*michael parekh on IT*

ON ANOTHER VIEW OF THE WAR

DIFFERENT TAKE

One of the reasons I like the book reviews by the New York Review of Books is that they often review a series of books on a given subject.  This obviously offers a terrific overview of a given subject, often giving both pro and con views.

One such review is this one titled "Iraq:  The Hidden Human Costs", which covers half a dozen recent books on the soldier's viewpoint of the Iraq war.  As the article points out:

"In no other war have so many books by soldiers appeared while the fighting was still going on—accounts written not just by generals like Tommy Franks but also by lieutenants, sergeants, reservists, and privates.

Such works have been largely ignored by the mass media, which is too bad, for they provide a grunt's-eye view of the war that is often far richer, and rawer, than anything available in our newspapers or on TV."

The article really packs a punch, regardless of one's view on the war.  It really does give a view of the war most of us have not seen in any traditonal media coverage over the last six years.

It especially gives an up close and personal look at "collateral damage".  Not easy reading.

All the six books are being added to my reading list, Kindle or not.

ON THE TEN BEST BOOKS OF 2007

DIGITAL COLLECTIONS

This Sunday's edition of the New York Times brings it's list of the ten best books of 2007, which includes both fiction and non-fiction titles. 

Only two of the books were in my library already (The Nine and Imperial Life in the Emerald City), so there's quite a list of books to discover.

As a test, I checked to see how many of the ten were available in digital form to be read on Amazon's Kindle device, and happily, the number is sixty percent. 

Not bad at all for a new device and ebook format.  It validates the appeal of the Kindle vs. other ebook formats like the Sony Reader, given that the Amazon Kindle library has over 90,000 titles vs. something like 20,000 for the Sony product.  Plus, with Amazon's price subsidty, most of the titles are priced at $9.99 vs. $20 or more in other formats.

So, I've wirelessly ordered all the Kindle titles, and look forward to catching up on my new reading list for 2007.  The rest will have to wait until they're available on the Kindle.

ON LESSONS FROM LITERAL OBSERVANCE

WALK IN THEIR SHOES

This book title caught my eye, while browsing through the Amazon Kindle bookstore:

"The Year of Living Biblically: One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible (Kindle Edition)
by A. J. Jacobs"

Here's what the Publisher's Weekly had to say about the title:

"What would it require for a person to live all the commandments of the Bible for an entire year? That is the question that animates this hilarious, quixotic, thought-provoking memoir from Jacobs (The Know-It-All).
He didn't just keep the Bible's better-known moral laws (being honest, tithing to charity and trying to curb his lust), but also the obscure and unfathomable ones: not mixing wool with linen in his clothing; calling the days of the week by their ordinal numbers to avoid voicing the names of pagan gods; trying his hand at a 10-string harp; growing a ZZ Top beard; eating crickets; and paying the babysitter in cash at the end of each work day.
(He considered some rules, such as killing magicians, too legally questionable to uphold.) In his attempts at living the Bible to the letter, Jacobs hits the road in highly entertaining fashion to meet other literalists, including Samaritans in Israel, snake handlers in Appalachia, Amish in Lancaster County, Pa., and biblical creationists in Kentucky.
Throughout his journey, Jacobs comes across as a generous and thoughtful (and, yes, slightly neurotic) participant observer, lacing his story with absurdly funny cultural commentary as well as nuanced insights into the impossible task of biblical literalism. (Oct.)"

The book has over a 160 reader reviews and 4 1/2 star rating on Amazon.

Several thoughts occurred to me as I read this:

1.  Would this make a good reality show on TV?  Would it be popular in a mainstream context?
2.  What if we did a book and/or TV reality show on someone doing the same thing with the world's other major religions:  Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, and others.
3.  Would that exercise give us a better understanding of the role religion plays in our lives the world over?  What would it teach both grown-ups and kids?

Having read and enjoyed the author's earlier work "The Know-it-all", I knew this would be an interesting read.  So I did order the title for my Kindle, and look forward to thinking more about these questions.

ON ROAD-TESTING THE KINDLE

WORTH IT

The initial reactions seem to be coming in on the negative side on the Amazon Kindle, judging by the posts on Techmeme.

Having gotten mine yesterday, I did get to try the device on a cross-country red-eye flight for a Thanksgiving gathering.

And I can report that the Kindle so far surpasses my expectations, despite the various "wish it had this or that" thoughts that cross one's mind.

Here are some positives in no particular order:

1.  The wireless download of content in the background on the Amazon Whispernet network is terrific.  Wish the iPod had it.

2.  The form factor, weight and aesthetics of the product are just fine.  It's not as small and light as the Sony Reader, but then the Sony product doesn't have a wireless radio.

3.  The Kindle's ability to automatically remember how you leave each book/magazine/newspaper/blog post, is a substantial improvement over other products on the market.

4.  The screen is very readable with the overhead light in an airline seat.  Much better than a regular book due to the lack of glare.

5.  The ability to quickly multi-task reading various sections of multiple books is so much better on a product like this rather than juggling a bunch of physical books.

I had several people ask me about the device, including both the flight attendants servicing the aisles.  Anecdotally, the reaction to a general description of the product was positive, despite hearing about the price.

I'll do a more thorough review of the pros and cons of the Kindle in a future post.  But my first take on this is that the Kindle is not a turkey.  Not by a long shot.

ON A KINDLE POST-ORDER EXPERIENCE

PROMISING STARTS

Well, as expected Amazon officially announced it's Kindle e-book reader today, and there are a fair number of reactions up on Techmeme.

And as I indicated in last week's post, I ordered one.

One positive surprise before receiving it tomorrow, is this nice email from Amazon:

"Dear Michael Parekh,

Thank you for your purchase and welcome to Amazon Kindle.

We built Kindle with the goal of creating an exceptional and hassle-free reading experience. As such, we wanted to point out a few details before you get started on Kindle.

Your Kindle is automatically registered to the same Amazon.com account you used to make your purchase. This enables you shop, purchase, and download books, newspapers, and magazines wirelessly from your Kindle device right out of the box. Your Kindle purchases are made using your existing default 1-Click payment method at Amazon.com. If you wish to change the payment method associated with your Kindle, you can do so by visiting Manage Your Kindle on Amazon.com.

If you purchased your Kindle as a gift for someone else, you should deregister your Kindle device from your Amazon.com account. You can deregister your Kindle from the Settings page on the device or at Manage Your Kindle on Amazon.com.

You can start building your library before your Kindle even arrives by shopping for books, newspapers, magazines and more at the Kindle Store on Amazon.com.  Amazon's unique wireless delivery system, Amazon Whispernet will auto-deliver your purchases directly to your Kindle. Once you receive your Kindle, you can also shop the same great selection directly from your device.

Here's what you have to look forward to reading on your Kindle:

*     More than 80,000 books including New York Times Best Sellers and New Releases for $9.99, unless marked otherwise.
*     Top U.S. and International newspapers including The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Le Monde, and Frankfurter Allgemeine.
*     Top magazines and journals including TIME, Forbes, and Atlantic Monthly - all wirelessly delivered to your Kindle before they hit the newsstands.
*     More than 250 top blogs from the worlds of business, technology, sports, entertainment, and politics, including Slashdot, Techdirt, Boing Boing, FOX Sports, Michelle Malkin, and The Huffington Post.

We hope you enjoy reading on Kindle and look forward to hearing about your experience.  Send us your feedback at [email protected].

Sincerely,

The Amazon Kindle Team"

What really comes through here is Amazon's determination to keep this as simple as possible for Amazon customers.  Other than charging it when you get it, the device promises seamless integration with the Amazon experience customers are used to on the online store.

No question the $400 price tag is a steep entry point.  Silver lining is that there're no additional fees for the broadband wireless EVDO connectivity via Sprint's network.  Amazon has essentially built a custom MVNO that makes the wireless connectivity an integral feature of the device.

The other plus is that Amazon is obviously subsidizing thousands of books at a top price of $9.99, even though the publishers are charging much higher prices for the same product on other eBook services like Sony's Reader product.

One negative though is that the company is charging one to two bucks to subscribe to hundreds of pre-set blogs that otherwise can be consumed for free on the internet. 

Unlike the iPod, to which the Kindle aspires to imitate in reading material, there's very little free content that the user can load up his/her Kindle with.

And that's a bit of a shame.  It could have enhanced the out of the box utility of the device substantially.

I'll reserve further judgment on the Kindle until I get mine and have had a chance to use it a bit.  More to follow.

Update:  A couple of online reviewers have noted the ability to have more than one Kindle in a household share the books purchased off a master Amazon account.  Although I couldn't find any official confirmation of this off the Amazon site, I did speak to an Amazon Kindle rep on the phone, who did confirm this.  He wasn't sure how many Kindles per household were allowed to share the books, but he indicated it's at least four.

A big negative here though is that this sharing policy does not apply to newspapers, magazines and blogs subscribed on an individual Kindle.  That seems to be limited to one copy per Kindle only.  That's obviously like a magazine or a newspaper charging multiple subscriptions per member in a household for a physical product.

Makes no sense, but it seems to be what it is for now.

ON THE EVOLUTION OF ISLAM

SLOW BURN

The New York Review of Books has an excellent review of five recent books on Islam under the title "How to Understand Islam".  It's a piece that provides a useful juxtaposition of where Islam's evolution in the modern world is today vs., what other major religions went through, with a lot of tumult and civilian blood-shed, a few centuries ago.

"Whereas historical criticism of the Bible has been accepted by most Protestants (except for fundamentalist die-hards) as well as by Reform Judaism and, belatedly, by the Catholic Church (following the Second Vatican Council of 1962–1965), "higher criticism" of the Koran has yet to take root despite the impressive achievements of individual scholars such as the late Fazlur Rahman, Mohammed Arkoun, and Farid Esack (all of whom work, or have worked, in Western universities). For Küng,

It can only help Islamic faith if Islamic scholars begin to tackle the historical problems. This can still be dangerous for a Muslim today, just as a heterodox view was for a Catholic at the height of the Inquisition or for a liberal Protestant in Calvin's Geneva.

What is needed, he concludes, elaborating on the term made popular by Thomas Kuhn, is a "paradigm shift" toward modernization comparable to those that occurred in the Christian and Jewish traditions."

It goes on to explain:

"Like other religious systems, Islam has no option but to enter the waters of post-Enlightenment modern society, a universal milieu where

religion is no longer, as it was in the Middle Ages and the Reformation, an institution set over the social system to guarantee its unity, but merely a factor, a sphere, a one part-system among several.

There are precedents for this necessary paradigm shift—for example in the expansion from the Arab empire with its limited cultural horizons to the world religion Islam eventually became, incorporating the non-Arab peoples who now make up the vast majority of Muslims."

Even though this has no doubt started to occur within wide swathes of Islamic communities in a number of countries like Turkey, India, Indonesia, amongst others, the core governance institutions within Islam have yet to fully make this transition, much like it's Christian counter-parts did so long ago.

Given current average life expectancies in the U.S., I have an outside shot at seeing this start to happen first hand, perhaps around the time I bid farewell to this life.  That'd be around 2045 or so.

More likely than not, I'm apt to miss it in this life-time.

But it's helpful to read about how it may happen eventually.

ON A NEW GAME OF TELEPHONE

MAKING THE ROUNDS

One of the unintended side-effects of services like Techmeme is how stories get passed along, commented on, and morphed up and down the discussion chain.

Whether it's this morning's discussion on the valuation of TechCrunch, or the valuation of Facebook on any other day, it's now possible to see the chain of comments as never before.

It's the old game of Telephone, done Web 2.0 style (image source).

And unlike the traditional game of Telephone, where the players remain somewhat anonymous, this game is played in full view, and for posterity.

Ain't the internet grand?

ON ACKNOWLEDGING SOME WONDERS OF THE WORLD

PROSAIC WONDERS

During some late-night channel surfing, I chanced upon a travel show on TV showing the wonders of Northern Ireland. 

Normally, I would probably have clicked right through it, in my partly insomniac condition.  But this show was in glorious HD, and the story had to do with some pretty amazing images of a UNESCO World Heritage site called the Giant's Causeway. 

Of course, the information provided by the narrator wasn't enough, since the program quickly moved onto to other points in Northern Ireland.  But I quickly typed in "Giant's Causeway" into a Wikipedia search window on my laptop, and was rewarded with this:

"The Giant's Causeway (or Irish: Clochán na bhFómharach^[1]) is an area of about 40,000 interlocking basalt columns resulting from a volcanic eruption. It is located on the North East coast of Northern Ireland, about 3 kilometres (2 miles) north of the town of Bushmills.

It was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1986, and a National Nature Reserve in 1987 (by the Department of the Environment for Northern Ireland). In a 2005 poll of Radio Times readers, the Giant's Causeway was named as the fourth greatest natural wonder in the United Kingdom. The Giant's Causeway is owned and managed by the National Trust.

The tops of the columns form stepping stones that lead from the cliff foot and disappear under the sea. Most of the columns are hexagonal, however there are some with four, five, seven and eight sides. The tallest are about 12 metres (36 ft) high, and the solidified lava in the cliffs is 28 metres thick in places."

While seeing these images at first blush, one wonders how this could be a natural phenomenon and not a man-made structure, so long ago.  In fact, the Wikipedia entry even has a wonderful, local fairy tale legend on how the "Giant's Causeway" came into being.

A couple of decades ago, seeing something like this on TV, I would have chalked it up as something interesting, to be investigated further when I next had the time to look it up in the Encyclopedia in the library.  A decade ago,  I would have put it off until I had a chance to look it up in the Encyclopedia on a "multi-media" CD-ROM.

But this was 2007, and I had a laptop right next to me at 3 a.m., with a Wikipedia entry written by several contributors generous with their time and knowledge.  The entry went on to explain:

Similar structures

"Although the basaltic columns of the Giant's Causeway are impressive, they are not unique. Basalt columns are a common volcanic feature, and they occur on many scales (faster cooling produces smaller columns).

Other notable sites include Fingal's Cave in Scotland, the Garni gorge in Armenia, the Cyclopean Isles near Sicily, Devils Postpile National Monument in California, Devils Tower National Monument in Wyoming, Santa Maria Regla Basalt Prisms in Hidalgo, Mexico, the "Organ Pipes" formation on Mount Cargill in New Zealand, the giant "Rocha dos Bordões" ("Rod Rock") formation in Flores (Azores), at Gành Đá Đĩa in the Phú yên province of Vietnam^[8], and the "Columnar Cape" (Russian: Mis Stolbchaty) on Kunashir, the southernmost of the Kurile Islands in Russia."

Again, this being 2007, I opened up each of those sites mentioned in the entry above, in separate tabs in my Firefox browser.  And sure enough, these natural structures do seem to occur in quite a few places around the world.  No legends, no mystery...just some wonderful acts of nature. 

The picture above shows some place called "Devil's Postpile" National monument next door here in California.  This wonder had it's own man-made, folkloric story concocted around something that seemed so unique and unexplainable at the time.

These structures are yet another natural wonder that don't seem that way at all at first blush.  Kind of like the much larger structures I described in the post on the "Grand Canyons of China" back in July.

And it took me all of five minutes to learn about all these amazing places around the world, based on a random, chance, clicking through the cable channels on TV, on late night.

A decade ago, this might have take me 30 minutes to learn...two decades ago, an hour, maybe more.

There's no big deal about my experience.  Countless people today experience similar moments of serendipitous, sometimes mundane, insights via the internet every day.

But this experience made me step back and not take it for granted in this instance.  And recognize how far things have come, while most of us continue to click through the channels on late-night TV. 

It made me acknowledge again this man/woman-made wonder we call the internet and wonder how this experience might be different in another twenty years for someone else at three in the morning.

ON A DIFFERENT WAY TO STACK BOOKS

DIFFERENT ANGLE

I love books, the real paper kind.  Sure I'm a sucker for every new, geeky attempt at at yet another "e-book" from a whole host of companies like Sony of late.  And now apparently Amazon, and maybe Google may try again in this arena soon.

But nothing beats the real thing yet.

And I'm constantly looking for more shelf space for the growing piles of books.

This particular "Quad Bookshelf" caught my eye in this post on Uncrate:

"It's rare to see a bookshelf with enough moxie to become the focal point of a room, but that's certainly the case with the Quad Bookshelf ($1800).

The 47-inch squared bookshelf features a bevy of differently-sized shelves, sized for all different types of media, and several colored back panels to add a splash of color to the awesome asymmetrical design. [via"

Pretty pricey, but definitely a show-stopper.

ON THE STATE OF E-BOOKS AND A-BOOKS

EARLY DAYS

This New York Times article titled "An Entire Bookshelf, in your Hands", provides a good summary of where we are on the long-anticipated "E-book" and/or "E-reading" revolution.  The answer is, it still feels like it's a ways away.

It isn't for a lack of people trying.  Everyone from Sony, to Amazon, to an army of start-ups are trying to crack the code on making it easy for consumer to read books on a whole range of gizmos we carry around with us every day. 

The article does a good job outlining many of the options available today.  And while the piece tries to put on a brave face on how promising the area is, here're some cold statistics to think about:

"The International Digital Publishing Forum, a trade group for sellers of electronic books, estimates that retail sales of e-books grew to $8.1 million in the second quarter of 2007, up from $4 million a year earlier."

So a $32 million annual revenue run-rate for an industry that sells billions of dollars worth of books.  Remember that we're only talking about "e-books", not their close cousin audio-books, which haven't fared much better beyond the CD (more on them later).

And it's 2007, thirty years into the age of the personal computer, twenty years into the age of the cell-phone, eleven years after the first Palm Pilot, and six years after the first iPod.

The problems are less technical, and more rooted in the overlapping business models of all the parties involved, with our legacy copyright laws of course acting as the quick-drying cement.

As someone who's spent good money on almost every one of these gadgets and services, I can relay that it's still an exercise in frustration.  Most of the time, you end up buying a copy of the same book multiple times for each of the gizmos you want to read it on (Sony Reader, Blackberry, etc.). 

And the selection of stuff available in electronic form of course pales in comparison to what's available in good old paper form.

The business model for books is still predicated on people "buying" a book.  We still haven't figured out how to supplement the business model with other revenue options like advertising and/or subscriptions.

And don't even get me started on Audio-books (or "A-books" to match the naming convention).  It's still best to buy them on CDs (if you can), and then "convert" them for use on your mp3 player/phone/ipod, etc.

I've bought versions for my iPod via Apple iTunes, and for my Blackberry phones, amongst other devices.

Each time you're paying as much as one would pay for the real book, if not more. 

For example, an audio-book version of Harry Potter (any of the 7 books), will set you back at least $30, whereas the paper version can be had for under $10 for a paperback.  Admitted there are a whole slew of different production costs with an audio-book, but the relative pricing still feels a bit off-center for mainstream consumers.

So we're still in the early, wild-west days of e-books and a-books.

It's still a time for early adopters to shell out a lot of dough and expend a ton of effort, for the privilege of using current versions.

Hopefully this stuff will get productized much better for mainstream audiences over time.