Progress Report - 1/28/09

As of this moment, I have read 2088 pages (7 books) since January 1. Here is my daily progress:


Good reading,

Plants and Books

Amazon Kindle 2.0? The bee's knees?

Amazon.com released an electronic reading device, the Amazon Kindle, in the spring of 2007. If you review the customer reviews of the Kindle you will see that it was overwhelmingly met with positive comments. If you read closely many of these stated that it was not perfect, but definitely a good "first step" and when the fabled second version is released that many of the bugs or annoyances will be worked out.

People have been talking about the Kindle 2.0 for a long time now, and there are countless people on the waiting list for the original since months before Christmas time in 2008. USA Today reports that there is an "important press conference" on February 9 with no details about the nature of the press conferences. Is it time to move into the next generation of electronic reading? Is the Kindle really going to be the iPod of the book world? It is hard to say since there is a legitimate attitude that you cannot replace the experience of holding a paper tome in your hand.

View alleged Kindle 2.0 images at the Boy Genius Report blog.

I keep telling my wife that we should buy some Amazon stock. Amazon (AMZN) is currently selling at $48.40. I'm going to imagine that I bought 100 shares today and see what happens in the next month or two. Will we see a huge increase in Amazon as we did when the iPod exploded on to the market?

There is one huge difference between the Kindle and the iPod, and that is functionality. An iPod can be used anytime, during any activity. People use them while walking to class, working out, or plugged into the car, whereas it is difficult to read and do other things at the same time. The iPod has become an integral part of many people's lives since it can be used anytime. The Kindle will not be as big because it cannot be integrated into everyday life except by people wanting to read, and only read.

This being said, it is important to look at the direction society is heading. We are becoming a more "green" population and paper conservation is going to become more important. Furthermore, it won't even matter since publishing companies will be able to sell books at half the cost and make twice as much profit since materials and overhead will be eliminated. There is also serious discussion going around about the Kindle 2.0 being designed with school textbooks in mind, where students will not have to buy (and carry around) $500 worth of paper and utilize highlighting functionality, text searching, and note taking capabilities. Instead of carrying 25 pounds of books, students will carry 2.6 pounds of electronic equipment.

The new Kindle 2.0 may not be the next iPod, but it may very well be the closest thing we will see in the next decade or two. Amazon is already a powerhouse in the book world, and if the Kindle 2.0 is rolled out correctly, Amazon will have a stranglehold on the literary world.

Go buy your AMZN stocks now.

Good reading,

Plants and Books

Review: The Man Who Folded Himself by David Gerrold

Title: The Man Who Folded Himself
Author: David Gerrold
Copyright: 1972, 2003
Publisher: Ben Bella Books
ISBN: 1932100067

Notes:
Nominated for the Nebula Award for Best Novel, 1973
Nominated for the Hugo Award for Best Novel, 1974

Amazon|Borders|B&N


A Wonderful Time Travel Journal - A Saga of A Man Against Time (and Himself) - 5 stars - a book review

Brief Synopsis:
The main character (and one of the only characters), Daniel Eakins is presented with a unique belt that was entrusted to him after his Uncle Jim passed away. Daniel discovers the belt has the ability to transport the wearer throughout time, which Daniel quickly learns how to use. After using his time machine for the first significant time, he is greeted by himself, one day later. During his first temporal jump, Daniel goes with himself (referred to as Don) to the racetrack where they quickly win by betting on horses, at which point Daniel begins to understand the immediate gratification allowed by time travel. Of course, after traveling back to his original time period, Don departs and Daniel is left to become Don the next day when he waits to greet the Daniel from his past. Upon returning to the track with Daniel, he starts to wonder about paradoxes and begins to realize the awesome power, and encourages Daniel to double the initial bet, seeing what would happen to make more money. He then encounters a Don to his Daniel, who has come back in time to warn him not to attract too much attention. At the internal dialogue that follows this encounter is any indication of the confusion Daniel (and the reader) is to experience, it is only the beginning, as Daniel proceeds to live life and encounters himself all the time, and many times during his time travel he encounters several versions of himself.

THE MAN WHO FOLDED HIMSELF is a journal written by the main character about his adventures, catastrophes, close encounters, hi jinx, and personal reflection through time.

Overall Impressions:
THE MAN WHO FOLDED HIMSELF is extremely well written. With multiple permutations of the main character, Daniel, interacting with himself, there are times where there are long portions of internal dialogue and debate about time travel, which is confusing, but written in such a way that it is easy to follow the train of thought.

While a central function of the book, time travel is not the focus of the story. The story is about the time traveling man, and how he lives with himself (both externally as in the case of interacting with himself and internally as in the case of him dealing with his emotions). As one might speculate, being the singular time traveling agent can be a lonely existence. The story revolves around Daniel's isolation and his choices in dealing with that solitude. The author, David Gerrold, creates some interesting, and possibly controversial, situations that are still believable and created in such a way to inspire a sympathetic response from the reader. It is in these moments that literature really pushes the envelope in speculation and emotional responses from the readership. I personally guarantee an emotional response one way or another from reading this book, a quality to which all literature should aspire.

Closing Comments:
The 2003 edition of THE MAN WHO FOLDED HIMSELF has a wonderful introduction titled The Author That Folded Me, by Robert J. Sawyer (a Hugo and Nebula Award winner) that discusses the impact this book had on him when he first read it in 1972. It is near inspiring to read these few pages written by someone who has achieved such a high stature in the world of science fiction and then credits his inspiration and success to David Gerrold.

There is also an Afterward by Geoffrey Klempner that should be read by all the science nuts and those looking for further discussion on time travel and philosophy. He also includes several recommended readings for further discussion and learning.

Finally, there is an Author's Note after the conclusion of the book which is equally fascinating and interesting as he discusses the difficulty in writing the gay sexual sequences of the central character and relates it to his having (or not having) a "gay agenda" as a gay man himself. There are many negative reviews out on the internet that condemn this book and claim it is "great stuff if you're looking to push your teen boys towards the broody wasteland of Colombine" and other implications that are simply not true. As Gerrold says himself in the Author's Note:

"The story isn't about being gay or straight, male or female, or any other specific condition. It's about being human, and dealing with the transfinite possibilities of life - all the choices before us when we exist only as an unwritten tale."

If that doesn't sum it up, I don't know what will.

I go out of my way to mention these three unrelated to the main story because they only enhance the overall reading experience. The entire publication is an experience from beginning to end, and is what all literature should attempt to achieve.

Some further commentary (spoiler warning): As mentioned above, there is some negative publicity surrounding this book. I believe it to be frustrating because people latch on to a controversial idea that is presented and somehow this detracts from the true message. For example, this post on a Science Fiction and Fantasy forum I frequent:

"And yeah, it is basically a time travel story about a man who travels back in time to have sex with himself."

Now seriously, this one point that is extrapolated throughout the story can hardly be considered the focal point of the story. To suggest otherwise is simply ignorance or flaming. I would think that this would be obvious to anyone except the casual reader, but apparently, it is not so obvious. One of the fundamental charges (or expectations) of good science fiction is to speculate on possible worlds that do not exist and the reactions of humans (and humanity) given the described circumstances. I'm not suggesting that I would follow the choices Daniel Eakins made, but the speculation behind THE MAN WHO FOLDED HIMSELF regards the human spirit and need to matter and we travel through time with Daniel Eakins' solitude that chasing time, constantly correcting mistakes, playing with history, and experiencing other tragedies of time travel creates. It may be uncomfortable; but, it is believable, and David Gerrold paints this one derivation perfectly.

Recommendations:

• REPLAY, by Ken Grimwood - a book I read recently about time travel and also focuses on the isolation of such a gift.
• ALL YOU ZOMBIES, by Robert Heinlein - I have not read this short story, but it is often associated with the reviewed book in discussions and recommendations. Several people I trust have encouraged me to read this and I have no reasons to doubt their recommendation.

Good reading,

Plants and Books

Plants: Nepenthes Hybrids

Due to being overly busy with work and searching for a new job, I have not been taking as good of care to plants as I would like. However, some are still looking nice despite not being watered as often as necessary. These two Nepenthes hybrids are small, but offer great potential in mature pitchers.

N. ampullaria x ventricosa


N. spectabilis x aristolochidoides:


Good growing,

Plants and Books

Review: Army of the Republic by Stuart Archer Cohen (5 stars)

Note: Review originally posted at Amazon on November 24, 2008.

Project Mayhem on Steroids

I don't know where to start. I was completely blown away by this book. ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC is similar to FIGHT CLUB, only bigger, grander, and more organized. Everything in FIGHT CLUB is in this book, with the biggest difference being the other viewpoints in a revolution.

While reading, we follow along from the first person viewpoints of a militant, a civil protest organizer, and a CEO. I am normally not a big fan of first person, but Cohen does it with such style and appreciation for the characters and their interwoven lives that I had to be impressed. Every viewpoint and every chapter was engaging. Once I hit the halfway mark through this book I could not put it down.

The beginning of ARMY OF THE REPUBLIC starts off with a masterful tone that sets the stage for the rest of the book. This book does seem to model what I would expect of a revolution in the pacing. There are times that are so high octane while others are more subtle, but still loaded with undeniable scenes that only promote the entire world and the civil unrest in that world. Furthermore, like a revolution, the books ramps up the intensity and doesn't let go. It truly is explosive.

I was engaged for every minute that I had this book in my hands. So you want a revolution? The rest is up to you.

Good reading,

Plants and Books

Review: Bottom of the Ninth by Michael Shapiro (4 stars)

Historic Baseball Moments

BOTTOM OF THE NINTH is a baseball fan's dream. The book is filled to the top with historical moments, lore, and characters that shaped America's national pastime. The books spans several years in one of baseball's defining moments in history.

This book is not for everyone, as it is loaded with players, managers, political figures, prominent city people, cities, states, and their little (or big) stories and motivations. With the sheer volume of stuff going on in this book it is hard to keep track, but the mastery of the writing is almost magical. The author, Michael Shapiro keeps dumping data, quotes, stories, and reports, and accounts but it never gets lost or overpowering because the way it is all integrated into the story and the chapters. Reading this book is truly like reminiscing about the good old days of baseball, which is further supported because most of the people involved in the main two story arcs aren't even big name baseball players! It's like sitting around a bar listening to people talk about the phenomenal game of baseball in the Micky Mantle era.

BOTTOM OF THE NINTH is a tale of a sport (and the men and women associated with it) defining themselves for the next several decades. I learned so much from this book that I am amazed. I never knew that there was serious consideration for the development of a third baseball league, the Continental League. There is so much history about politics and baseball cities. The stories of Casey Stengel are classic. His personality and the way the players and public viewed him is captured perfectly. Reading the pages you can feel the disgust, contempt, and appreciation that various people felt at any given moment.

This is a wonderful tale about the people of baseball in the 50s. There are enough play-by-play of classic great games that any baseball fan, no matter how die-hard, will enjoy this book. If you get chills from hearing "Take Me Out To The Ball Game" you will enjoy this book more than others. If you just like baseball, then you may be discouraged by the massive amount of information conveyed in each chapter.

Good reading,

Plants and Books

A Note on Statistics

In a recent post, I talked about tracking all the books I read. For the past several years I have done a simple word processing document and manually added up the pages. In the past couple of years I have become (in my opinion) quite skillful at extracting data using a spreadsheet. So, recently, as I was updating my "Books I've Read - 2009" document I realized that if I could create a workbook in Microsoft Excel with 20+ worksheets that proposes housing rates, meal plan rates, and is fully customizable down to the penny (including calculating how much institutional aid students are awarded) I could surely find a better way of collecting and tracking page data in any given year.

At the end of the year, with the spreadsheet I have designed, I will be able to tell on any given day approximately how many pages I read, how long it took me to read any particular book, whether or not I read a particular genre more quickly than others, and have a graph displaying pages read over time. Sound cool? Well, I think so; and, it gets even better than that. Over the course of several years I will be able to cross compare years and display a graph of all these years overlapped, and will be able to see trends. Do I read more in the summer? Do I read more at the end of the year? Of course, I already have a pretty good idea of these answers, but is that not what statistics do best? Manipulate data to show what we already knew?

I remember my statistics class my Sophomore year of college. It was an introductory course; and, as a side note, my spreadsheet skills did not start in this class but rather an introductory physics class called Physical Computations, or something like that.

Anyways, if you really truly think about it, statistics is truly a powerful tool. If you strip away all the political connotations and stop skewing data, statistics might be able to tell us everything. For example, as we plot data points on a graph we can see trends. Never do all the dots fall directly on the "line of best fit;" it is my conjecture that this is simply because we have not yet described the data points accurately enough. So, if we add another dimension to our graph (now making it a three dimensional graph), we have more data to look at per data point. This point is more accurately described.

Of course, we still have outliers and data points that do not fall on the line of best fit. Now I'm sure we all are thinking about those introductory statistics class and how could this accurately predict anything (let alone everything); but, if you think about the things we are comparing, how could you predict anything. For example, in a two dimensional comparison, pages over time. Just tracking pages and time is not enough. There is no way to tell how many pages I will read in any given day just based on how many pages I've read in the past. However, if we start describing these points better, we come a lot closer to being able to predict. How about adding a couple more "descriptions" like my mood after work, other engagements I may have, how satisfied I am with my current book, and even how much oxygen is in my lungs at the time (since increased oxygen may result in higher brain stimulation and a higher reading volume).

Do you see where I am going here? Give me a graph with an infinite number of dimensions and I could predict anything, at any given time.

So, statistics is quite a powerful tool, and not just for proposing budgets, proposing annual residence hall rates, and tracking books read. On the other hand, statistics also provides some fun bar tricks (if you are lucky). If you are in a group of 25 people, there is a 50% chance that two of them will have the same birthday. Sound illogical? It's not. I won a free beer once with this.

Good reading (and analyzing),

Plants and Books