daveh
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Post by daveh on Sept 21, 2011 18:35:15 GMT -5
One of the books in my "library" is Canada Moves North by Richard Finnie. I started reading this when my father was in hospital a few years back (it was on the bookshelf in the day room attached to the ward). I hadn't completed it when he was 'released' so I sent for a copy from Adebooks on the internet. I might be the only person in Britain who has read it.
I have to say I do find the Kindle quite easy to read: certainly much better than a computer screen. It's relatively early days for e-books. Down the line they will be better, with colour screens and other facilities that "ordinary" books lack.
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mickeyobe
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Post by mickeyobe on Sept 21, 2011 19:24:22 GMT -5
Dave,
I think the latest revision was in 1948 which would put its information a trifle out of date though it may be if some historical value.
Mickey
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Deleted
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Post by Deleted on Sept 21, 2011 19:38:34 GMT -5
Although I am 46 years old, my reading and writing behaviour is old-fashioned, I still prefer books made of good old paper. The pocket books for travelling and lunch break and the hardcover books for art books and world literature. I can not imagine to read Dostojewski, or Dante for instance on an electronic device. I also like to rummage trough antique book shops, it could happen that I get lost there for hours. All my historic photo-related books never would be available in electronic format. If I am not writing posts and emails, I prefer a pencil, maybe a fountain pen and a sheet of paper. I know times are changing fast, but I remain true to myself. MIK My handwriting was never very good and got worse when I started writing for a newspaper. I seldom hand write anything except to scribble down a name or address of phone number. For real writing I learned to compose on a typewriter and later on a computer. In the old days "cutting and pasting" literally meant cutting apart your paper copy and pasting the paragraphs back together in a different order (ah, the fumes from rubber cement!!). Today I can barely read my own handwritten notes. I love handwriting from the 19th Century -- when penmanship was an appreciated art. Wayne
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mickeyobe
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Post by mickeyobe on Sept 21, 2011 19:42:44 GMT -5
As for writing. When I was obliged to work for a living I was a title searcher. All my searches and reports were hand written, or rather printed. My hand writing was poor and my clients, mostly lawyers, were very happy to get hand printed material.
They did not like ball point pens as they often left blobs of ink.
The registry offices would not accept signatures written with ball points as they claimed they could too easily be transferred.
So I used a fountain pen. I still much prefer one. After a short while they conform to a person's writing style. For over 25 years I used a gold and black Parker Vacumatic 5 which gave out shortly before I retired. Some day I may get it repaired.
I still use a fountain pen for real writing but most of my writing is now done on the computer which gives one an unimaginable ability for altering and revising and correcting material.
Mickey
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daveh
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Post by daveh on Sept 21, 2011 20:21:49 GMT -5
My handwriting got worse as the biro got more popular. Every so often I get a fountain pen out and marvel how nice they are to write with. Then I run out of ink and go back to the biro. Funny, we don't really call it a biro any more.
Mickey, the outdatedness (of Canada Moves North) is part of the fascination.
(edited to correct word called -> call.)
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mickeyobe
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Post by mickeyobe on Sept 21, 2011 21:26:43 GMT -5
Okay Dave. I need another English lesson.
What is a biro?
Mickey (A lowly provincial)
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daveh
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Post by daveh on Sept 22, 2011 2:47:01 GMT -5
Mickey, from Wiki: László József Bíró (29 September 1899 – 24 November 1985) was the inventor of the modern ballpoint pen. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L%C3%A1szl%C3%B3_B%C3%ADr%C3%B3. Early on in Britain it was always known as a biro - at least it was up here. I remember going on the Liverpool Overhead Railway in the mid-1950s and buying my first biro. I remember the term 'liquid lead' being used too. Dave.
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PeterW
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Post by PeterW on Sept 22, 2011 17:07:29 GMT -5
It isn't only some present-day school leavers who are semi literate.
Sitingbourne, in Kent, not far from me has its annual carnival this coming weekend. Notices have been posted in the town about the SITTINGBOURNE CARNAVAL. Oh dear!. Amid comments and laughter the organisers have promised to have all the notices changed before the event.
I don't speak Welsh, but I gather that the Welsh-language manifesto of the Welsh Liberal Democrat party is peppered with spelling mistakes, bad grammar and very poor syntax.
The version in English contains a few howlingly meaningless sentences such as: "We have people up and down Wales are ambitious to go green, but a Government that subsidising pollution and ignoring the needs of rural areas."
The leader of the Welsh Lib-Dems said the documents had been "proof read and proof read several times"
By equally semi-literate people??
On the subject of Biro pens, I bought one of the very early ones in about 1946. It was a black chunky affair with the ink contained in a coiled tube inside. I wasn't impressed. The ball point dried up if left open for five minutes or so, and the ink delivery was uneven and blobby. I beilieve they used ordinary very viscous printer's ink but this was later changed to a better flowing ink.
Today's cheap plastic ball-point pens sold in packs of a dozen for £1 are generally reliable but do nothing to help improve handwriting. The Parker ball-point, though considerably more expensive, is way ahead in feel, and does help anyone who has the inclination to produce decent handwriting, though in my view nothing can beat a good fountain pen for this.
PeterW
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daveh
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Post by daveh on Sept 22, 2011 17:17:17 GMT -5
You would all like Malcolm. He is a rugby supporter in Penzance, Cornwall who is just about the sharpest spotter of poor spelling, grammar, syntax and what-have-you. I do manage occasionally, very occasionally, to slip something past him without him noticing and get immense satisfaction when I do.
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photax
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Post by photax on Sept 23, 2011 7:58:20 GMT -5
Hi ! Here is my oldest book, printed in 1664. Would you believe that anyone will be able to read a book in the year 2358 wich is stored in an electronical device today ? MIK
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PeterW
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Post by PeterW on Sept 23, 2011 16:26:21 GMT -5
That's a nice looking antiquarian book, MIK. It seems to be pretty good condition. What's its title to have been looked after for 347 years?
With regard to your question, no I don't think that any e-books around today will still be around in 347 years' time, even if there is equipment capable of putting them on to a screen.
When you look at what books are available for reading on an I-phone or something similar, most of them are fairly ephemeral or have been reprinted in hard-back with leather-covered covers as "collectors' editions". These are usually sold on subscription and by the time anyone has bought the whole set, including post and packing, they will have paid out a lot of money.
It's just another publisher's scam, but not a new one. The row of books looks nice in a bookcase, but no-one take them down to read them. Many booksellers who deal in old books have sets of Sir Walter Scott's Waverly Novels. Sir Walter made nothing out of them. They were written - churned out is probably a better term - at so-much a thousand words to pay off the debt of a so-called friend that Sir Walter had foolishly guaranteed. Consequently they are heavily padded to make up the number of words.
They too were sold on subscription and there must be dozens or even hundreds of sets sitting in bookcases as shelf fillers. I doubt if anyone ever takes one down to read it.
Whether any printed and bound books made today will still be around 350 years from now I wouldn't like to guess.
What does concern me is whether or not there will be any equipment that can show some of today’s and yesterday’s classic movies. Will computers of the future have something like a USB2 port into which a hard-drive can be plugged? Come to that, will the contents of a hard-drive still be readable in 350 years?
PeterW
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daveh
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Post by daveh on Sept 23, 2011 18:40:13 GMT -5
Every new medium has its survivors and its losers. I image the Egyptians who carved their stories in stone thought that papyrus wouldn't survive. The papyrus people, in their turn, probably thought that paper was too flimsy to last the course.
Another argument might be that so much of what is written now is such dross that perhaps we wouldn't want it to survive.
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Post by olroy2044 on Sept 23, 2011 19:23:11 GMT -5
As slow as I have been to embrace digital photography, it may come as a surprise to some of you to learn that I am the enthusiastic owner of a Nook from Barnes and Nobel. I was given one by my daughter and wife for Christmas of last year. I find that the monochrome screen of my early version is easier on my old eyes than the printed page. I have an extensive collection of Science Fiction, techno-thrillers, fantasy, aviation, and military history. Included are the complete works of several classic SF and Fantasy authors, numerous modern authors, and historians. I have read, re-read, and read again the works of Tolkien, Verne, Goodkind, Jordan and many others. My copies are showing the progressive signs of wear and tear.
Now, however, I have them loaded into my Nook, and have carefully packed my print copies away in safe, temperature controlled storage. My Nook files are backed up on archival quality media.
I am not particularly interested in reading periodicals digitally. I still receive, and read, a daily printed newspaper, and numerous printed monthly magazines.
My E-reader has not replaced printed material for me, but has become a valuable adjunct to the printed page.
Roy
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Post by Peltigera on Sept 24, 2011 2:47:46 GMT -5
That's how I see my E-book. If it is a book I will never want to re-read, it might as well be an E-book. But I still have bookcases in every room with books I will re-read many times.
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photax
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Post by photax on Sept 26, 2011 14:16:55 GMT -5
Hi Peter !
The title of the book is: " Historiae de S. Scapulari R.P. Pauli ab Omnib. Sanctis " Although the title is in Roman, the book is written in a form of Middle-High German. It`s a religious book about miracles regarding to the holy Mary of mount Carmel. Some parts are very funny to read ( from todays viewpoint ). I inhertited some very old books from my grandfather and he inherited them from his grandfather. I dont think that my son will have any use if he will get them from me some day. He is part of the e-book generation...
MIK
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