More about me and my reading:

I am struggling with my reading right now. At the side of my bed I have the last in the Harry Potter series - you know that book about those wizards and muggles and things? I bought this trade paper copy of the book at Hanukkah to give to my nephew but he already had read it so I kept it. Mind you I had bought a hard cover of the book when it first came out and my wife read it then we gave it away to my mom - who is a voracious reader.

I finally picked up Harry after just having read The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo on the iphone and I have to say I was torn and maybe even disappointed. Here I thought -ok back to the format I love -pbooks. But what I am experiencing is how crappy pbooks can be. I am finding the type dim, the margins crowded, the feel of the paper inadequate and the binding threateningly flimsy, not to mention I don't always have this book with me.

So what I am finding is that I want to read on the iphone again! I tried to prevent this, god knows I tried -but really the reading on the iphone is so much better than especially this trade paper version. I feel ripped off that I bought this piece of crap that probably won't make it through one reading. Sure I can loan it out but there won't be anything to loan out. And in that spirit of loaning without expectation of getting the thing back - I would just have to buy another copy of this book again anyway.

So what is my point? ebooks ebooks ebooks. Get me the content - I am ready to pay. Get me the ipad - I am ready for a slightly bigger screen. Get me out of Kindle drm prison! Let me read anywhere on any device and get me away from these smelly lousy paper things!

There is an occupational hazard in my role as the retail liaison for BookNet Canada - this hazard is that I have to go to a lot of bookstores. This is a hazard because inevitably I end up buying far too many books. There is something seductive about seeing all of these beautifully designed objects placed in seductive positions on lovely shelves.

This past week I went to the University of Waterloo bookstore and since I was in Waterloo I later dropped in on Words Worth Books - a general trade bookstore. Although I was tempted to buy something at the University I did escape wallet intact. But I was blown away by the aggressive position that the bookstore is taking toward ebooks. The university is in an enviable ,or unenviable depending on how you look at it, position of being embedded in a highly sophisticated technology environment. This means they need to stay up on technology and to this end they have been running an espresso machine (for books not coffee) as well as selling mobile phones (they are a rogers dealer and licensed to sell!) Soon the university will be selling ipads and ereaders alongside their laptops and iphones -and oh yeah blackberries too. If the ipad had been in Canada I surely would have been hooked and bought one here.

We all know that the road is not that smooth for this kind of mix of products - books and ebooks. However early signs indicate to the managers of the store that students want bundles and that ebooks do not cannibalize pbooks but actually enhance the reading experience by making those books available at all times in all places. Who wouldn't want to be dancing up a alcohol enhanced storm at ....... and suddenly when the conversation has room to happen and the arguements begin to fly being able to whip out your medical reference text and supporting your position?

My next stop was the general trade bookstore. The difference between visiting an academic bookstore and a trade bookstore cannot be too finely stated.  I sat leisurly in an office discussing a wide range of issues at the university and then left two hours later while at the general bookstore I inserted comments in between customer transactions at the bookstore till. Comments about ebooks, or software, the digital catalogue project and more. Occasionally I just had to back away from the till to let the late lunch rush load up on books, which was quite impressive to see. I would wander the store, load up on books of my own, then back to add another point - harried bookseller saying hmmm, ok hmmm, edespair, hmmm, ok - more edespair.

But at the end of it all, and the point of this blog post, was that I left the store with four books and three of them would be highly unlikely to see any life as an ebook. In the hopes of spreading a veneer of hope for the booksellers I said as I bought the Andy Goldsworthy and the humungous kid's books that these are books that will never be ebooks. Hmmm, said the bookseller -edespair!

Posted via web from Tim's posterous

Top 10 Viral Stop Motion Videos

via socialtimes.com

I do love stop motion! Need stop motion aggregation.

Posted via web from Tim's posterous

A great way to look at how movements grow.

Loved this video on how to replace the lcd screen on the MacBook. I am going to try it on my machine but not until I get a new laptop from work!

Clay Shirky

The most watched minute of video made in the last five years shows baby Charlie biting his brother’s finger. (Twice!) That minute has been watched by more people than the viewership of American Idol, Dancing With The Stars, and the Superbowl combined. (174 million views and counting.)

via shirky.com

It is phenomenon like this that blows me away. And apparently according to Clay Shirky is blowing complex business models away. Interesting article comparing the collapse of complex business models to the fall of complex societies.

Posted via web from Tim's posterous

What I Learned on my Trip out West:

I just got back from Vancouver and decided it might be interesting to look at my book purchasing behaviour while I was away.

Two things have to be mentioned first off. The first reason for my trip was to talk to the MPub class at SFU about BookNet Canada. The second reason was to pay some visits to some book retailers. So, God forbid I had to go to bookstores.

Let me start off by saying that I love buying books for gifts. I can always grab something and I know if I can't get to read it mayself, there is surely a present to be given away soon enough. But when I was packing I was torn. Should I buy some ebooks to read on my iphone? Or should I pack some books? I usually pack at least 3 books when I am travelling. One thing I noticed just now is that I didn't even consider loading up the Kindle. I don't use the Kindle. I like reading books on the iphone or on paper. Mind you if I could buy the book from anywhere and read it on anything who knows how that might play out.

Well a certain retailer was having a huge party. People were going 2party like it was $9.99. I absolutely loved that campaign. Who ever came up with it, committee or otherwise, is pure genius. So much is captured in those simple numbers. I bit. I bought 3 books from Kobo - three current books: Nikolski, and then the Steig Larsson books. And here is the funny thing about that - I have already bought both those in hardcopy as gifts and have had Nikolski out of the library - so is that ebooks cannibalizing pbooks? I don't know.

Once I got out west to all of those great bookstores I had to go to, believe me I was tempted in every one to drop a bundle. But I only had one suitcase after all. In a fit of home sickness and nostalgia I did buy the beautiful Family Fare cookbook by Gordon Ramsey. One look through those rich photos of food and the approach of Easter around the corner I had to have it. I had to have that book in that format from that store. No ebook could fill that need.

My next purchases were made after a performance of sublime handselling at the Vancouver Kidsbooks in Kitsilano. First off what a gorgeous store, well situated with great buyers. My hat is off to you, as well as my credit. I bought 8 kids books that I had never heard of, never seen and if I had ever seen them there was no one to tell me why I should buy them for my kids. It was art. When I went to buy the whole series I was told no don't do that give it a try first. When I said I didn't think my local store back home would have them, I was asked didn't I want them to have them, don't I want to tell them about this great series and get them to stock it and share them with my community? I thought -wow, yes I do.

Here is one last point and then I will stop. What did I read while I was away? I read the Steig Larsson book on the iphone. I read it in the plane, I read it at 1 in the morning when I couldn't sleep, I read it sitting in the park looking out over the bay, I read it in the cafes where I was eating my lunches, on the Sky train, in the many cabs I took, I read it everywhere. I had my phone on me where ever I went and so I had my books with me too, as well as the entire twittersphere, all the news I could ever want, a calculator, my gps, my local tour guides - I had it all.

No here is a funny part even though I said I wouldn't write anymore about this. Coming home I dutifully put my phone on airplane mode, and started to read my book. The woman beside me was reading a huge trade paper by Dianne Gabaldon. I looked at that book and smugly thought I am so glad I don't need to pull out a book like that and lug that thing around. The next second the stewardess came by and told me to turn my iphone off? I looked puzzled at her -what could she mean? It is on airplane mode. Does she really want me to turn it off -off? Never. But I realized she saw me reading a screen full of text and assumed I was online reading email or a blog or something. So I closed kobo because I am polite and I was confused - turned to the guy who had his iphone "on" and we both shrugged. I never thought a day would come on a plane when I would be asked to turn off my book