international geographic » books

Re: Amazon Kindle

chetan — Fri, 18 Jan 2008 10:58:04 +0000

I bought one last night. Curious to see just how sold out it really is.

The Da Vinci Code

chetan — Sat, 15 Dec 2007 19:53:04 +0000

As far as film adaptations go, I thought it was pretty excellent. It pretty much played out exactly as I pictured it when I read it in January. Of course, the movie had already been out for some time when I read it so I knew who was playing the various characters but I pictured Robert Langdon to be an older, bearded version of Tom Hanks, not the young, long-haired version in the movie. A little more like Indiana Jones than Nic Cage in National Treasure, I suppose.

The one bit in the movie that I couldn’t remember was the part about him falling down a well as a kid and having claustrophobia ever since. Not sure if they just threw that in or what, but apparently I’m not the only one.

Amazon Kindle

chetan — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 05:59:49 +0000

i was close to one-clicking one tonight.

pros –
evdo (over sprint network)
web browser
buy books directly from the device
books are cheaper (max 9.99, but not as cheap as used books)
can display other file formats (txt, jpg, png, prc, doc, html)
only 10oz (book i’m reading now weighs 1.6lbs)

cons –
drm – can’t borrow/lend books
price (400$)
price of books

really the main thing stopping me, i think, is that i have a couple of books that i’ve yet to read. maybe after that i’ll buy it. or i just might end up buying it this weekend anyway..

Spring reading turns to summer reading

chetan — Sun, 17 Jun 2007 01:39:42 +0000

Since my last post on the subject I’ve finished reading On The Road, Blood Meridian (or the Evening Redness in the West) by Cormac McCarthy, The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli, and begun Life at the Extremes: The Science of Survival by Frances Ashcroft.

I’m not digging this last one too much. It’s non-fiction, which I rarely read, but more than that it’s the kind of thing that’s really very interesting until you try reading it on the subway at the end of a long day. Kinda like that Ruby on Rails book I’ve spotted Ed reading on the way to work. A book like that has it’s place — I’ll let you know if figure out what that is.

That leaves me with another problem. I’m out of books. I got Extremes from Amol along with Blood Meridian — a fantastic book; I recommend it if you like the series Deadwood on HBO — and now I’m empty handed again. I guess I’ll have to hit up B&N for some more classic SciFi from my “someday” reading list. I’m always open to donations however…

Spring reading

chetan — Wed, 16 May 2007 22:01:18 +0000

I’ve spent quite a bit of my time over the last 6 weeks or so commuting to and fro, most of which was spent reading. So far I’ve read, in order:

Burning Chrome – William Gibson – hit and miss but a few great short stories in the mix
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn – Mark Twain
Slaughterhouse V – Kurt Vonnegut – a good read. Tough to follow at first, but it picks up after a while
Monkey Business: Swinging Through the Wall Street Jungle – John Rolfe, Peter Troob – started off great but then got too deep into IB processes. Found myself wondering where all the funny anecdotes went

Right now I’m reading “On The Road” by Jack Kerouac. Not sure what’s next but I have a feeling it’ll be just as frantic as the rest.