The road traveled leads - where?

When you walk a path, sometimes you have no idea where it will lead. It just looks interesting, so you walk down it. Wouldn't you walk a ways along this forest path? I did.

However, sometimes it's not clear where the path will take you. There are no promises. It's just that it intrigues you. Your curiosity has caught you and you just follow it somewhere. Hasn't that happened to you?


Have you ever looked into an old window and wondered what's inside? Did you just follow your curiosity?

I received a Kindle for my birthday this week. This is a milestone for me and my curiosity. A Kindle, if you don't already know, is an eBook reader. A book is electronically stored on it for you to read. My Kindle already holds about 20 books and can hold many many more. I am intrigued by it. Looking back, I see a path through my life that leads to the Kindle and my eBooks.

What seems like a very long time ago, but was probably in the late 1970s, I was introduced to a preliminary form of eBook. The final product was on paper, but I worked on it using a computer. If you remember the computers of the 1970s, you remember that Microsoft had not yet invented Windows. There was no Word program. It was pretty basic.

What caught my curiosity was that I had to code my books using a program called Cande. A programmer had been curious about whether she could write a program to create documents and I happened to be using this program to publish company documents. With Cande you had to tell it what to do. There was a code for headings and one for paragraphs and wonder of all wonders, there was a code for making lists. When I wanted to print the document I had to run a compile program that took two hours or more, depending on whether the company wanted to use their computers for anything else at the same time. Once the compile program was done, I would print it by sending it by telephone lines about 40 miles to another company facility that owned a high speed printer. They would print it overnight on big pages with holes on the sides and green lines running across the page so you could keep your place. A messenger would bring the copy on his regular run between our facility and theirs.

When I first was introduced to HTML (hypertext markup language used for creating web sites) I saw the similarity to coding with Cande and pretty much gobbled up the learning curve. No problem. I knew the applications and was more than willing to learn. At the time, HTML language was growing so fast you could barely keep up with it. I did because my curiosity had me. I wanted to try it and see what I could do with it.

You may think I was a programmer. In a way I was, but only because I was writing and publishing documents, and later web sites using this simple programming language called HTML.

Jump ahead many happy happy years of programming documents and find me talking to a new company with a new boss about the what was the most exciting thing in publication then. I enthusiastically said HTML. They hadn't even begun to explore what you could do with it.

I told them I thought we should write books just for the web (I hadn't imagined eReaders then). I thought they could have flexible endings. You would reach decision points in your reading, and depending on your input you would have this story or that one. You could read it many times and have different stories because of your choices. Well, that hasn't proved financially interesting yet, but I did go so far as to have a web site of my own where I posted stories for my grandchildren and any other child who happened to find it.

They hired me to - you guessed it - create documents, including books, that would be printed later, but while I worked on them, they were programmed in a more sophisticated code that was still similar to HTML. Were they ever going to get around to eBooks? Was that such a bad idea?



Here I am joking around on Halloween at this company, while in truth, showing someone how to make flow charts. Graphics were such a pain in markup language.

Still it all progressed and now I have my Kindle. I absolutely adore it. While I had nothing to do with developing it, I saw the ability to do it growing right in front of my eyes. I feel a connection with its e-ness. Try out an eReader and see how it goes for you.

Marilynne

My little ebook reader - do I want one?

Would I like to have an ebook reader (eReader)? You betcha I would! Can I afford it? That comes down to how much do I want one. I could spend that much money on one, but is it worth it to me?

After so many years of Kindle, now all of a sudden there are a dozen eReaders on the market. (See http://reviews.cnet.com/2300-3508_7-10002312-1.html?tag=mncol;txt for a discussion of eReaders.)

What would I like in an eReader?

• An absolutely mammoth number of book choices
• An easy way to find the book I'd like to read
  
• Light in weight so my hands don't get tired while I read
• Easy to read so my eyes don't get tired while I read
• Pleasant design - I don't care much for just silver.
  
• A cover or envelope to protect it.
• Able to read it in any light.
• It would be nice if it would read the book to me when I'm tired.

Here's a big one. I'd like to be able to hold it in my hands and try it out before I buy it. Is that too much to ask?

The first Nook (Barnes & Noble) I held in my hands wasn't operational. It was a non-working dud. I don't think much of that as a marketing point.

Today, some months later, I was able to hold a working Nook (Barnes & Noble's eReader) in my hands. That was after I

• Saw the sign and a cardboard version of the Nook at Barnes & Noble
• Asked if I could see a real operating Nook.
• Waited while the clerk went to get a key
• Waited for the clerk to unlock the drawer with the key
• Waited for the clerk to set it up in this locking display so I couldn't run off with it
• Waited for it to boot up and contact the Internet

By the time the clerk put it in my hands, I wondered how they could possible sell the Nook if they kept it under lock and key all the time. Why not have the clerk wander the store offering to let people try it? It's what I wanted to do - try it.

Once I had the Nook in my eager hands, I read that I would receive a discount for a Nook Book (is that what you call them) when I bought the Nook. That's not a selling point for me. I want to experience reading on a Nook, or a Kindle, or a Sony eReader. Let me just play with it for a minute, OK?

The clerk finally decided to trust me with it for a moment. No matter what arrow I pushed I couldn't get rid of the coupon. It kept asking me if I wanted to buy the coupon for free. I did not. Finally I caught the clerk's eye and told him I couldn't make it work. "Oh, here's how" and he clicked some things that caused the control panel to pop up. OK, I was able to call up a list of best sellers, read a bit of it, download it for a very reasonable price compared to buying it in hard back.

I punched buttons a while, just looking around. Then it hit me. Every time I asked for something else, I had to wait. What if I was reading a book? Would I have to wait every time I wanted to turn the page? I read in great gulps. That is, I read very quickly if I'm enjoying what I read. This would slow me down.

I explained to the clerk what my problem was. He said it wouldn't be like that if I was just reading a book. It was happening because it was connected to the store's wireless. He didn't explain how you turned off the wireless.

I had looked forward to actually having my hands on an eReader. I'm pretty sure I'd like to own one, but which one? In my opinion, they are still experimenting.

• There is no common interface. While Barnes & Noble seems to be sharing its technology with other eReaders, Amazon.com is saying my way or no way. Now, with the iPad coming out with its ability to be an eReader and do other things, we'll have another standard for the books.
  
• For the most part they're ugly. I don't want a flashy design that would compete with the book I'm reading and drive my eyes crazy, but what's wrong with a soft leather in a creamy shade? I'm in favor of texture because I know that stainless steels, brushed aluminum, whatever that cover is, will show any little thing that gets on it. I intend to use an eReader just like I do my paper books - in a comfy chair with a cup of coffee and maybe a cookie or two by my side.
  
• I want to be able to tuck it in my purse.
• I want a cover on it
• I want it to be light
• I want it to be sturdy. When I drop a paper back book, I only worry about my bookmark falling out of place. I want my eReader to be nearly indestructible.
  

But wait. Are the manufacturers even asking the readers what they want in an eReader? Oh my, I hope they are!

Marilynne