Amuse-bouche:
At a Costume Party
Host: What are you?
Me: A harp.
Host: Your costume’s too small to be a harp.
Me: Are you calling me a lyre?
Today’s Wonderful Word: “concatenation.”
Definition: a series of interconnected or interdependent things or events.
Etymology: First appearance between 1595 and 1605, from Latin. Original meaning was to describe something “linked together” or “connected.” Part of the root word is the same for one meaning “chain.”
Example: The success of the team was a result of the perfect concatenation of talent, strategy, and hard work.
Lightweight, portable, versatile. Bland, battery-dependent, expensive. Here are some pros and cons of e-readers.
Pros
(Seemingly) infinite storage
Too many books you want to read on summer vacation? Not enough room in your suitcase? An e-reader might be your solution. Carry millions of words in the palms of your hands.
With a case and all, you’re looking at less than half a kilogram on a 4- to 7-inch screen.
Interactive features and simple navigation
Click and hold a word to see its definition (as long as you have the free dictionary downloaded). I love this feature.
If you’re reading in a foreign language and you’re connected to wifi, clicking and holding a word will not only give you its definition but also its translation.
Highlight your favorite quotes and reference them later.
Connect to Goodreads, leave a rating directly from your Kindle (which is the brand of e-reader I use), and it will directly update your Goodreads account.
Use the search function to jump between chapters. Search for keywords or search through your highlighted passages to find the bit of text you’re looking for. With an e-reader, you can easily navigate to any page you want without having to flip through the physical pages.
Investment
Once you make the initial investment of purchasing an e-reader, you can find great deals on books. If you’re interested in free and discounted books, and if you aren’t already signed up for Bookbub, you should create a free account here.
With e-readers, you can also purchase educational textbooks or work manuals. A lot of classics are public domain and therefore free for download. Literary analysis guides are typically free as well.
Cons
Price
Most electronic readers start at over $50 for the base model. On the other end of the spectrum, you could drop more than half a thousand bucks on a premium model.
A lot of fully-equipped tablets are compatible with e-reading apps, so I haven’t taken those into consideration for this point.
Lifelessness
Colorless (until recent models). Odorless. Lifeless.
I’m well aware that books typically have white pages. Still, there’s something dull about the grey nothingness of the “paperwhite” screen. While easy on the eyes, it’s painful for those seeking the intimate connection physical books offer.
Eventual obsoletion
With years of usage, your device will slow and glitch. The battery will undoubtedly weaken, requiring more frequent charging sessions. Eventually, after a few hard reboots, you may find that your device doesn’t power back on.
Been there, done that. We can only hope that portable reading technology will lead to lighter devices with more storage and longer battery lives.
If you’re interested in exploring the market of e-readers, here are a couple of good review articles.
Answer to Saturday’s riddle:
Ohio
A+
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