A Renaissance Soul blogging on traveling, books, work, miscellany, and enjoying life.
I love books – the smell of them, the feel of them, and of course the stories in them. I even love ebooks. Their portability and ability to preserve passages and look up words on the fly helps make up somewhat for the loss of some of the personality of their hard copy counterparts.
Along with posts on books, I’ve also tossed in some book reviews and suggested reading to keep your mind sharp and entertained.
I'm a huge Downton Abbey fan. In addition to well-written characters, part of the appeal for me is the fascinating time period it's set in. If you're a fan too, here's a list of Books to Read if You Like Downton Abbey just in time for the new season to start here in the US.
We buy these difficult books because we feel that, while not very exciting, they are in some way good for us. It's sort of literature-as-bran-flakes philosophy. If something is dry and unpalatable, it must be doing something good for our constitutions. ~Chris Baty, No Plot, No Problem
I have a private blog that I use to catalog the books I've read and my unfiltered thoughts about them, collect favorite passages from my reading, and gather interesting new words I come across. I was experimenting with the WordPress.com mobile app and my tablet's built-in voice recognition software last night to dictate a book … Continue reading Voice Recognition Funnies
Amazon is dipping its giant toe into the book subscription model with the recently unveiled Amazon Unlimited program. Claiming to offer book lovers access to over 600,000 books and thousands of audio books, this Netflix-for-books plan is priced at $9.99 per month. You can view the nitty-gritty here, but for me, the most pressing question … Continue reading Amazon Unveils New Unlimited Program for Readers
Ahhhh. Started this book today and it feels like I'm back with old friends. There's nothing like a great series to take you away and transport you to another place and the Outlander series is one of my favorites.
According to Brain Pickings, here is a list of must-reads for 2013 just in time for that science enthusiast or techie on your holiday shopping list (or just for you!).
A bit of magical-tastic news hit my inbox this morning. Amazon announced a new feature called MatchBook. Why is this magical-tastic news, you might ask? According to Amazon, MatchBook offers the following: For thousands of qualifying books, your past, present, and future print-edition purchases now allow you to buy the Kindle edition for $2.99, $1.99, … Continue reading Kindle a Fire under Your Print Books with Amazon’s MatchBook
Looks like Qantas has come up with a novel idea for airline travel, literally. Coming soon to a Qantas flight near you is a collection of in-flight books deliberately designed to only take as long as the flight lasts to finish reading. No Kindle required. The idea actually came from the Australian airliner's ad agency, … Continue reading Custom-Made Books: The Latest in In-Flight Entertainment?
Do you ever find yourself printing something to read because you really need to focus on it or pay attention to the content? Have you read something on screen and then later had difficulty recalling the details of what you read? (here's me, raising my hand) Turns out that it happens to most of us. … Continue reading Reading on Paper versus Screen: See What Science Says About What Your Brain Prefers
Have you ever wondered what causes "old book smell" - you know, that slightly-musty-in-a-good-way smell? If so, you can thank volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Which is good because it's much easier to say "volatile organic compounds" instead of acetic acid, benzaldehyde, butanol, furfural, octanal, and (I'll take Multisyllabic Chemical Names for $500, Alex) methoxyphenyloxime and you can still … Continue reading What Causes Old Book Smell?
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