experiences with an eReader? i wonder if apple's ipad has rendered all eReaders obsolete.

actually, we have moved a step beyond. smartphones are rendering tablets (like ipads) obsolete. i just read a book on my smartphone and it was a pleasurable experience. as strange as it may sound, it is not at all inconvenient reading from a phone. here's a screenshot from my phone to give you an idea.



it gets automatically synced with your ipad or other devices -- so even if you switch between pc, tablet and phone, your bookmark gets saved (in the clouds). if the text has footnotes, you can easily jump to it using the hyperlinks and return.

My Utterances wrote:

WillyNilly wrote:
my nook is light, compact, and easy to carry, and i do take it everywhere. best of all, i can access the page i was last reading, with a touch.

nice. i too have overcome my antipathy for reading books in any form other than print-on-paper.

what are your experiences with an eReader? i wonder if apple's ipad has rendered all eReaders obsolete.

actually, we have moved a step beyond. smartphones are rendering tablets (like ipads) obsolete. i just read a book on my smartphone and it was a pleasurable experience. as strange as it may sound, it is not at all inconvenient reading from a phone. here's a screenshot from my phone to give you an idea.

it gets automatically synced with your ipad or other devices -- so even if you switch between pc, tablet and phone, your bookmark gets saved (in the clouds). if the text has footnotes, you can easily jump to it using the hyperlinks and return.

thanks for the screenshot. the large type would be nice, especially for me, for i read when i'm stopped at an intersection. the automatic update of the bookmarks in the pc and the tablet is nice too.

some Qs on the screenshot:

1. is it from a detective novel?

2. does the detective's last name start with a 'p'?

3. why is he driving to a stud farm? is 'p' investigating the abduction of a famous stud-horse from the farm located on the outskirts of delhi?

WillyNilly wrote:
some Qs on the screenshot:

1. is it from a detective novel?

2. does the detective's last name start with a 'p'?

3. why is he driving to a stud farm? is 'p' investigating the abduction of a famous stud-horse from the farm located on the outskirts of delhi?

it is a page from the novel the krishna key by ashwin sanghi. the book is historical fiction and traces the origins of lord krishna. it reads like a detective story. in the scene above, one character has been assassinated and the assassin is driving to pune. i don't know why to a stud farm -- i haven't read further. the assasin's name, given at birth, was sampat sharma but he goes by the name taarak vakil. i hope that answers your question.

My Utterances wrote:

WillyNilly wrote:
my nook is light, compact, and easy to carry, and i do take it everywhere. best of all, i can access the page i was last reading, with a touch.

nice. i too have overcome my antipathy for reading books in any form other than print-on-paper.

what are your experiences with an eReader? i wonder if apple's ipad has rendered all eReaders obsolete.

actually, we have moved a step beyond. smartphones are rendering tablets (like ipads) obsolete. i just read a book on my smartphone and it was a pleasurable experience. as strange as it may sound, it is not at all inconvenient reading from a phone. here's a screenshot from my phone to give you an idea.



it gets automatically synced with your ipad or other devices -- so even if you switch between pc, tablet and phone, your bookmark gets saved (in the clouds). if the text has footnotes, you can easily jump to it using the hyperlinks and return.

this might suffice for reading novels but it would not do for reading technical papers having graphs, charts, etc. If the graphs, etc. have been colored, then even the Kindle e-ink reader will not do.