I have a Kindle...something that I scorned when they first began to appear until we simply didn't have room for any more books or space to put extra shelves up...I bought one very grudgingly from PC World...it was on offer.
But it's magic...I choose a book from Amazon...click to buy it and lo and behold, seconds later I can sit down and read it. How does it work...that's what I'd like to know...how do the words all fit...where are they actually kept...I mean, I know there aren't any handy cardboard boxes behind the screen but how are they kept separate...why don't the words, from the ninety books I have so far...why don't they get all jumbled up and in a muddle...how does it work so quickly...?
And how does oxygen get into the cylinders...and who was the clever sort of a person who said one day...I know...we'll squash oxygen into little tanks and then people can swim underwater...if they'd like to. I mean...you can't actually see oxygen sort of floating about...so how do they know they've caught it when no-one can see it...
Then there are rockets and spaceships zooming off to remote areas of space...rushing round and round the world without getting dizzy and taking photographs...how do those men on the ground know that rocket is going to land on Mars when everything keeps moving about all the time...and how do they know some sparkly star is a billion light years away...and how do they know when a star is as dead as a doornail and we are just seeing the light from it...I wonder if they make it all up.
I think it's brilliant that my printer prints stuff straight from my laptop...although having said that, the printer does have a mind of it's own and either spits sheets of paper out in a temper or sits there grumbling under it's breath and muttering before it suddenly leaps into action and gives me a fright...
These are only a couple of 'however does it work' puzzles...there must be so many more.
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Hi I would love a Kindle and am glad you are getting on fine with yours. A very technically illiterate friend got one and I was gobsmacked. I found out later that she had got rid of it as she thought you went down to W H Smiths and they put books in for you x
Morning Vashti, How wonderful to have such an enquiring mind, You have such a God given talent Vashti, everything you write is so interesting, I loved Coughalots reply, You have probably increased the sales of Kindles, you should ask for commission, Very best wishes to you and himself, Bulpit
I love my Kindle! I gave my old 'regular' one to my daughter when my husband bought me the Kindle Paper White for my birthday. I'd be lost without mine.
Me to just bought thw white one for my husband fir Xmas, said he wouldn't use it ! Can't get his nose out of it.My only mistake I bought it on my account so he's downloading his bl----y books to my account. Gonna stop that !!
Lol lol love the bit about the printer,mine is the same just when you think it is going to work it starts grumbling all over again,then it grumbles at the end of printing but you wonder is it going to shut down, made me smile.
Sounds like magic indeed to me vashti. I have never owned a Kindle but it seems like a good idea as I sit here listening to the book shelves groaning. I will give it some thought or maybe put it on my next Birthday list. Wishing you and himself well. xxxx
Kindles are indeed wonderful things. I have kindle for PC installed on my computer and Kindle for Android installed. each one takes you to the page you last read.On the PC one you can see the contents of the book then view the illustrations, any colour ones show up well too.
I have able to pick up some really cheap books on deal of the day. I also sent off for a CD of Best Sellers on Ebay. To my amazement there were a thousand on there. Many of them are not of interest but I did find a lot of Nora Roberts books on there.
At the moment I am still reading my collection about the Mitford Sisters. I had to send of for some of the books by Jessica.
I also read all of the Amanda Prowse No Greater Love series. They are all interconnected in some small way. The latest is full price so I will hang on a bit and see if it gets offered at a lower price.
I have it installed on my laptop for sewing and knitting books 'cos the illustrations are better on that than on the hand-held Kindle...wouldn't be without mine now.
One thing I do miss on the kindle is being able to riffle through the book and pop backwards and forwads. You can to it to some extent on the PC by going to the contents page, but I do prefer a book for that.
My tastes tend to change, for I while I liked Crime thrillers and have read all of Patricia Cornwell, Linda Fairstein and Kathy Reichs books. Then I lost my nerve. I do have the latest Linda Fairstein and Kathy Reichs books but haven;t got the nerve to read them.
I got a bit bored with Nora Roberts as I found all her books have a similar formula. I like her magic books best.
Nancy Mitford wrote 4 good novels, Pursuit of Love, Love in a Cold Climate, The Blessing and Don't Tell Alfred in that order. They are all autobiographical based on her life and that of her family. It is annoying that she has a tendency to insert French phrases, but Google translate takes care of that.
I like A Life of Contrasts by Diana Mitford, one doesn't need to agree with her political views. It is a fascinating story.
I also like autobiographies. Paul O'Grady's books are funny.
Hi Vashti, I love Kindle, in particular the Audible books that read to me before I sleep, well rest anyway. Sometimes I use the Bluetooth earpiece & listen to music while I read. I can do Crosswords, on journeys, or read newspapers, search the Net, find out where I am, plan a journey all manner of things. a little small flattish box, perhaps there is a Kindle Wizard....
I think if it can be imagined, eventually it will be created; like space travel & the channel tunnel & they are a kind of magic. What always puzzles me is who & how was electricity imagined? How do words & pictures reach a TV screen? I can read the scientific process but it doesn't really explain the magic, does it? I love Brian Cox but I listen to him & understand every thing he says; but when I reflect I realise I haven't understood at all. Love Margaret x
I'm just the same! I read about it or hear someone explain it and think...ah, now I've got it...but I haven't really. Some peoples minds are just wired differently I suppose.
Hi Vashti. I'm afraid I am a book lover. I Iove the look, the feel and the smell of books. I have hundreds. Sometimes I use my wife's Kindle but it isn't the same as a "proper" book. And you can't swat flies with a Kindle. lol
I absolutely adore proper books and still buy anything I'll refer to...like history etc but because the cottage is so small we just don't have the room to keep all we read...
Hi vashti , just wondering if you ever find yourself reaching to turn the page when you are on your kindle?? I love my kindle too but still love the touch of the real thing !!
So enjoy your post as they most often make me laugh or smile big !!!
You can swat a fly with Kindle, not sure if it would do the kindle much good. I would like a squashed fly on my book either. I read my Kindle as well as books.
I must say, I do love to hold an actual book in my hands....but the kindle is growing on me. lol All these wonders of the world keep us guessing don't they.
I don't have a Kindle but I do have the free Kindle app on my android and there are thousands of free books available for that and if I really want to buy a book it will do that too. Even reading then aloud. All without buying a dedicated machine just to read books. Although admittedly the Kindle advert does show a machine that is infinity better at reading books in all types of light and incredible battery length between recharging.
I have a feeling I might just give the Kindle a try - like every voracious reader I am now getting to the point where there is just no more room. Already trunks of books up in the loft, shelves are at saturation point in my bungalow and I got the last of the Ken Follett trilogy for Christmas, must be a yard thick! My niece got me a "Nook" 2 Christmases ago - she's not a reader and didn't understand that it was cheap because it doesn't have the authors and titles that the kindle can offer. I love the feel, the smell and the look of books but there comes a point...........!
Pillars of the Earth was a brilliant book - I found the tv series a bit disappointing but, as usual, they had to leave a lot out of it. Am re-reading the sequel "World Without End" and enjoying it more second time around, then I've got "Edge of Eternity" ro look forward to. It's all go!!!
Having never read Pillars my wife and I both thoroughly enjoyed watching the TV version Again. It made a real change to the normal transmission of repeated American cop shoot - em - ups and car crashes. Rib
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