I watch the ripples change their size
But never leave the stream
Of warm impermanence
And so the days float through my eyes
But still the days seem the same
And these children that you spit on
As they try to change their worlds
Are immune to your consultations
They're quite aware of what they're goin' through

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Four on a Dime

Today is book day for Jim Hines and his latest Red Hood's Revenge. I haven't been able to read Jim's fairy princess books yet, but I have read some of his shorter works when it comes to fairy tales and I can say that I am eagerly wanting to read them. Jim does some nice things with the genre.

It's also a book day for Tobias Buckell and the release of The Alchemist and the Executionist, a combination of two novellas written in the same world (the other novella was written by Paolo Bacigalupi).

A PC World article on reading speeds vis a vis electronic readers vs. paper. Quel surpize. People read slower on electronic devices. As I've said before, the printed page and books are a nice piece of kit. They are high tech, we just don't see them as such because they're ubiquitous and you've had them all your life (although how they're made has changed). Also, this goes to how the brain perceives and processes images (no, it's not all that easy, thanks for asking). However the sample for this test was exceedingly small (only 24 participants). I'd really like to see a much larger version of this test to see how it shakes out demographically. But, yes, reading on a screen is much slower that on paper. And reading on a computer screen just sucks. (grokked from Jay Lake)

Elizabeth Bear ruminates on science fiction. The crunchy and not so crunchy kind. As other people have said, "Yes, this!" Science Fiction is dead, long live Science Fiction.

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