Got the book! “The Future: Six Drivers of Global Change,” by Al Gore. Splurged on the hardback. I can’t help myself. I need to know this stuff right away. I need to highlight it! “The Future” is not the kind of book I want to read on a Kindle. Nor is the book I’m finishing now, “A People’s History of the United States,” by Howard Zinn. Besides, my Kindle Fire has died. RIP. Next time, I’ll buy the iPad. — John
U.S. 2012 ELECTION RESULTS, BLUE STATES FOR OBAMA, RED STATES FOR ROMNEY. FLORIDA, THE LAST STATE TO BE DECIDED, WENT BLUE. (Map via Wikipedia)
“This is the America that Obama will govern in his second term: A place divided not only by ideology, race and class but also by the very perception of reality. . . . The president who spoke ambitiously at his first inauguration about uniting America instead arrives at his second with the country further divided.” — Eli Saslow, The Washington Post, Jan. 20, 2013
Note: This post was published in 2013 following the 2012 presidential election. It seems more relevant than ever as America prepares for the 2016 presidential election.
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
That sums up America in the decade leading up to the Civil War, as described in “Team Of Rivals,” Doris Kearns Goodwin’s history of Abraham Lincoln and the politicians, abolitionists, generals, and ordinary people of his era. The similarities between the present time and the decade before the Civil War are striking and frightening. Continue reading
John Hayden photo
Tom Wolfe’s tour of contemporary America continues in “Back To Blood.”
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
Like Wolfe’s other blockbusters — The Right Stuff, Bonfire Of The Vanities, and A Man In Full — Back To Blood focuses on Men and Manhood in the big cities of modern America. Wolfe has vividly portrayed New York City and Atlanta. This time, the setting is Miami.
In Back To Blood, Wolfe writes about Real Men doing Real Work for the Right Reasons. The heroes are policemen, followed closely by newspapermen. Not a single female police officer or reporter in sight. Not exactly a politically correct portrayal of contemporary America!
Nestor Camacho is a young Cuban cop, intelligent and without guile, self-effacing and polite, god-fearing, muscular. Continue reading
Thank goodness the holiday season is over. Especially the past two holiday weeks. I have no predictions for 2013, only questions. Will the U.S. default on its debt? Where will war break out? Can I find something useful to do with the rest of my life? When is the next storm coming? Is Congress mad? Continue reading
It’s not exactly writer’s block. But I have chronic difficulty writing about exceptional books and great American authors.
How long has it been since I promised to finish my review of J.K. Rowling’s “The Casual Vacancy?” Is it a novel about small-town life, or hypocrisy, or intolerance, or poverty? Local politics gone crazy, or class warfare? Darned if I know. I’d have to read the whole thing again to sort it all out. (Rowling is British, but her story resounds in American culture.)
As I read the final page of “The Casual Vacancy,” I was struck speechless. Partly it’s a sense of grief that the book is over. Partly it’s awe at the author’s virtuoso performance. What can I say but, “Bravo!”?
ANN PATCHETT
Among contemporary authors, Ann Patchett amazes me the most. I never wrote a word about Patchett’s “State of Wonder.” What could I say? What kind of story is it, science fiction? Corporate treachery vs. scientific deception? Human hubris? The premise is a discovery so unlikely that you find yourself believing it, combined with an adventure so implausible that it has to be real. Yet it’s all nothing more than a figment — an elaborate figment — of Patchett’s hyperactive imagination! (Patchett and the following authors are all American originals.)
(Photo credit: ~jjjohn~)
“It’s a terrific idea: a home-town saint for the Occupy Wall Street era.” — The New Yorker
Liberals, progressives, radicals: Take heart!
DOROTHY DAY (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
We knew it all along, but now Cardinal Timothy M. Dolan agrees. Dorothy Day is a candidate for sainthood!
NYC radical journalist Dorothy Day (1897-1980), co-founder of The Catholic Worker newspaper and a nationwide movement of “hospitality houses” serving the homeless, the hungry, and the poor, has been a candidate for sainthood in the Catholic Church since 2000. Now she even has the support, appropriately enough, of the archbishop of New York.
SIMPLIFYING YOUR LIFE IS NOT SIMPLE — I’m finally getting serious about my winter project, which is weeding out and getting rid of the stuff I don’t need or use. Today I started on the books (I already decimated my library once, about five years ago.) Spent the afternoon dividing books into three categories: give away, throw away, and save. I didn’t know this was going to be so hard.
Setting the record straight, maybe it’s my own fault my highlighting was lost. (See the immediate previous Kindle post.) Digging through the online “User Guide,” I discovered the following:
Using Highlights, Bookmarks, and Notes
“Annotations (bookmarks, highlights, and notes) that you make in Kindle books are stored in your Kindle Library on Amazon.com. Your Kindle must be connected wirelessly for your annotations to be saved.”
The above is from the Kindle Fire “User Guide,” under the section “Books: Reading On Kindle Fire.”
I believe it explains why I lost the highlighting I did as I was reading last night. Thinking that I was clever, I turned off the Wi-Fi last night to save battery life. The book is on my Kindle device, so I can read it without being connected to Wi-Fi. (Morale of this story: “Don’t think! It can only get you in trouble.”)
I was planning to write an updated report on how much I’m enjoying my Kindle Fire. There was a learning curve when I first opened the box, but once I figured out a few basic functions, the Kindle became a breeze and a pleasure to use.
I’ve enjoyed browsing the Kindle store, and found a number of books I’ve been wanting to read. One is “Twilight of the Elites: America After Meritocracy,” by MSNBC’s Christopher Hayes. (This “Twilight” isn’t about vampires.)
“Twilight of the Elites” is a great book, examining our collective loss of trust in virtually all the major institutions — the pillars — of society. In particular, Hayes analyzes how and why the “elites” who rule by virtue of “meritocracy” have failed us.
I’ve been reading the book for the past few evenings, highlighting many informative sentences using the Kindle highlighting function. This morning, I opened the book on the Kindle and found that all my painstaking highlighting is gone. The highlighting has disappeared!
UPDATE, NOV. 16, 2012: Happy to report that I’ve received two emails from Amazon in response to my phone calls. Bottom line:
“In order to resolve this issue please de register and re register your Kindle Fire HD to the same Amazon.com account. In order to De register and Re register please follow the steps:
Swipe your finger down from the top of the Home screen and tap More . . .”
I followed the directions and re-registered my Kindle, which wasn’t hard. Presto, my material was again visible on the carousel. Using the information I’ve learned in the last two days, I made sure everything was downloaded from the “cloud” to the “device.”
I also browsed through the apps store and downloaded several interesting apps. Most of them were free, and I paid 99 cents for one. The Kindle can do a lot of stuff, and I’m slowly learning how. — John
END UPDATE
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WHAT COMES IN THE BOX?
I titled my first product review (of a digital camera) “Power In A Box.” The first and most important information I want to know when purchasing a new high-tech device is: WHAT COMES IN THE BOX?
Regarding the camera,the answer was: “Everything you need, and it’s a powerful product.”
Regarding the Kindle Fire, the answer is: “Not so much.”
In the photo above, you can see the fancy box for the Kindle Fire HD 7″ and EVERYTHING THAT COMES IN THE BOX. It’s exactly as stated in the small print on the back of the box:
“USB charging cable included. Ask for the Kindle PowerFast accelerated charging accessory for even faster charging times.”
This latest consumer technology is pretty much ready to go, right out of the box. Or so I thought.
I followed the directions on the black card you see in the photo above, which constitutes the entire written documentation and instructions included in the box.
Living Simply And Still On The Grid 