| In the latest Curmudgeon’s Corner…
Sam and Ivan talk about:
Just click to listen now: [wpaudio url=”http://www.abulsme.com/CurmudgeonsCorner/CC20110123.mp3″ text=”Recorded 23 Jan 2011″] or
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So, the latest update. The newest book of the last 20 I read (well, that I’ve posted about so far, I’m a bit behind) was available on Kindle, but the one that fell off also was, so the ratio stays at 65%, with 13 of the last 20 available on Kindle. For reference: 1- YES – Shadow Puppets
2 – NO – 9 Ways to Bring Out the Best in You and Your Child
3 – YES – Shadow of the Hegemon
4 – NO – The Visual Display of Quantitative Information
5 – YES – Ender’s Shadow
6 – YES – The Elegant Universe
7 – YES – Children of the Mind
8 – NO – Introduction to Algorithms
9 – YES – Xenocide
10 – YES – The Geography of Bliss
11 – YES – Speaker for the Dead
12 – NO – First Break all the Rules
13 – YES – Ender’s Game
14 – YES – Until the Sea Shall Free Them
15 – YES – Foucault’s Pendulum
16 – YES – Java The Complete Reference
17 – NO – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
18 – YES – The Audacity of Hope
19 – NO – Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
20 – NO – Data Mining
And there we are for the moment.
So, yet another update of the percentage of the last 20 books I’ve read that are available on Kindle as of soon after I posted about The Visual Display of Quantitative Information. The book that fell off was not available, neither was the one I just added, and none of the ones in between changed status, so the metric stayed at 65%.
I’ll note as I have the last few times that other editions of The Odyssey are available on Kindle, just not the specific edition I read.
So, here we are with the Kindle Ratio (what proportion of the last 20 books I’ve read are available on Kindle) as of right after my post about Ender’s Shadow. The percentage goes up a bit because this last book was available, where as the one that dropped off was not. As mentioned, this metric is now biased by the fact that the way I pick books now prefers Kindle books. For those interested, the 20 books this was based on were:
I’ll note as I have the last few times that other editions of The Odyssey and the Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government (Vol II) are available on Kindle, just not the specific editions I read.
So, I’ve been whipping through books lately. So here is the updated Kindle ratio as it stood after I finished The Elegant Universe. We’re up to 12 of the last 20 books I have read, or 60%, being available on Kindle. As I’ve mentioned before, starting with this book, my choice of books is now biased toward books available on Kindle, so this percentage should increase relatively quickly, although I don’t expect it to pop to 100% any time soon. For reference, the last 20 books were:
Note in the case of The Odyssey and Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, other editions are available on Kindle, just not the specific edition I read.
So, an update after Children of the Mind which was the last book I selected under pre-Kindle rules. Of the previous 20 books read, 55% were available on Kindle. After this update, future updates will reflect the fact that I am giving preference to books available on Kindle in my selection process. Not that anybody cares, but for reference, those 20 books were:
Note in the case of The Odyssey and Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, other editions are available on Kindle, just not the specific edition I read.
So, having finished a book lately, time for another updated Kindle ratio. (I did the counting a few days before actually getting the post done, thus this being the ratio for the 7th not the 10th.) This is basically what percentage of the last 20 books I have read are available on Kindle. Last time I updated this this percentage went over 50% for the first time, thus triggering my determination that I “officially wanted a Kindle”. There were a couple of books already in the queue though, but this meant that my method of determining what I read next would now be biased toward books available on Kindle, and the first time a Kindle book was scheduled, I would go ahead and order the Kindle. The book I finished prior to regenerating these stats was still a physical book though. As will be the next book finished. After that though, it has now been determined, a Kindle book. So the Kindle was ordered and is now in my hands. Woo! This means though that from this point forward my “Kindle Ratio” will be biased since my method of choosing books will be biased. It might still be interesting to see how long it takes this to get to 100% though, as my system does still allow me to pick non-Kindle books in several different situations. So for at least a little while, I’ll keep doing these updates. Until I get bored anyway. For now, we hold steady at 55%, or 11 out of the last 20 books I’ve read available on Kindle.
As I have since December 2008, after I finish each book I read I’ve been calculating what percentage of the last 20 books I have read are available on Kindle. I’ve been doing this because I have said all along that once that ratio was greater than 50% I would “Officially want a Kindle”. Well, it seems that since the last time I looked at this in April, several of the 20 books in question that were not available on Kindle have become available. As of today we are at 55%. In other words, 11 out of the last 20 books I read are now available on Kindle. So it is time. I “officially want a Kindle”. This does not however mean I will order one today. I am in the middle of a physical book right now, and the next book in line I also already have a physical copy of. And there are other items ahead of a Kindle in the spending priority list. But as of now, I do want one. :-) I have also decided on the algorithm I will use to determine what to read next whenever I finish a book once I have a Kindle as well. But I will wait until I actually have one before describing it I guess, in case I change my mind. :-) I will continue reporting this ratio until I actually have a Kindle and read the first book on it. After that I will stop.
So, after the last book I read the percentage of the last 20 books I have read that are available on Kindle returns to 45%. It had dropped to 40% previously. Now, a caveat to that number based on some additional investigation I did last time… there is at least one book in those 20 books, maybe more, where while the exact book I had is not available, a different edition of the same book is, which would raise this ratio a bit higher. But for consistency, I’ll be sticking to the method I have been using since I started tracking this, which is basically finding the exact book I read on Amazon, then seeing if they do or do not have the “this is also available on Kindle” banner. So… 45% for now. I have of course been saying for over a year now that I will officially want a Kindle once this ratio goes over 50%. One reason I’m being somewhat conservative about this is that I fully intend that once I switch over to electronic books, I will NEVER BUY A PHYSICAL BOOK AGAIN… except if I have no choice because I need it for work or class or something or I am really really desperate to read something only available in physical form. Now, that isn’t saying I won’t read a physical book if I have one given to me, or if it is one I already own in physical form and want to read… but I will be strongly resistant to buying any more physical books once I make the switchover. So, I don’t want to make that switch prematurely. Of course, while I have some bias to this device over others, so far none of the other dedicated e-readers have impressed me at all. Of course, my gadget lust right now is building rapidly for something else entirely. I probably won’t go there either in this first wave, but… since it is a device that will do e-reader stuff (including Kindle books as well as e-Books from other sources) but will also do all kinds of other things, it changes the whole evaluation equation in a way that is different than a dedicated e-reader. And yes, a dedicated device is optimized for that one specific thing (reading) and the multi-purpose device might sometimes be sub-optimal for that task (maybe), but… that is balanced by the other functionality. Although, really, if I had a multi-function device that I could also read books on, I think the amount of time spent actually doing such reading would be much less than on a dedicated device, because I’d simply be too tempted by the other functions… We shall see. In the mean time, it sure is taking a long time to break the 50% barrier on this metric I chose. I’ve specifically not picked books to influence this ratio. I was hoping my number would have gone up faster. |
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