Tolkien on the Kindle

[Ibrîniðilpathânezel]

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

That is, um, interesting... I have books that used to be my grandmothers, and they are still intact.... Why such a disrespect for books?

For myself, I have no disrespect for books, but a lot for the publishing industry. It isn't what it used to be, nor are most books. I myself own books that are quite old — the oldest is about 150 years old, and it's in better shape than a lot that are much newer. The materials and processes used to make books aren't what they once were; glues, paper, inks, everything has changed, and changed again. The high acid papers that were popular for many years have been replaced, by some publishers, but the inks that are more environmentally friendly also fade and rub away very quickly. The binding are cheap, as are the glues that hold them, and spines crack and pages fall out, sometimes before I've finished the first read of the book (and I'm not that hard on them).

The sloppiness of the publishing industry has slopped into ebooks. The only reason that so many ebooks are rife with "typos" are because the publishers didn't bother with having a human being proof them and clean up the code after conversion to the ebook's format. I know, because I've now made a few ebooks of my own, and am familiar with the programs and processes and what happens when one format is converted to another. Yes, it's easy to take a PDF file, send it through a conversion program, and voila! have an ebook, but the conversion process makes a horrible mess of things far too often. A person with a proper editing program needs to go through it and correct these things (many of which could be cleaned up simply by starting with an RTF file rather than a PDF). It's sad when I, who am asking nothing for my little twiddles of ebooks, take greater care with them than the publishers who are asking real money for them. It's not that hard to make a good clean ebook, but they obviously don't want to cut into profits by hiring someone to do a one-time proof and clean-up. Grr.

And I find it funny that here I am, one of the oldest people hereabouts, and yet one who has happily embraced technology, as it helps make up for many of my physical shortcomings, which grow greater with each passing year (and don't get me started on my recent six month bout with statin drug damage to my body, from which I am still slowly recovering. We're talking serious non-stop pain and near-crippling weakness for six freaking months!)

[Galadriel55]

Originally Posted by Ibrîniðilpathânezel

And I find it funny that here I am, one of the oldest people hereabouts, and yet one who has happily embraced technology...

*giggles*

What's even funnier is that I, being one of the youngest (or the youngest?) member, barely know of the latest inventions and innovations!

I totally agree about what you said about the materials. However, people can still respect books a bit more. I have an old book that I found lying in this place where people drop off books that they don't need anymore. I read and liked very much. It was very old and tattered when I picked it up, and it survived many a story with me. I can't count how many pages fell out! But it is still intact (with the hale of tape) and legible. I can see the majority of my classmates simply throwing that old fossil into the recycling bin.

Note, that I don't mean anybody specifically when I say "people", and especially not any of us Tolkien fans (who could be such and not respect books?!). This is just the general trend of attitude that I noticed amongst people of aproximately my age, give or take 5 or so years.

Originally Posted by Brooke

the books did get more respect then me. The fact that I was shorter then them, didn't help earn me any respect....

I'm sorry about that. As much as I respect books, I respect people more. Especially peole like you!

[LadyBrooke]

Originally Posted by Ibrîniðilpathânezel

For myself, I have no disrespect for books, but a lot for the publishing industry. It isn't what it used to be, nor are most books. I myself own books that are quite old — the oldest is about 150 years old, and it's in better shape than a lot that are much newer. The materials and processes used to make books aren't what they once were; glues, paper, inks, everything has changed, and changed again. The high acid papers that were popular for many years have been replaced, by some publishers, but the inks that are more environmentally friendly also fade and rub away very quickly. The binding are cheap, as are the glues that hold them, and spines crack and pages fall out, sometimes before I've finished the first read of the book (and I'm not that hard on them).

Exactly...I have some old books too, and even paperbacks from long ago hold up much better. I have a set of Little House paperbacks from the 40s, and they are in far better conditions then some books I bought last year, and only read once...

I know, because I've now made a few ebooks of my own, and am familiar with the programs and processes and what happens when one format is converted to another. Yes, it's easy to take a PDF file, send it through a conversion program, and voila! have an ebook, but the conversion process makes a horrible mess of things far too often. A person with a proper editing program needs to go through it and correct these things (many of which could be cleaned up simply by starting with an RTF file rather than a PDF). It's sad when I, who am asking nothing for my little twiddles of ebooks, take greater care with them than the publishers who are asking real money for them. It's not that hard to make a good clean ebook, but they obviously don't want to cut into profits by hiring someone to do a one-time proof and clean-up. Grr.

If you don't mind me asking, which type of ebooks have you made? I'm curious about the process, and have considered trying to make one of some of my out of copyright books...

And I find it funny that here I am, one of the oldest people hereabouts, and yet one who has happily embraced technology, as it helps make up for many of my physical shortcomings, which grow greater with each passing year (and don't get me started on my recent six month bout with statin drug damage to my body, from which I am still slowly recovering. We're talking serious non-stop pain and near-crippling weakness for six freaking months!)

Oh my! I hope you get much better. While I'm not bad off as you, I completely understand the technology to make up for physical shortcomings - I myself, due to my insurance companies refusal to allow me to have the epipen style Lantus shots, have bruises every so often, on my stomach or upper thigh that go into my muscle tissue or fat, that going out and actually doing things difficult. My sincerest hopes that you're feeling better now.

Originally Posted by Galadriel55

I'm sorry about that. As much as I respect books, I respect people more. Especially peole like you!

Thank you! I am one of those people that look much younger then their real age - I'm 18, and often hear "but you look 13", so I get little respect from the actual 13 year olds...especially when I was tossing them out of the library for acting like idiots, and breaking the rules....

[Ibrîniðilpathânezel]

Originally Posted by LadyBrooke

If you don't mind me asking, which type of ebooks have you made? I'm curious about the process, and have considered trying to make one of some of my out of copyright books...

I have made both ePub and mobi formats, which are able to read by a huge number of ebook reading devices. The two programs you need to do it are Calibre and Sigil, both of which are freeware. Calibre will do the conversions from things like PDFs and RTF files into many different ebook formats, and will allow you to edit the metadata (title, author, sorting method, cover, etc.). Sigil is an editor that will let you take what Calibre puts out and clean it up. It does take time, and the more familiar you are with HTML code, the easier it will be, but you can wind up with a more polished product than the publishing houses crank out. You can also use Sigil and Calibre to clean up sloppy ebooks that aren't locked with DRM.

And thank you for your kind wishes about my recovery. I certainly can feel for you when it comes to insurance saying no to so many things. I pay through the nose for my Epipen because they want me to use an ordinary hypo, but danged if I'm going to be struggling with that when I'm going into anaphylactic shock!