Also what drives me mad, my son and I make book marks for him (fun kid/family art project) yet he loses them all the time and instead marks his page with whatever is available. Frequently, that is a piece of clean toilet tissue folded into a square or rectangle. It looks horrible, all these books lying about with pieces of toilet tissue sticking out of them. We make him new book marks from construction paper lovingly coloring designs, and replace them all. They are simply lost again in a matter of weeks.
That’s so funny! I also use whatever I can get my hands on: toilet paper roll rips, toilet paper, parts of packaging (flap from an Advil box), receipts, junkmail envelope shreds, concert ticket stubs, business cards, travel brochures, unused UPC sticker, metal anti-theft bars, post-it notes, Camel Cash, tardy slips (I’m a teacher) and so on, but I will never fold the corner of the page.
Well if you have young kids or young nieces or nephews, ask them to make you bookmarks when they ask what you’d like for a holiday or a birthday. They enjoy cutting the construction paper and decorating it with markers, crayons, water color paints, etc. Then punch a hole and loop a piece of yarn through for a tassel. They really like being able to create something “just for you” and are so darned proud of themselves afterward, it’s adorable. Now my kid likes to make them as presents for Grandma as well. Grandmas love that stuff.
If there are no kids around, you can always just cut a piece of construction paper into a bunch of strips yourself.
Perhaps for Valentine’s Day I will present him with an e-book reader. Surely he will at least give it a try if it is received as a gift. Maybe he’ll even like it.
What are the best/better e-book readers? Or should I wait a couple years for the new super-thin flexible cool looking ones to come out?
I use the Kindle for the iPhone app. It’s not my main source for reading. I keep stuff on there so when I find myself having to wait somewhere, I’ve got something to read that isn’t web-based.
Personally, I’d like to get my hands on an iPad!
To keep on topic:
I’m finishing up Guns, Germs and Steel and starting the Swords of Shannara by Terry Brooks.
Well if you have young kids or young nieces or nephews, ask them to make you bookmarks when they ask what you’d like for a holiday or a birthday. They enjoy cutting the construction paper and decorating it with markers, crayons, water color paints, etc. Then punch a hole and loop a piece of yarn through for a tassel. They really like being able to create something “just for you” and are so darned proud of themselves afterward, it’s adorable. Now my kid likes to make them as presents for Grandma as well. Grandmas love that stuff.
If there are no kids around, you can always just cut a piece of construction paper into a bunch of strips yourself.
It’s all about product placement: bathroom, recliners, beds, couches, dining room table, back porch… If it’s in reach, it’ll be used, though a bookmark from the kiddos would be priority, unless macaroni is involved…
It appears I am back on line for the moment. (This cable service is all screwed up since I dropped Direct TV and added TV service through the samer co that provides my internet connection.)
My wife bought me a Sony Reader for Xmas basically because of the space my library takes up. I did donate over 300 hundered books to the local librarry sale about 3 years ago, but I filled the sapce rather quickly and I do miss some of the books.
The reader is not to bad to use, but the screen could have been larger. Also the Sony store is very limited on the type of selections I want, Maybe one out of four tittles I have requested are available. I haven’t tried to see if Amazon e-books will work on it as yet. I will let you know when I find out.
One advantage of the reader is that it lets me carry many books for easy reference with me when I attend lectures.
The reader is not to bad to use, but the screen could have been larger. Also the Sony store is very limited on the type of selections I want, Maybe one out of four tittles I have requested are available.
I did a little price check browsing through the Sony book store.
They want $88 for about 9 megabytes of e-books that are public domain.
You can get them all for free.
Another e-book seller want $33 for 3.6 megabytes of different books.
We have an infoglut problem or maybe cybertrash glut is a better description. Even if it is free how do you figure out if it is worth the TIME to read. Of course I find the number of people that LOVE Harry Potter disturbing so who decides what is trash?
Currently 100 pages into Bruce Hood’s Supersense, good so far. I didn’t realize how much magical thinking I do, even though I have been an atheist for over thirty years and a pure materialist/skeptic for the past ten.
Recently read Jeff Sharlet’s The Family - very eye-opening, but now I’m paranoid.
Also: J M Hecht’s Doubt: A History - much enjoyed, made me realize (or reminded me) I am part of a long and proud history of non-believers.
I left my ‘main’ book at home today, so at lunch I continued with Letters from the Earth, by Mark Twain. (I’m only just beginning to really appreciate his sense of humor.)
FYI… There are several of his (e-)books on Amazon for Kindle on the iPhone for free.
Also what drives me mad, my son and I make book marks for him (fun kid/family art project) yet he loses them all the time and instead marks his page with whatever is available. Frequently, that is a piece of clean toilet tissue folded into a square or rectangle. It looks horrible, all these books lying about with pieces of toilet tissue sticking out of them. We make him new book marks from construction paper lovingly coloring designs, and replace them all. They are simply lost again in a matter of weeks.
That’s so funny! I also use whatever I can get my hands on: toilet paper roll rips, toilet paper, parts of packaging (flap from an Advil box), receipts, junkmail envelope shreds, concert ticket stubs, business cards, travel brochures, unused UPC sticker, metal anti-theft bars, post-it notes, Camel Cash, tardy slips (I’m a teacher) and so on, but I will never fold the corner of the page.
Well if you have young kids or young nieces or nephews, ask them to make you bookmarks when they ask what you’d like for a holiday or a birthday. They enjoy cutting the construction paper and decorating it with markers, crayons, water color paints, etc. Then punch a hole and loop a piece of yarn through for a tassel. They really like being able to create something “just for you” and are so darned proud of themselves afterward, it’s adorable. Now my kid likes to make them as presents for Grandma as well. Grandmas love that stuff.
If there are no kids around, you can always just cut a piece of construction paper into a bunch of strips yourself.
My sons used to make beautiful bookmarks with old negative strips. they would soak the unwanted negative to remove the image. Get a small flower and press it dry, use a colorful piece of thin yarn or thread to sew it closed, and add a tail to it. They were beautiful and pretty indestructible.
I have to say I’ve become something of a pariah among my fellow bibliophiles for my adoption of the Kindle. For curling up and reading a novel, I find it just as easy and comfy as a paper book. It doesn’t feel anything like a video game to me, especially with the nice leather cover I have for it.
Hey! Finally something we can agree on 100%! I love my Kindle! My hardcore Gutenberg Printing Press style book lover friend thinks I have committed an unpardonable sin for daring to come into the 21st Century of reading! Instant books. Cheaper books. High tech toy! What’s not to love?!
Nicholas Nasim Talleb’s The Black Swan: The Impact of the Highly Improbable to be followed by Sex, Science, and Stem Cells: Inside The Right Wing Assault on Reason by Diana Degette (D-Colorado)
Is there a website with references and titles of “must read” books? If not, would it be possible to create such a reference data base (by subject) here in CFI?
An open thread where people can list their most favorites by title and author, and possibly a few words in review and reason for recommendation.
In most of the threads we cite references and links for reading pertinent subject matter, and I find that extremely useful. But while I read every word in a thread, I don’t read every thread in a specific forum, so I am sure I don’t see some very useful links or recommendations.
To have a book reference thread for each subject forum, would make these individual book references instantly available to all.
My sons used to make beautiful bookmarks with old negative strips. they would soak the unwanted negative to remove the image. Get a small flower and press it dry, use a colorful piece of thin yarn or thread to sew it closed, and add a tail to it. They were beautiful and pretty indestructible.
I just want to pop in that I did get the Kindle 2 for my husband for a Valentine’s/Anniversary gift. The man who said he’d never give up his paper and leather LOVES the Kindle now that he’s had a chance to play around with it! I got him the nice cover for it (which looks like a book cover). He’s already downloaded many books and I haven’t seen him without it in a week now. It is so amazing, how much the screen looks like paper - as if someone glued a piece of paper on the front. It’s a very matte ink look.
I was going to get him the Nook, and checked out the test model in the Barnes & Noble store, but it was out of stock and not shipping in time for Valentine’s day. So I ordered the Kindle from Amazon. Their features were so similar, I don’t think it mattered.
I love my Kindle! My hardcore Gutenberg Printing Press style book lover friend thinks I have committed an unpardonable sin for daring to come into the 21st Century of reading! Instant books. Cheaper books. High tech toy! What’s not to love?!
