My review of the Sony Reader Touch Edition (PRS-600)

Here are some of my initial thoughts on the Sony Reader, Touch Edition. I got it for my 30th birthday recently (which, by the way, forced me to edit my "about" section from "late twenties" to "early thirties"). Friends and colleagues keep harrassing me (in a good way) about it's functionality, usability (I work with usability for a living) and limitations. And how pleased I am.

First off I want to say a word or two about why I picked the Sony Reader instead of the more obvious choice, Kindle 2. So a little Kindle 2 vs Sony Reader is in place:

• Sony Reader supports open formats, such as EPUB
• Sony Reader is available in Norway
• I read reviews favouring the Sony Reader
• I wanted to support the underdog with the open formats and not get another monopolist (ie Google (search engines), Microsoft (OS) and Apple (mp3 players)

First off, I think the PRS-600 is great. I haven't read a single line of instruction, just dug into it and found stuff out immediately.

Readers like this one has a very simple and straight-on base functionality: reading books. For that purpose it's doing the job. Extra functionality, well, I haven't bothered yet.

People also keep asking me about book availability and pricing. So far I have only used Sony's own store and it doesn't have the wide range of books Amazon probably does, but it's ok. My big comfort is that when the Norwegian e-book distribution gets going, I will probably have a reader that supports it. Because Norwegian books (my native language) are totally absent in the market.

Prices are reasonable. I expect all interesting books to be $13 or below and so far, it's been around 7-10, so that's good.

Back to reading; I like the way you can select text size easily (touch screen makes this even easier) and it's easy to mark where you ended last. It's easy to change pages and the E-ink looks great. Battery time lasts long, though maybe not as long as promsied by the ads. I've read the Kindle is dissapoints on battery time.

So, I have not done a very thorough review of the Sony Reader, but I have actually used it for some time. It's usable, fun and generally enhances my reading experience :)

Okay, so I might be writing a book

Even though I entitle myself as a reading nerd, that doesn't stop me from writing. Quite the contrary, I like writing and reading helps me understand language better.

So I though about writing a book. Or a short-story. Something. I have a lot of ideas and I have started writing them down. Well, it's going to be of the sci-fi/fantasy genre, but I am thinking of writing in Norwegian. It's my native language and I might translate to English at a later stage.

Anyhoo, it's very early, but I will drop a line here every now and then if I make any progress.

Stop reading..

Is it ok to stop reading a book? I have had to ask myself this question during the last two years, as I have picked up books that were.. well.. not that interesting. How much of a book do you read before deciding it's not your cup of tea?

In the world of science fiction, in particular, I get the feeling that I either strike gold or I strike mediocrity. I have introduced a half-way rule. If I stille don't find a book interesting halfway through, I simply stop. This became a problem when reading a 800 page bugger. So I said; halfway or 300 pages.

Here are some books I simply gave up:
- Excession by Iain Banks (started 3 Banks now, only "The Player of Games" was good).
- Eon by Greg Bear (Rama rip-off, basically)
- Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson (yawn!)

By applying this rule, I am not afraid to try new sci-fi books.

Maybe I'll go and finish the listed books one day. But most probably not.

Newsweek: Why do I read it?

Newsweek is an American publication. I am Norwegian. I read Newsweek cover to cover every week. Why, you ask? I did, too. Here are some answers:
1. At work, we get ONE subscription for a newspaper / publication. So, it's free.

[not good enough, I could easily have gone with a Norwegian publication]

2. Newsweek has a European branch / edition. The one I subscribe has a European focus.

[still a lot of US only stuff like Obama, McCain]

3. It's interesting.
4. I pay attention to mainly world affairs.
5. I can opt out of articles, but only after having read more than 50% (a little promise I made to myself)

The part about Newsweek being interesting is my main argument. In-depth articles that give an interesting angle on certain issues every week and I learn a lot of things I didn't know. Which I can use in discussions :)

Kazuo Ishiguro - Never let me go

This review contains spoilers, so if you are planning on reading this book, start by stop reading this review and read that book!

The protagonist of the book is Kathie, and she is a carer. It may sound like an ordinary job, but it's not. Kathie is herself a clone and she cares for others clones who are going to donate organs to some lucky misfortunate person out there. One day she herself will donate up to four of her own organs before completing. Or die, as we non-clones call it. This has been going on for 40 years.

There. Had I read those four lines before reading "Never let me go", I probably wouldn't have bothered to read it. These mysterious threads of the story unravel in a slow fashion throughout this easy-to-read book about growing up as a clone, with focus on social activities surrounding a school.

To me it's sci-fi. There are several sci-fi short stories and novels on this subject, and Ewan McGregor even starred in a Hollywood flop with a very similar plot line ("The Island").

The problem with "Never let me go", is that it drags you slowly through a muddy storyline that may supposedly be there solely to satisfy readers who are not used to sci-fi and need something more regular to read.

But not everything is bad. Although things move slowly, i had an eerie feeling when reading some parts of this book. Especially when such an extraordinary topic is covered in such an everyday way. However, the eerie moments lasted short and the distance between them was, alas, too great. Maybe this novel would have been better off as a short story? Maybe not, but still.

This book evolves around issues such as whether or not a clone of human being would have what we call a soul. How close to the original will these people be? How aware are they of being clones and will that fact make them bitter? How do you successfully shield clones from the outside world and vice versa. A lot of important questions that Ishiguro enlights in an elegant fashion.

But to me, unfortunately, the book was too weary, even though i completed it within days.

R.I.P. Arthur C. Clarke

Arthur C. Clarke died yesterday, 90 years old. He will be mostly remembered by the public for the Odessey series and especially the big screen translation of the 2001: Space Odessey.

To me however, Clarke is all about Rama. Nothing can ever come close. There are only a few books I've read that have made me raise questions like "is there anything worth reading from here on?". Rama is definately part of it.

I hope Clarke will be remembered for his great mastering of the writing craft, not that other stuff people tend to connect to him.

PS: Seems I have been lazely idle in updating this blog. See a pattern? Hint: RIP's.

R.I.P. Robert Jordan

Author of "The Wheel of Time", Robert Jordan, died today, September 17. I'm not usually a sentimental guy and will not resort to sentimentality even today. However, I'm saddened by his death.

Read about it at his blog, "Dragonmount"

Still, I'm having a problem here; what burdens me the most is that Robert Jordan never finished "Memory of Light", book 12 in the mentioned series. It was to be the last in the series. Does it make me a bad person to feel more sorry for not getting to read this book than by the personal tragedy of his family? I'm still not sure..

Wheel of Time is btw A GREAT EPIC!