Enjoying My Amazon Kindle

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I got an Amazon Kindle about 8 months ago and I love it as much now as I did then. I can't believe how many books I read now (5+ novels per months plus various other things). I keep it within reach nearly all day long. The built in memory holds roughly 200 books so no matter what mood I'm in I always have something on hand that suits me. The e-ink technology is MUCH easier on the eyes than a computer screen (no flicker and no back light), and the adjustable font size is great for when you are desperately trying to finish an engrossing chapter at 2AM while you can barely keep your burning eyes open.

Although it costs around $350, it has already more than paid for itself. Here's how: There are countless multitudes of free legal ebooks readily available on the internet. I'm not talking about stealing, file sharing or piracy, but legitimate honest to goodness free books. Since ebooks are quite small (roughly 1MB each), they can be downloaded almost instantly and transfered to the Kindle via USB. Sites like ManyBooks.net actually let you download free books in Kindle format. Other sites such as Baen Free Library give away legal free ebooks from popular science fiction authors. Some popular current authors such as Cory Doctorow give away ebooks free in hopes that it will gain them a larger following and thus a larger customer base. I quite literally have THOUSANDS of free books that will take me forever to read, which means I'm now spending much less money feeding my reading habit. If you want current books and don't mind spending around $10 for them, you can use the built in free EVDO wireless internet connection to download them from Amazon directly to the Kindle device without any need for a computer. The original purchase prices comes with unlimited free EVDO internet access so you can download books and surf the web nearly anywhere in the U.S. where you can receive a cell phone signal. The e-ink is a bit slow to refresh and the browser is primative, but sites like Amazon.com and WikiPedia look pretty good. I've used my Kindle to read and post to Twitter.com, access Google Maps to find my approximate location on a map and find nearby restaurants and businesses. I admit, the web browser leaves a lot to be desired but you can use it as much as you like for free, something that's pretty nice as a side benefit to a full featured ebook reader. Here are some of my favorite things about the kindle:

• Not much bigger than a mass market paperback yet it can hold hundreds of books and offers access to the internet
• Battery lasts a long time (more than a week when I have the EVDO modem turned off)
• Great for traveling as I no longer have to fill my carryon luggage with heavy bulky books
• All content on the device is searchable, which makes it easy to look up facts and find favorite passages
• You can use the built in keyboard to take notes and mark up your favorite texts
• It's a great way to read popular fiction without filling your real book shelves with one-time reads that don't add particular value or distinction to your home library
  

Here are my few complaints about the kindle:

• Would like a higher contrast screen. Current screen is good, but white background is not pristine white and is a more like the off-white paper used for newspapers
  
• It should really come with a better case that offers a bit more protection and security
• Would like a smaller "next page" button so that it is not as easy to accidentally advance to the next page
• Would like a more robust web browser (I know, it's an ebook reader and not an iPhone, but I think with a minimal effort they could have made the browser much better)

Other features that people might like to know about:

• It has a head phone jack and volume controls for listening to mp3 files or even audio books
• It has an email address that only accepts mail from addresses you designate, so you can send txt files, word docs, pdfs and kindle files directly to your device

I know this probably will just look like an ad to most folks, as I am admittedly an Amazon.com affiliate. Nevertheless I thought I share this review with everyone in the hope that others will enjoy it much as I do and find themselves reading more. In this media saturated world where everyone has multiple TV's, computers, iPods and other forms of entertainment, it's all too easy to give up reading. This device makes it so convenient that people who own will find themselves reading more, which means that they will get more mental stimulation than most other forms of passive entertainment.

Global Warming or Global Cooling?

Ever since Al Gore's documentary won an Academy Award, I've heard a number of people authoritatively claiming that the concept of "global warming" is an undisputed and undeniable fact. This is wrong, and can only be said by someone who is either ignorant or who cares more about a political agenda than they do about the scientific method.

Here are some quotes from a recent TIME article on the subject. Before you read these quotes, keep in mind that TIME is a product of AOL Time Warner, and is considered by many to have somewhat of a leftist political bias, so this should not be dismissed as anti-Gore/pro-corporate political dogma:

... a growing number of scientists are beginning to suspect that many seemingly contradictory meteorological fluctuations are actually part of a global climatic upheaval. However widely the weather varies from place to place and time to time, when meteorologists take an average of temperatures around the globe they find that the atmosphere has been growing gradually cooler for the past three decades. The trend shows no indication of reversing. Climatological Cassandras are becoming increasingly apprehensive, for the weather aberrations they are studying may be the harbinger of another ice age.

Telltale signs are everywhere —from the unexpected persistence and thickness of pack ice in the waters around Iceland to the southward migration of a warmth-loving creature like the armadillo from the Midwest.Since the 1940s the mean global temperature has dropped about 2.7° F.

Please click on the title link and read this entire article. There is an abundance of scientific data to support the idea of global cooling, and the scientific community is very divided about whether we are facing global warming or global cooling. If people truly care about human impact on the environment, they need to stop fixating on the trendy and politically popular myth that global warming is an established fact. If we as a species are having an adverse impact on the planet, we need to consider all available data and use the scientific method to find a comprehensive explanation of the nature and cause of that impact.

If we let ourselves be suckered by Gore and other political activists into thinking that their assertions are unchallenged scientific facts, we may exclude other ideas that might better be able explain or minimize our impact on the environment. Gore definitely has a political agenda, and his annual $30,000 energy bill makes me suspect that his environmental activism is more about self promotion than saving the planet. Environmental activism can be hugely profitable for those people at the top of powerful environmental organizations or who manage to seize the limelight. Whenever someone screams "The sky is falling!" people line up to make donations to that cause, and some of that money is used to pay hefty salaries and fund lavish lecture junkets. I bring this up not to claim that Gore and other global warming activists are all thieving liars, but rather to point out that we should not treat their words as gospel. Climatology is a a matter of science and should be decided by the scientific community at large after considering all available data. It is not in our best interest to place blind faith in self-promoting politicians who selectively publicize their favorite bits of "evidence" while blithely ignoring vast amounts of conflicting data.

Further Reading:
If you have an open mind and would like to learn about a less frequently publicized aspect of environmental theory, you might enjoy Michael Crichton's novel, State of Fear. While the plot isn't terribly realistic or gripping, it does a good job of explaining how the environmental movement isn't necessarily as selfless as many like to think. It also does a nice job of weaving an opposing view to global warming within the context of an easy to read story. The book is riddled with foot notes citing specific scientific studies and bits of evidence that refute simplistic global warming theories, so in addition to proving some light entertainment it also can serve as a starting point to help people delve into less publicized climatological data.

Banned Books

I don't usually blatantly steal ideas from the blogs that I read regularly, but this time I'm making an exception. The title link is to a post on The Blogonomicon about banned book week (Sept 24 - Oct1).

It provides links to the American Library Association's (ALA) list of the 100 most frequently challenged books from 1990 to 2000. I was surprised that 27 of the books on this list were ones that I have read, many of which I read as a child! While admittedly, some of them are a bit controversial, many of them seemed too benign to have warranted such complaints. I guess I'll never understand the banning mentality.

While browsing the ALA site, I also noticed they had a list of the Top 10 Challenged Authors from 1990 to 2004. My personal library contains at least two dozen books written by half of the authors on this list. I encourage you to visit the links to the ALA site and see if any of your favorites have come under attack.

Why are people challenging the right of free people to read these works? What ideals do they value so much as to feel justified in attempting to curtail the freedom of speech of these authors? How is it that they came to value an ideal that is so frail as to be threatened by words on paper? Censorship is folly. I can think of several books I obtained and read specifically because I learned that they were banned in various places. Bans arouse curiosity. Already I find myself wanting to read some of the works on the frequently challenged books list just to find out what they contain and what the challengers fear.

“Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.”—Benjamin Franklin

Revisiting the Enemy Within

Well, it looks like I should have given Savage's book, The Enemy Within more of a chance before I started complaining in my previous post. After getting much farther into the book, I realized that I found myself agreeing with Savage's ideas more often than not. I still disagree with him on the Patriot Act and I still hate his silly name calling, but he does raise a number of good points. If you don't mind Democrats being called "Demoncats", politically ignorant people being called "sheeple", and other such invented words, you might actually like the book.

He does a good job of reminding the reader what America used to be about, and pointing out why preserving our language, culture and borders is beneficial to our nation. He writes in an accessible style, drawing upon personal anecdotes, historical events, court cases and inflammatory phrases to help drive his independently conservative ideas home. (I know, in the last post I mistook him for a traditional Republican who toed the party line, but his writing lives up to his self described "independent conservative" label.) Each passage reads like a spirited talk-radio monologue, and usually only spans a couple of pages, making it easy to read this book over a series of short lunch breaks.

While I strongly disagree with him on some things, I was pleasantly surprised to find myself enjoying the book in spite of my dislike for the preface. I think the preface was the result of the controversial radio personality trying to pack marketable signature phrases into the beginning in hopes of encouraging loyal fans to buy the book.

One part of the book that really rang true for me was when he said that Native Americans successfully maintained their culture for 12,000+ years because of their tradition of oral story telling.

The storytellers told tales of the glory of their warriors, their courage and their victorious battles. They celebrated the purity of their women and the sanctity of their elders. They told tales of the nobility of their people. The Native Americans survived because they glorified their own people and their nation.

He then notes how our own national identity is jeopardized by the deluge of movies portraying our leaders, politicians, soldiers and police officers in a negative light while glorifying our criminals. He has a point. The Michael Moore and Oliver Stone versions of U.S. history don't exactly foster a national identity and inspire pride in American achievements.

Another of my favorite chapters is entitled "COURTS: Stench from the Bench". It does a great job of pointing out how activist judges, the ACLU and other liberal groups have repeatedly managed to thwart the will of the people by overturning various voter initiatives and propositions. It covers some of the absurd yet successful defenses that were used by the ACLU to get murderers, child molesters and other criminals extremely light sentences for serious crimes. It also addresses how the U.S. Supreme court is gradually looking more to international laws and public opinion than the words of the United States Constitution.

I'm glad I gave the book another chance. I think talk radio fans will especially enjoy it.

Initial Reaction to The Enemy Within

I received a copy of Michael Savage’s latest best seller, The Enemy Within, as a Christmas present from a friend and just started reading it today. After hearing a few people talk about Savage, I expected to either agree with it or at least find it entertaining. I was disappointed that I didn’t even make it through the four page preface without getting angry.

According to the preface, this book is Savage’s attempt to:

“reaffirm the meaning of the most basic concepts of family, nation and morality. By pointing out how internal enemies [Liberals] are undermining our religion, schools, courts, military, media and police.”

He then proceeds to throw out a number of illogical arguments for why Liberals are the enemy. For example, he brings up how “Liberals” hate the Patriot Act that gives government wider reaching powers, and has led to the arrest of drug dealers and child pornographers. He then quotes Anthony Romero of the ACLU as saying “Once the American public understands that many of the powers granted to the federal government apply to much more than just terror, I think the opposition will gain momentum”. Savage follows this up with the non sequitur:

“Which side is Mr. Romero on? The law, or that of the child pornographer and drug dealer”?

This is childish nonsense. I think child pornographers should be executed but I’m still against the Patriot Act. I object to the government being able to skip the traditional requirements of “due process” and “probable cause” and use the lesser standard of “suspicion” as grounds for recording, monitoring and even detaining citizens who used to be “presumed innocent until proven guilty”. This does not mean that I am on the side of drug dealers and other criminals.

Here’s another of Savage’s statements:

“It is clear to me if God could vote, He would be a member of the vast right-wing conspiracy. In fact, to the mad dog leftists in the ACLU, The National Lawyers Guild, and the Democratic party, God is the enemy.”

As a Libertarian, I’m generally against most of the “Leftist” ideas found in contemporary politics and I still find this childish and offensive. This is yet another example of a prominent pundit reducing politics to a war between “Left” and “Right”, “Conservative” and “Liberal”, Republican and Democrat. It is dogmatic ideologues like this that long ago helped me to realize I needed to leave the Republican Party and support a smaller party that actually supports my beliefs rather than vote for “the lesser” of two evils.

It’s very disturbing that so much of America polarizes around inflammatory pundits like Savage, Gloria Allred, etc. It’s long past time for people to start thinking for themselves and learn to value logic and reason over party loyalty.

To be fair, I’ve read less than 2% of The Enemy Within so far and will need to read a lot more before I can really pass judgment. It HAS to get better, doesn’t it?