The Home Stretch

I guess I can consider the world back on track. Tomorrow starts the normal weekend and then it is back to the salt mine. As predicted, I have watched movies, played videogames and read. And, to staunch the myth that teachers only read dry and crusty course-related material, I can certify that nothing I read over the vacation had any scientific or literary worth whatsoever. Also, all my movie and tv watching was centered around truly awful offerings that would offend the sense of anyone with a crumb of taste. Life has been good.

In respect to books, I have decided to trade in my Sony eReader for the regretably-named Kindle 2. I love to read and plow through several books a week when time permits. If you have a small place, like me, books pile up quickly and there are only so many shelves one house can hold. Ebooks are a nice way to pull together a huge library of material and have it always on hand, even when you travel, while not adding hundreds of pounds of weight to your floors. Another nice thing is that if a book disappoints, there is far less guilt deleting a file than giving away the distressing volume. Lastly, ebooks are cheaper than their print counterparts. Even though the selection of ebooks runs a poor second to print volumes, new titles are being offered in both formats and older material is being converted all the time. For serious readers, some form of digital reading device should obtained with haste. The main reasons that I'm trading in my Sony eReader is that Amazon offers slightly cheaper ebooks and I think publishers are going to favor the Kindle format owing to Amazon's selling power and that the Kindle has no-cost wireless connectivity that allows you to immediately download a new book. That is big with me - if I finish reading something, I want something new to read right away and if I really liked the book I probably want to read other titles by the same author. The Kindle will give the immediate satisfaction that I desire. Besides that, any old digital reader will work fine.

So, for those who offer up excuses like carrying around books, not being able to get to a bookstore, etc. for not reading - you're busted. Dive in head first and start exploring the wonderful world of print. You can still game and watch junk films and be a general cultural washout, like me, but at least you'll be a far more erudite one...