Zark's

NASA's First eBook

You can download X-15: Extending the Frontiers of Flight" by Dennis R. Jenkins free from NASA at this NASA site. They have even made it available in both Kindle and Sony eBook formats.  I downloaded it from the web and then manually installed it on my Kindle.  Kudos to NASA for truly advancing science by making it available to everyone.

Photo Credit: NASA

North American built the X-15, a rocket-powered aircraft.  It was the successor to the Bell X-1, which rocketed Chuck Yeager past the 'sound barrier' on 14 October, 1947.  The X-15 was carried aloft by a B-52 to begin a flight.  Once dropped, the pilot would ignite the rocket engines and shoot upward.  Although the program was cancelled in 1968, it established manned aircraft speed records that have not been broken.

The X-15 is an interesting subplot in Tom Wolfe's The Right Stuff.  If you recall, many of the nation's best pilots were excluded from NASA's first call from Astronauts.  The criteria of a college diploma excluded such notables as Chuck Yeager.  So while the big research dollars were diverted to would-be Buck Rogers such as Alan Shepard, Gus Grissom, and John Glenn, the Air Force continued to channel a few dollars to keep the X-15 program flying.  (According to Wiki, John Glenn didn't have a diploma, but was still admitted.)

I just downloaded the eBook a few minutes ago, and have not yet read it.  I did scan through the book (that is a little painful, as you know, on eBooks).  One thing that caught my attention was a conclusion that the X-15 program would never survive today's bureaucratic, political, and risk-averse world.  It just couldn't happen.  Mmm.  Our pioneer DNA must be getting stretched thin. 

Color and the Brain

I just finished reading a new science fiction novel by Brandon Sanderson, Warbreaker.  It is a little edgier or bizarre, than Mistborn, which I enjoyed greatly.  Still, Warbreaker is a worthy purchase (less than $10 on Kindle).  Sanderson creates a world where the highlands are very drab and have little natural color in the environment.  Consequently the kingdom that lives in the environment treats color as unnatural and something to be avoided.  In contrast, the lowlands are tropical, and colors abound, especially because of bountiful plants that produce inexpensive dyes.  This kingdom treasures color in everything.  One of the story threads is the distrust between the two kingdoms simply on whether they like colors in their clothing and everyday life.

Sheesh.  How did I get here?  Oh, Color Plays Musical Chairs in the Brain explains that the human brain associates color as an attribute to an object.  This sounds very familiar to software engineering's object oriented programming.  (In this paradigm, data and attributes are connected or stored together.  For example, a user window would have size and color linked as attributes to other information necessary to create the window on the computer display.)  Also familiar is the chaos that can result if a software object's attribute becomes unlinked from the object.  Hackers exploit that kind of error.

It turns out, that unlinking occurs in the brain, too.  The brain has two independent perspectives of the visual object coming from either eye.  For those not 3-D challenged, the brain processes those two patterns and associates them as the same object.  But what happens if the eyes see different colors for that object?

Using polarized light, the researchers were able to have the left eye see green, but the right eye would instead see a red color.  That violates the brain's processing algorithm, because in the natural world, an object has only one instantaneous color (unless we are discussing quantum theory, but let's don't).  Similar to a computer's divide-by-zero error, the human would see a green object, but there is "disembodied red" in the scene.  The brain will erroneously paint other spaces in the field of view red, because it has to associate that 'red' with something in the scene.

Fascinating, isn't it?  The Science Daily article explains the research is described in the paper, "Color-Binding Errors During Rivalrous Suppression of Form."  Mmm.  Seems like that could be exploited in humans, just like machines.

Amazon Prepares for the Tablet Wars

Business and tech journals are convinced that Apple is about to announce a tablet computer that will compete with the Amazon Kindle and other book readers.  Apparently the business managers at Amazon believe the rumors as well, because they have begun to make some changes.  Isn't competition great?

One of the first surprises was Amazon to give a bigger cut of Kindle e-book sales to authors, publishers.   As the title suggests, Amazon wants to woo publishers and authors the old-fashioned way - with money.  Amazon is willing to offer authors 70 percent royalties minus delivery costs of about 6 cents per ebook unit.  Previously authors earned about 30 percent from every ebook sale.  (There are some conditions to this royalty offer.)  Amazon is rightly concerned about the counter-culture long associated with Apple and its ability to charge premium prices.  Smart move, Amazon. 

Anyone with knowledge of American football knows that a team cannot win if it only plays defense.  (Of course the Arizona Cardinals tried the converse last weekend and failed, but that is a story for a sportswriter.)  Amazon is also going on the offensive, even taking the battle to Apple's turf - Amazon Opens Kindle to Developers.  To compete with Apple's wildly popular apps, Amazon now offers a Kindle Development Kit (KDK).  To woo app developers, Amazon is offering 70% royalties on these products which will be sold on the Kindle store as well. 

Apple Tablet Keeps Kindle on Its Toes explains that Apple has been talking with publishers, attempting to attract them with premium-priced content.  Because the Kindle is very feature limited, users can expect to read a book similar to a printed book, but little else.  Speculation is that Apple will offer video clips, author interviews and insights, in addition to traditional ebook content.  Harvesting its counter-culture mystique, Apple will charge more. 

It is difficult to imagine that Apple can compete on price with either the tablet or ebooks.  No doubt though, they will erode Kindle's overwhelming market share of ebook readers.  How much is what makes this interesting.  Book readers will benefit though - competition is a wonderful thing.

Reading About the Kindle

The Kindle, of course, is the e-book reader from Amazon.  It has been available for almost two years, and distinguishes itself from the competition by seamless wireless connection to the Amazon website.  It does not require a license for the wireless connection - if you are in range of a Sprint network, it connects automatically and without charge.  At the Amazon website, you can download a new book or periodical in about a minute.  For me, it is far better than attempting to find a new book in a brick-and-mortar bookstore.

It is not perfect.  To maximize battery life, the device's processor, running Linux, is slower than most people can turn a page.  Random access - flipping through pages, trying to find something is painfully slow or next-to-impossible.  But in a slim package, I have something much lighter and less bulky than a single book.  Then consider it can store hundreds of books and MP3 files so that you can listen to music while you read without carrying an iPod with you.

Princeton Students Don't Like Free Kindles explains that Amazon arranged an experiment with 50 Princeton students where all of the course material was placed upon a Kindle for the semester.  The students complain about the slow and clumsy user interface.  Surprisingly, but not unexpected is they tell it impedes learning.  The inability to physically touch the page, make marks on it, place sticky notes, etc., prevents them from learning as much with a traditional textbook.

Kindles yet to woo University users adds that Kindles do not have page numbers, which makes it difficult for Kindle users to interact with old-fashioned book readers.  This semester's experiment is with three courses - Civil Society and Public Policy, U.S. Policy and Diplomacy in the Middle East, and Religion and Magic in Ancient Rome.  (Interesting combination, that last course.)  The Daily Princetonian also informs us that Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, is a Princeton alumnus. 

Mmm. Back to the learning.  Educators continue to invent and debate different learning styles.   I prefer Fleming's VARK model, which Wiki explains is: a) visual leaners, b) auditory learners, c) reading/writing-preference learners, and d) kinesthetic learners.  I tend to be both visual and kinesthetic, which agrees with the Princeton students' difficulty in learning from the Kindle.  When they are prohibited from even physically highlighting a phrase or placing a sticky note on the page, it eliminates that tactile element which can be important for learning.

New is not necessarily better.  I know musicians that demand vacuum tube amplfiers instead of more environmentally-green solid-state electronics.  (They explain that vacuum tubes have a 'warmer' sound.)  Thankfully I am not a college student today, but I would choose traditional texts in place of e-books.  Like the Princeton students, I need physical interaction with the textbook.  Fortunately technology is providing an alternative solution to e-book readers as I blogged in Publishing the Information of Yesterday (and Today).  On Demand's new book binder can produce a paper-bound book up to 450 pages for about $10.  Because it produces books on demand, costly distribution and inventory is eliminated, perhaps salvaging the future of the printed book.

I love to travel with my Kindle.  I have two novels published on it.  Yet I can understand why the college students may prefer to physically touch texts they need to learn.

Why is Reading Declining?

Sad reading statistics tells that the average person read less than 4 books last year.  Almost 1/3 admitted they did not read a single book last year.  Newspaper circulation decline picks up speed describes a similar plight for newspapers.  The latest statistics show readership has declined 7.1% in the last six months.  Craigslist has stolen classified advertising, but Survey: 22 per cent of internet users ditch newspaper tells that many rely upon the online version instead of print.  Since they can obtain it for free, they no longer subscribe to print editions.

Creative minds must salvage journalism says, "Going to the internet for news is like going to the fast food outlet for nutrition.  Fast food is satisfying, but it isn't a balanced diet." 

Mmm.  I think the fundamental problem is that reading has competition from splashier alternatives such as video games and television/video.  Reading is more of an investment in time.  The instant gratification obtained from video is addictive.  Sadly, screenplays have to stereotype characters and personalities because everything must be completed in less than 120 minutes.  Perhaps that explains some of the personal friction that we have in the world today - people expect the stereotypes and impressed personalities of the video screen and not the complex and inconsistent personalities in the real world.  Sorry... I digress.

To compete in our brave new world, reading must embrace instant gratification.  When I brief decision makers, they want information conveyed simply and quickly.  Similarly I think authors must adopt a similar style in telling their story.  Yes, we are impatient today - but we are not going to change it.  Although I am occasionally stirred by word craftsmanship, more often it becomes a distraction.

Technology can also add 'eye-candy' and 'gee-whiz' to reading.  Read all on it: wide-screen Kindle describes the new e-book reader introduced by Amazon today.  The bigger screened Kindle should allow a better experience in reading newspapers than the smaller versions available up until now.  (They also want to capture the collegiate textbook business, but that is a separate storyline.)

As an author on Kindle, I am unquestionably biased.  Yet, even if I were not publishing on the Kindle, I would still embracing the new medium.  The convenience is unprecedented - I have over a hundred books on my Kindle, and I continue to add to my inventory.  Much like cable channel-surfing, I browse/skim through the books on my Kindle, or cruise wirelessly to purchase something new.  It has 'gee-whiz' features.  Last night, I could not remember the definition of 'ennui'.  (Sigh.)  With a push of a button, I asked Kindle to look up the definition. 

I do not expect e-book readers to completely reverse declining readership.  Authors must learn ways to capture their audiences, much like screenwriters.  Technologists need to invent the equivalent of a 'pop-up' book.  (I am only half-spoofing.)  On second thought, perhaps that will be Apple's entry.  With work from companies like Sony, Apple, and Amazon, and writers, perhaps reading will rebound.

Reflections and Recommendations for the Kindle

I have enjoyed my Kindle for almost a year and half.  I think there are three advantages of a bound book over a Kindle.  First, it is difficult to thumb through an e-book, looking for a particular passage.  The second is color - Kindles do not display color.  They utilize electronic ink which has much less power consumption than an LCD, and also reduces eyestrain.  I think Amazon made the right decision - I would rather have electronic ink, even though there are use cases where color would be beneficial.

The possible third advantage is choosing a new book to purchase.  It is easier to walk into a bookstore and scan down several shelves of books for about five minutes and pick up a new book.  It is not that easy with the Kindle.  If you are content with just reading the New York Times bestsellers, Kindle can provide you with a list and you can scroll down the list until you find something you desire.  But if you want to find something a little different, or maybe from a new author, it can be doggone hard to find something.  I confess that I have walked out of bookstores without purchasing something.  But with the Kindle's large inventory, if you have the time and patience, you will find something you want.  It just takes time.

Take away those three possible disadvantages, and the Kindle is everything you would want.  The ability to purchase and download a new book in 60 seconds is almost habit-forming.  I much prefer reading from the Kindle than a hard bound book. 

I have a couple of books I have read that I would like to highlight.  I just finished reading His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik.  It is a historical fantasy, which might seem a paradox, but Naomi makes it work.  Imagine if during the time of Napoleon, there had been dragons.  Humans have trained dragons to provide aerial transport and aerial warfare.  Further suppose the dragons can talk and have many human characteristics.  The result is a mix of history and fantasy that provides a very engaging tale.  I wish I had written it.

Another book I wish I had written is Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson.  A world exists that once had been a green planet, but something forgotten happened and now it is a dingy world with little sunlight, the sun often obscured by ash falling from distant volcanoes.  There are no green plants - only pale, sickly ones that provide little food or foliage.  There are three main castes of people - the nobles, almost nobles, and the skaa.  About 1 in 1000 nobles have the ability to digest metal for a supernatural gift.  About 1 in a million nobles have all of the supernatural gifts.  Sometimes there are half-castes between skaa and nobles who have these gifts - but they are hunted and terminated.  Imagine one of them who has all of the supernatural powers and decides to free his people.  It is a terrific read!

Filtering the Cacophony

I have been an avid reader since the first grade.  The first books I remember were the Elisa Bialk's Tizz series about a horse, named (surprise) Tizz.  I particularly liked the We Were There series that taught history with a child's perspective.  Then I became hooked on the Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, and Tom Swift Jr.  series.  Many of those books were read perhaps a hundred times.  Another favorite series was the Duane Decker baseball stories about the fictional Blue Sox.

As an adult, I have enjoyed books by James Clavell (Shogun and Noble House), Tom Clancy (Red Storm Rising), JRR Tolkien (Lord of the Rings), Frank Herbert (Dune), and Herman Wouk (The Winds of War).  As an avid reader, there are dozens of books in between each of those listed. 

Ironically today, I have difficulty finding books to read.  Whenever I visit the Amazon site, there are thousands and thousands of books to select from.  Yet I find it difficult to find a book that I would enjoy reading.  I cannot decide whether I have become choosier, unwilling to sacrifice time for a book that I do not like, or whether the average book quality has gone down. 

I have many books on my Kindle that I have not finished, for one reason or another.  Also, I find that whenever I go to the Amazon site with the purpose of purchasing a book, only 1/10 of the time do I actually purchase a book.  Amazon has made it sinfully easy for Kindle owners - you just click on the download, and the distribution and billing is handled automatically.  Despite this, I still buy very few books.

There are just so many titles to choose from, and Amazon's Recommended For You algorithm is not very creative.  Since I purchased a book by U8&JJJ, it assumes I want more books by that author, even though it might be one on those sitting on my Kindle that I gave up on.  Also, there is no way to discover new authors with great material, just needing an audience.

This morning I had this discussion with a new author who had the same observations  We appear to be choking with all of this material out there and no way to intelligently filter it for our personal tastes and interests. 

I am curious - how do you select books to read?  Would you read more if there was a better way to find books?

Book Review of Stephen Lawhead's Patrick

The past week I read Stephen R. Lawhead's Patrick, on my Kindle.  The Kindle has its advantages and disadvantages.  I love having access to hundreds of books and songs all in a single device that I carry with me.  Also I usually read the thick paperback books which can be difficult to keep open in all reading positions.  The slender and lightweight Kindle makes it easy.  On the downside, it is difficult to flip through pages rapidly, scanning for something you want to reread.  Kindle does not do that well.  Another is that it is electronic, which means that when you are on a an active taxiway for an hour as I was on a flight from Las Vegas last night, you cannot be reading while the less-techy passengers are reading their paperbacks.  (Yes, an hour on the taxiway due to weather.)

The story is loosely based upon Ireland's Saint Patrick, but should be considered a historical novel rather than a biographical sketch.  Lawhead presents the character development of Patrick, which instead of being the historical St. Patrick, could be ourselves.  Patrick financially has cycles of prosperity and famine.  Not quite out of phase with his financial circumstances is his spiritual character.  When enslaved as a shepherd, his personal character is far from spiritual or even altruisic.  He reacts like a rodent caught in a trap, willing to sacrifice his integrity, honor, and his friends, to simply escape.  Doesn't that sound like us sometimes?

But it is the hard times that change his character.  Although he less than honorably climbs from despairing circumstances, each time his character becomes more spiritually refined.  By the end of the story, Patrick has transformed into one worthy to lead, much different from his original birthright inheritance. 

The story itself begins in Britain when raiders capture a wealthy and self-absorbed young Patrick and sell him as a slave to to an Irish king.  He continually schemes and is subsequently punished for his escape attempts.  Through God's blessing, he is befriended by a Druid and his sister who heal him after he was left beaten to die for an escape attempt.  This begins his spriritual journey and is far from a straight path as his scheming eventually takes him back to Britain where he discovers his family and estate are no more.  Cycles of prosperity and hurt follow and he ends up in Rome during a plague epidemic.  Finally his character loses its self-occupation and he returns to Ireland to make amends and become the leader he has been forged to become.

My favorite remains Byzantium, another historical period novel by Lawhead, but this is an excellent read.  Some sections, especially the battle scenes when Patrick is a Roman mercenary become tedious, but they establish the integrity of the story's timeline and plausibility.  I do like the book - at the end of the day, the most important thing about a person is their character.  This novel shows how that character for one person develops.

The Future of Newspapers

Today we learned in America's grim newspaper story that the last newspaper is expected to be printed in the U.S. on October 2044.  Newspaper circulation has been declining for several years, but the latest audits show a 3.6 percent drop from last year.  Big paper's circulation falls discusses how the Boston Globe's daily circulation is only 350,605.  In comparison, the St. Petersburg Times is 288,807.  The New York Times has dropped to 1,077,256.   

Not all of the drop is due to lost readers.  Many papers have dropped distribution to areas where the delivery costs exceeded the revenue.  Similarly, newspapers have decreased subsidized subscriptions.  As an example, Atlanta Newspaper Cuts Distribution, tells that the Atlanta Journal-Constitution will cut back from 74 to 49 counties, the second reduction less than a year after a similar decision.   Newspaper Circulation: Parsing the Numbers explains that newspaper print advertising revenue dropped 9.4% in 2007, sinking faster than circulation.

Can you imagine something that would change this trend and newspaper readership would increase?  It is always hard to predict the future, but probably not.  Newspaper owners have two possible business strategies.  One is to milk the existing circulation base for as long as they can make money.  Another is captured in Daily Newspaper Shuts Down Print Operations, Shifts Exclusively to Online Publication.  The Capital Times of Madison, Wisconsin fired 1/3 of its staff and switched to online media exclusively.

Civilizations change and usually for the better.  Except for some romantics, probably few people would prefer to return to the Middle Ages.   Does anyone still have a milkman leave bottles on their front doorstep?  Yet the newspaper has been an important voice in American culture.  American history would be very, very, different without the past voice of the newspapers.  Will the internet replace that, or will the fragmented audiences just result in noise?

There have been so many great and unrecognized/unrewarded people at the newspapers across the U.S. who have nurtured and shaped the freedom that we now take for granted.  I watch the twilight of newspapers with sadness, knowing that we are losing something that has been a part of our culture and history.  Does anyone remember the movie, Newsies?

Kindle Experience

Last week my Kindle arrived from Amazon after being on backorder for 3 weeks.  There have been lots of reviews trashing the product, so  apprehension was mounting on whether I had purchased a $399 turkey, sight unseen.  Some have described the Sony Reader Digital Book as a well-designed product, but the Amazon offering as more like a toy.

The Kindle impressed me immediately.  It is way - cool.  Not slick like the iPhone, but cool - innovative.  After producing millions of iPods, Apple's industrial designers have great experience in producing something sturdy, producible, and with with a good user interface.  Each new product release from Apple has been incrementally better.  I'm confident the Kindle will become better in subsequent product releases, but it is already a good product now.  It doesn't look like an Apple product, but that is not an altogether bad thing - for starters it has a replaceable battery.

The first innovation is the wireless distribution.  You simply turn the device on and you can download books, newspapers, etc., in less than a minute.  I confess the first Kindle book I downloaded was Roman DNA , my first novel.  I have a couple of technical texts in print, but it was fun writing a credible techno-adventure and developing some very interesting characters in the story.  In terms of size, complexity, and style, I compare it to Clancy or Crichton, but your mileage may differ ;-).  I have also priced it at $1.00, which makes it a very inexpensive download.  (By the way, as the author, I receive roughly 35% of the price as a royalty from Amazon.)

While scanning through Roman DNA, I learned how to use the Kindle.  You advance the pages by depressing large buttons on the sides of the display  The display is the second big innovation.  The electronic ink display is very different than an LCD display - it does not tire the eyes because it does not require backlighting.  The Kindle also has a built-in MP3 player.  I downloaded some files into the Kindle via a USB cable and was soon listening to music through the Kindle's built-in speaker as I breezed through my novel.  (It also has a headphone jack.)

Since I already knew the ending to my novel, I decided to download another novel.  My choice was Byzantium, by Stephen Lawhead.  It is a historical novel that I have read and reread many times.  I selected something I knew well, because I wanted to compare the Kindle experience with my previous book experience.  Guys - I'm hooked.  This is way better.  I can hold the thin Kindle in one hand, unlike the thick adventure novels I typically read.  I'm listening to some of my favorite tunes as I read.  Oh - and if I come across a word that I want to look up on the web, I can instantly access Wikipedia, or anything else on the web.  AND there is no additional charge for this experience - wireless access comes free with the Kindle.  It was an easy determination that reading with Kindle is far better than traditional ink and paper.

I'm hopeful that Kindle will reintroduce reading to the American public.  The cost is not insignificant and there are many households that cannot afford it.  Perhaps the price can drop as technology and distribution improves.  On the other hand, how many iPhones were purchased at $599?  For me, the Kindle is way-better than the iPhone.  As a product developer, I give Amazon an 'A' for the Kindle.  It will get better with subsequent releases, but you can enjoy it now.