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What to read?

September 11th, 2013 at 9:27:13 AM permalink

Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
Posts: 12545

The good thing about e-books is that you can get them at once. The bad thing is that there's a temptation to just snap lots of them up.

Getting "Fate of Worlds" by Niven was a no-brianer, as it was the conclussion of two series I'd been reading. But what comes next? I've been looking up some classics whose authors I've liked. My short list contains several titles by Clifford Simak, I was very taken by his "Waystation," but other works of his proved not to be as good. Therfore I'm hesitant.

Another name on the list is Philip Jose Farmer. I read "The Lovers" many years ago and liked it. His "Riverworld" series sounds intriguing (though I already discovered one spoiler while looking it up...) Has anyone read it? Is it worth the time and money?

Other than that, so far I'm open to suggestions. I've read almost everything by Asimov and Clarke already, plus all the Heinlein and Niven I want (pending new works by the latter, of course). I wouldn't mind some good alternate history, but that is proving hard to find. Turtledove's sotry of an early version of WWII seems interesting, but he has a tendency to re-tell actual history in diferent guises (liek the siege of Pittsburgh rather than Leningrad in an AH with a successful Confederate States of America), and to repeat like scenes endlessly. In particualr I'd like some alternate Roman history. I've read Silberberg's "Roma Eterna" sereis and Turtledove's "Agent of Byzantium" series.

Assuming two people even read this, of course :P

Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER

September 11th, 2013 at 2:30:04 PM permalink
TheCesspit Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 23 Posts: 1929	Quote: Nareed .... Assuming two people even read this, of course :P With that sort of dig, I can't be bothered to reply. It is said that your life flashes before your eyes just before you die.... it's called Life

September 11th, 2013 at 3:54:11 PM permalink
Nareed Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 346 Posts: 12545	Quote: TheCesspit With that sort of dig, I can't be bothered to reply. Seriously? You're offended that few people read this board and that I dared imply it? Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER

September 12th, 2013 at 9:54:36 PM permalink

rxwine

Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 189
Posts: 18762

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Kindle_Fire_Review

Quote:
If you want to read free ebooks, don't buy the Kindle Fire. Amazon has locked down the Fire to make it hard to get any content to it you didn't buy from Amazon. It is a huge step back in freedom from the Kindle 3.

Even Apple has not gone so far as Amazon in locking down their devices. You can easily download and read ebooks on Apple devices using only the standard apps.

You can get free ebooks to the Fire too, but the process is so cumbersome that it isn't worth the trouble given the alternative of buying a Nexus 7, which handles free ebooks with ease.

To be specific, there is no way to download free books from the web and have the Kindle Fire store them permanently or in the same places where your books from Amazon are kept. This was easy with the Kindle 3. No more. To work around this deliberate limitation of the Kindle Fire you have to either:
Use a PC to send your files to the Kindle Fire, but that will work only near your PC, or
install a third party app called a file manager and manually move every book you downloaded into the right folder, but that makes every download of a new book into a dozen-clicks affair instead of a one-click task like on the Kindle 3, or
install a third party EPUB reader and download free EPUB books instead of free Kindle books, but that implies learning and using two different apps to read books on the same device.

If the Kindle Fire was the only game in town you'd have to swallow all this, but fortunately there's an alternative that doesn't impose all these limitations on you and costs even less.

Buying the Google Nexus 7 you get virtually the same hardware and save $25.

The smallest Nexus 7 costs the same as the smallest Kindle Fire but includes a wall charger, which costs $10 extra for the Kindle and has no annoying ads on the screensaver, which costs another $15 to disable on the Kindle.

You believe in an invisible god, and dismiss people who say they are trans? Really?

September 13th, 2013 at 8:08:04 AM permalink
Nareed Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 346 Posts: 12545	Thanks, but I already don't own a Kindle ;) Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER

September 13th, 2013 at 9:25:45 AM permalink

Pacomartin

Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 1068
Posts: 12569

Quote: Nareed
Another name on the list is Philip Jose Farmer. I read "The Lovers" many years ago and liked it. His "Riverworld" series sounds intriguing (though I already discovered one spoiler while looking it up...) Has anyone read it? Is it worth the time and money?

I read the first Riverworld book almost 30 years ago, and I wasn't particularly impressed. The theoretical basis is very strange, and the idea of historical figures wandering around naked in a sterile artificial world didn't seem very exciting.

September 13th, 2013 at 10:05:33 AM permalink

Nareed

Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
Posts: 12545

Quote: Pacomartin
I read the first Riverworld book almost 30 years ago, and I wasn't particularly impressed. The theoretical basis is very strange, and the idea of historical figures wandering around naked in a sterile artificial world didn't seem very exciting.

As I said, I did read one spoiler, and that sort of turned me off. Not to mention I keep picturing the rather dreadful Syfy movie.

Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER

September 13th, 2013 at 12:25:06 PM permalink
rxwine Member since: Oct 24, 2012 Threads: 189 Posts: 18762	Quote: Nareed Thanks, but I already don't own a Kindle ;) This was the other reason I posted it: Quote: Project Gutenberg offers over 42,000 free ebooks Everything out of copyright, of course. You believe in an invisible god, and dismiss people who say they are trans? Really?

September 17th, 2013 at 3:48:27 PM permalink

Nareed

Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
Posts: 12545

I wound up stumbling upon Kobo. Their selection is meager compared to Amazon's, but they have some great deals. I wound up obtaining the H. Beam Piper "Megapack" (a short story and novelette anthology) for $1 US. I've already read about 1/3 of it in other collections, but the rest is bound to be interesting. Piper had some outlandish ideas, but he presents them with even mroe outlandish plausibility.

Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER