There was a time in my life when I bought a book on a trip and finished it before I returned home. Today, I have hard- and paper-backs, plus an iPad with a few and one on my iPhone.
It's a major event when I actually finish one. It took me a decade or so to complete Science & Religion, edited by Paul Kurtz. Why so long? I carried it in my golf bag and how much can one read on a golf course? Curiously enough, through Amazon, the Kindle version today sells for $20.50, a paperback $4.69 and 40 new (whatever this is) for $1.03. But you don't need to purchase a copy because I am now and then serializing it on Sundays.
Take Dan Brown's Origin (kindle $9.99, hardcover $12.89, paperback $8.49 and free, if you take an Audiobook trial, with a catch) given to me by a friend here at 15 Craigside. Within a day or two I got through a third of the book. That was six months ago. Interesting book, and I'll soon go back to finish it. But when?
About a year ago, the 15C Photo Club visited with the same of Pohai Nani. I saw Duane Preble, an Art Professor colleague from the University of Hawaii, who gave me I've Decided to Live 120 Years, by Ilchi Lee: The Ancient Secret to Longevity, Vitality, and Life Transformation (kindle $9.95, paperback $12.11). Sorry, Duane, but I have yet to reach page one...but will, soon, maybe.
My iPad is particularly loaded with books:
- Brief Candle in the Dark, Richard Dawkins (kindle $9.49, paperback $15.43, hardback $11.82--note, the paperback is more expensive): I'm a third through this, but I started a few years ago
- The Greatest Story Ever Told--So Far, Lawrence Krauss (paperback $23.16, hardcover $19.10--again, paperback more expensive, and, curiously, no kindle, although I have it in my iPad): page 0
- Heaven Cracks Earth Shakes, James Palmer (eText $16.99, hardcover $4.19): page 0
- The Three Body Problem, Cixin Liu (kindle $9.99, paperback $13.66, hardcover $17.67): page 0
- Gods Without Men, Hari Kunzru (kindle $11.99, paperback, $13.78, hardcover $22.75, audio $12.68): page 0
- Midnight in Broad Daylight, Pamela Rotner Sakamoto (kindle $11.49, paperback $10.38, hardcover $12.73, audio CD $28.88): page 0
- Killing the Rising Sun, Bill O'Reilly (kindle $14.99, paperback $12.77, hardback $11.90): page 0
- iPad User Guide (so old I can't seem to find the equivalent in Amazon): page 0
I'm reading on my iPhone Steven Pinker's Enlightenment Now, and am close to completion. This is because I now continue at bus stops, waiting in a barber shop and assorted periods when I'm idle.
The strength of Enlightenment Now, Steven Pinker’s new book, is that it articulates the first part of this conversation. Pinker is a psychology professor at Harvard and a wide-ranging public intellectual, and his book is an extended brief for liberal Enlightenment values. He makes his case with masses of data, compelling arguments, and considerable eloquence. At a moment when those values are under attack, from the right and the left, this is a very important contribution.
Further:
But if things are so much better, why do they feel, for so many people, so much worse? Why don’t people experience the progress that Pinker describes? Pinker doesn’t spend much time focusing on this question, and he gets a little tetchy when he does. Skepticism about Enlightenment values, in his view, comes from leftist humanities professors and highbrow-magazine editors who have read too much Nietzsche, or from theocrats on the right.
To continue my interest in future evolution, I'm considering Hacking Darwin (kindle $15.49, paperback $13.49, hardcover $17.74):We are on the verge of taking control over evolution and reinventing our species. And, as a by-product, reinventing any other species as well. Now what?
What surprises me is that paperbacks today generally cost more than hardcovers. The audio version is not universally available, although Amazon wants to entice you to try one for free, but, then $4.95/month for three months. After that, your fee goes up to $14.95/month forever, unless you quit.
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