With the release of ebook readers such as Amazon’s Kindle 2 (all thanks to the e-Ink technology), my desire in getting a dedicated ebook reader is “re-kindled”, so to speak . In fact, I am already familiar with a few candidates on the market:

1. Amazon’s Kindle. Cons: does not support many formats natively. Can’t expand memory by adding external memory card. The EVDO mobile wireless is useless outside of US.
2. Sony ebook reader PRS-505. Cons: kind of expensive and apparently slow to turn.
3. Hanlin V3. Cons: poor software as far as I can tell, but best supported by the open-source OpenInkPot which I intend to use) and one of the most rebranded product in this space.
4. Irex. Cons: pricey European product and, according to some reviews, slow response time.

Here is a more comprehensive list of recent products, in case you are in the same situation.

Final hurdle? The cost (except for the European product, the 6″ and black-and-white models are approximately SG$450-700) and readily (un)availability in Singapore. After all, it will be necessary to test-drive these things first, no?

Another option is that perhaps I need to stick with my iPhone as a default reader (which seems to have problems with any pdf files larger than 20MB or so) and Stanza?? Furthermore the latest rumour is that Apple is likely to release its own tablet-like device in near future. Well, as it is likely to be expensive in the short term, I won’t be holding my breath for it…

I am currently testing the Song PRS-700 so maybe a Christmas present for myself!?

“There are really only two conditions of the human mind: Very, very happy. Or, about to become very, very happy. Which are you today?”

Mike Dooley
American Author and Inspirational Speaker

Up to this point, the central thesis of the book seems to be that while some people are undoubtedly born with some innate talent

1. the “innate”-ness or being “gifted” is more often too over-hyped;
2. the home and social environments play a large role – in fact, his data seems to show that it can make or break a genius!

As it turns out, I started reading the book – bought at the airport bookshop – after listening on discussions between my sister and my parents regarding parenting. Surprisingly, this book is rapidly becoming a fairly good book for parenting, provided you are willing to unleash the true potential of your kids!

Surprisingly, I have read quite a few of those on the list:

• Foundation, by Isaac Asimov. (and the rest of the Foundation series)
• Time machine, by H. G. Wells.
• Animal farm, by George Orwell.
• War of the worlds, by H. G. Wells.
• I robot, by Isaac Asimov.
• Ring world, by Larry Niven.
• Dune, by Frank Herbert. (and all 3 books from the originally intended trilogy)
• The hitchhiker’s guide to the galaxy, by Douglas Adams (all except for the final book in the expanded trilogy)
• 1984, by George Orwell.
• Ender’s game, by Orson Scott Card. (and the rest of the Ender, Shadow series)

Others that are already on my to-read list:

• Neuromancer, by William Gibson.
• Pattern recognition, by William Gibson.
• Down and out in the magic kingdom, by Cory Doctorow.

A couple of the ones which didn’t make it to that list but are nevertheless among my favourites are:

• The black cloud, by Fred Hoyle. I read this during my secondary school in the early days after my family migrated to Australia, when I was struggling with English, which kind of explains the fond memory of this novel!?
• Citizen of the galaxy, by Robert Heinlein. Can’t recall exactly when I read this, but I just remember being very touched by the ending.
• The Childe Cyle series, by Gordon R. Dickson. I read this during the last years during undergraduate. To me, the scale of the series is definitely on par with Asimov’s Foundation saga. In fact, I have been waiting eagerly for new books to the series. However, it was after reading about the list and a bit of Googling that I eventually discovered that the author had passed away in 2001. A pity really. I would have liked to read more of his works.