h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

*Retraction: Shakespeare probably did learn latin in school. But my point still stands.




Thank you ITIWBS.

I studied Latin at secondary school and it gave me a love of, and fascination with, all languages. I don't try to impose its rules on to English - our language has moved on too far in the past millennium or so. I love playing around with words and I've even invented a few. So knowing Latin isn't necessarily an impediment to having fun with English.

One of the great strengths of the English language is its omnivorous feeding habits, ever ready to absorb new loan words, new usages for older words and newly created words.

Speaking of loan words, here's one we desperately need to adopt, especially considering how applicable it is to a certain Cheeto colored dictator wannabe and his male offspring.


Backfeifengesicht - a face begging for a fist.

English is growing fast and it needs not only to rapidly adopt words from elsewhere but coin new ones for new concepts. This is where Latin is brilliant - you find its roots in company names, pharmacology, taxonomic classification, medicine, law, etc. I wrote a guide entry about it once.

Was it A753527?

It was A21776754

Not a Petty Hate, a mega hate (for me, anyway). I've recently been having increasing problems with holding thick paperbacks and heavy hardbacks. Most hardbacks I can deal with by putting them on a book stand. Paperbacks are another matter. I have a book seat, a beanbag book stand. It's great for a lot of books, but it can't cope with tall books or really thick paperbacks. So the thick paperbacks will have to go, to be replaced with Kindle versions. Some of the books have been on my tsundoku pile for years, I just haven't got round to reading them. I'll have to take books off the present list as well, which affects what I can ask for at Christmas and birthdays.

All in all, I'm not a happy dragon. Ah, well! I'm off to cost up the replacement books.

I really feel for you on this one. My hands are arthritic but I have managed to balance books this far. i would hate an electronic reader = even for plane and train journeys. I do quite a bit of knitting on children's needles to keep the fingers moving

Knitting isn't a problem. I use circular needles - the cord between the needles helps spread the weight so that my hands don't have to support it.

As I said, hardbacks aren't an issue. They're easy to keep open on my lap. It's paperbacks that I have trouble with. I've never liked cracking the spines because it shortens the life of the book. It's something that I've had to start doing, though. It's the only way I can get the books to stay open. Even then, I struggle with thick paperbacks - anything more than about 350 pages.

What is your objection to e-readers? I love print books as much as e-books, if not more, but circumstances mean that an e-reader is essential if I'm going to continue to enjoy reading.

There aren't enough words on the page for me. I read very fast, except for the technical stuff. I have spent last few years on English for PhD engineers, for which I DO slow down. but I read at least 2 books a week for pleasure.
I can manage reading the newspaper on line. as that's a straight scroll down but the e-readers I have met all chop the page in half .

Perhaps you'd do better with an ipad & ibooks. I find I can scroll quite fast with that.
Like you, I do prefer real books though & that business of reading a hefty paperback without spoiling the spine is difficult.

I don't know about other e-readers but Kindle lets you adjust the font style and size, line spacing and margins. This gives you more on the screen if you want it, or bigger text if you need it. Page turns on my Paperwhite are a light thumb tap and virtually instantaneous. In fact, I can turn Kindle pages faster than I can turn paper pages.

I don't know how Kindle on my tablets compares to my Kindle devices. I'm off to do a quick check.

I'm back and these are my findings.

Using my Paperwhite with the smallest font size, line spacing and margins I can get a reasonable page of text on screen, but it would be hard to read for someone with less than perfect eyesight. Kindle on my tablets allows more text on a single screen. You can have two columns in landscape mode, so it looks like a print book. Portrait mode is like a single large page and holds slightly more text than a double column landscape page. Page turns are thumb tap (fast) or finger swipe (slightly slower). Setting things as small as possible I got far more text on a "page" than I did on my Paperwhite.

Conclusion: an e-book app used on a 10 inch tablet held in Portrait alignment can give a reading experience that approximates to a print book. Using a 7 inch tablet isn't quite as satisfactory for Wandrin' Star's purposes.

I do most of my reading on a 5" x 8" tablet, which I can comfortably read from while holding it in the left hand in landscape presentation while lying down.

Though the page size is shortenèd, using Gutenberg Books and UB Reader, pages are easily turned with a fingerswipe or a button push.

The weight of the tablet in one hand took some getting used to.

PH: I cannot use Internet Archive on tablet, given their double page layout in landscape, the print is impossibly tiny.

To use internet archive, I need a full sized laptop or desktop.

This issue reminds me of another PH: apps that only have one format, for mobiles, even when used on a tablet.

Totally agree. You shouldn't have to rotate your device through 90 degrees to use an app.

I bought my Kindle Paperwhite because of my love of Vietnamese soup - pho.

It's impossible to read a paper back book, or even a hard bound book unless in the middle section of it where it will lie open on its own, while eating Asian noodle soups properly, with chopsticks in one hand and the spoon in the other.

That's as good a reason as any! I've found that I can knit and read at the same time if my Kindle is propped up on a book stand.

Latest PH: pockets sewn up on new garments, that are difficult to undo without spoiling the fabric - especially when you only realise just before you need to wear it...