Review of the Amazon Kindle, Electronic Book Reader
by Elaine L. Galit

I first became aware of Amazon’s Kindle about six months ago and it’s changed my reading habits. As an avid and eclectic reader, books pile up every which-where; now Kindle is clearing the clutter from my house.
The kindle is light weight, pencil thin and easy to pick up with its beveled edges. With page turners on each side, it is also easy to hold and “turn” the pages with just a press of the thumb of either hand.

This electronic book uses its wireless “whispernet” to give the reader access to over 180,000 books, magazines, newspapers and blogs--and that number is growing all the time as Amazon adds more to its collection. It can also read books in other formats and has some MP3 music support as well.

But one of the most important features is the Kindle’s portability. It’s about the size of a trade paperback book and not much heavier. As a writer, I travel extensively. Books used to be the heaviest items in my suitcase and carry-on. Now I just take the Kindle, which weighs only a little over 10 oz. or about the weight of one typical paperback, and I’m done. I can carry two hundred books in one. You can also get a SD memory card to hold even more. Then there’s the ease of acquiring the books you want. You simply sign up and you’re ready to go using the uncomplicated scroll and click wheel. Once you have the book, Kindle provides another choice; you can annotate what you’re reading and you can search for what you’ve written at any time. Downloading a book takes seconds and your credit card is charged automatically. The cost is about half that of a paper book. Amazon states:”New York Times bestsellers and new releases are $9.99 or less.” The books are yours as long as you want them and you can even delete them, and if you change your mind, get them back without further cost. You can also access some free books on the unlimited internet access.
Kindle is not just for books. If you’re into newspapers and/or magazines, they too, can be delivered even before you get up in the morning. Blogs are automatically updated throughout the day. One of my favorite websites is Wikapedia, a free, wireless access site I often visit. Amazon also has included its own “recommended section” in the Kindle.

I owned one of the original electronic readers. It was bulky, difficult to download and even worse, hard to read. With the backlit screen it was more like reading a computer. The beauty of the Kindle is it reads like a book. Since you use an outside light source, as you would a paper book, it’s easy on the eyes. Another great feature is the font size that changes from the smallest to largest six times. As a senior, I love the option of making the font larger. If you are interrupted and have to stop reading, just move a switch on the back of the book and it turns off. When you turn it back on, Kindle remembers where you left off. My youngest Granddaughter, who always reads more than one book at a time, would love the bookmark feature that allows you to do just that.
Kindle also has a feature called NowNow that lets users ask questions and delivers up to three answers. It is similar to Google or Ask.com, but humans are the information gurus. For questions on basic web and Kindle NowNow, Amazon provides a web site at:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/help/customer/display.html?nodeId=200137070.

Amazon is different from other e-book vendors since they’re happy to work with authors and they make it easy to publish a Kindle book.

The cover is one item that needs updating. The Kindle slides out of it too easily and it’s awkward. There is a “sharing” feature--of sorts. Amazon lets you share with as many as six other Kindles. The catch is they must all be on the same account. If they’re on other accounts you cannot share. This is somewhat of a drawback as sharing is easy with a conventional paper book.
Although the cost of the Kindle has been reduced from $399 to $359 there is a need for further reduction in order to bring more people on board. It is analogous to a printer. The companies charge little for an inkjet printer in order to make money on the cartridges they sell. Since you buy most of the books by downloading them from Amazon this would be advantages to the company especially since the books are electronic therefore there are no printing costs involved.

While the keyboard is tiny and difficult to use it does double duty as a handy place to hold while reading. Amazon claims the battery life is about a week with the Kindle turned off and a couple of days with it on. There are two simple switches in the back. One turns the Kindle off/on and the other turns the wireless internet on/off. The Kindle is a time saver, I never have to leave the house to buy a book; an eye saver, the paper-like pages and different font sizes make it easy to read; and a money saver, the cost of the books is half and sometimes less than a conventional paper book. If you’re a voracious reader, if your house is filled with books as mine is, go to Amazon.com; explore and consider the Kindle. For me, the Kindle works, and I highly recommend it to anyone who loves books.

Elaine L. Galit, coauthor of Exploring Houston with Children, Exploring the Arts and Culture of Houston with Children and Exploring Texas History: Weekend Adventures, is an award winning freelance writer. Her work has appeared in anthologies such as Chicken Soup for the Volunteer's Soul, Women Forged in Fire, and Chicken Soup for the Working Woman’s Soul. Her more than 150 magazine and photo credits include Writer's Digest, Houston Generation Magazine and Woman's World. Elaine spent several years as a bookseller and Community Relations Coordinator for a local independent bookstore and has taught writing at the University of Houston, Cinco Ranch. When not writing, Elaine devotes her time to an emerging passion: the art of colored pencils. Elaine lives in Houston with her calico cat, Juni, and a house full of books.

(ADIP January 2009)

Mexico
By James A. Michener
Reviewed By Catherine Krantz

James A. Michener’s Mexico is 646 pages of historical fiction that takes the rich and varied history of Mexico, its people and places, throws them all together in a bag, shakes them up and dumps them out like puzzle pieces all across the country.

If you know very little of Mexican history or have visited few Mexican cities, reading Michener’s Mexico might confuse you or worse yet, convince you, it is a history lesson. Fiction like that can be scary, as it is a fictionalized account and its cities, stories and races a conglomeration of many things, it risks un-educating you. You learn to distrust its every claim and worry you don’t know enough to know the difference. But if you are reasonably confident in your knowledge and feel sure you won’t be led astray, this could be the part you enjoy most. The unexpected joy of unraveling the thread of inspiration, which structure, which city, which story or which historical figure, inspired what. And recognizing the familiar truths behind the fictions can give you great confidence in your knowledge of Mexican history.

If you view it that way, an entertaining brain teaser, Michener’s Mexico becomes not just the sweeping historical tale of Mexico, but the ultimate Mexophile beach read. Complete with history and a wealth of possible trivia questions: how many cities do you think Michener drew from to create the fictional main character, the city of Toledo? The beautifully executed opening scene of Clay walking into town brought to mind vivid near photo-quality recollections of four or five different Mexican cities, four or five different Mexican experiences, each vying in my imagination for the distinction of which it most resembled. These recognitions accompanied with flashes of my own memories persisted throughout the novel, making it at once a convergence of Michener’s Mexico and mine. This ability to vividly evoke on the page, nay channel, a place or time in history is the incredible talent of the Pulitzer Prize winner, and when in 1992 James A. Michener turned his microscopic glare on Mexico, what emerged was a classic.

Michener’s Mexico is a pageantry of history, stretching from the earliest civilizations in Mexico to the 20th century, all intricately tied to the history of one multi-national family and how its story becomes the story of Mexico. He weaves a bold tapestry that brings the flavor and essence of the people throughout many time periods. With a hugely diverse cast of characters spanning centuries, Michener manages to paint a portrait of Mexico that can only be heartbreaking and bloody, yet glorious, complete with all the conflicting emotions, honest appraisals and innumerable tragedies that must accompany the history of any nation. A sweeping epic tale found in most any respectable ex-pat bookshelf and a delightful beach read, whether you are just beginning your love affair with Mexico or have been in the rocky relationship for years.

(ADIP November 2005)

Listen to reviewer Catherine Krantz, read an excerpt from James A. Michener’s Mexico.

Mother Nature, My Nature
by Owen Lee
Reviewed by Doug Beach

The image on the cover of Owen Lee’s new book, a drawing of early man—let’s call him Homo erectusis removing a mask from his face that is a caricature of the author. What are readers to make of this? Mother Nature, My Nature is a wide departure from the author’s previous books, a novel, several skin diving manuals, tourist guides, and just last year, an autobiography. Owen Lee is the American expatriate proprietor of Las Gatas Beach Club. It follows that most of his earlier works were of a tropical bent featuring turquoise waters, coco palms, and white sand beaches. This new book is very different—the clash of science, religion, and Mother Nature.

One might ask what sparks Lee’s interest in these topics, and what credentials qualify him to write about these subjects. For starters, the back cover copy states, “Owen Lee was the first American to join the crew of Captain Jacques Yves Cousteau aboard his famous research ship, the Calypso, first as an underwater cameraman, then as a traveling lecture spokesman promoting Cousteau’s thoughts about nature in over 300 cities.”

Captain Cousteau passed away in 1997. His legacy includes 120 television documentaries and 50 books. This prolific outpouring earned Cousteau a reputation as one of the early pioneers in bringing green issues to public attention, and Lee rubbed elbows with the great man for nearly a decade. In My Mother, My Nature, Lee tells readers of dinner conversations aboard Cousteau’s famous ship that centered on nature’s rebellion against humankind’s gathering population outburst and other ecological blunders. Said Cousteau; “Man’s road into the future leads smack into a wall . . . Until we learn to live in harmony with our ecosystem, survival of life as we know it is doomed. I give it fifty, perhaps a hundred years.” The captain’s statement got Lee to thinking about man’s disregard for Mother Nature and he never stopped thinking about it. Some years later the Calypso sailed into Zihuatanejo bay and Lee traded the sailing life for a nature preserve at Playa Las Gatas. To put a proper foundation beneath his argument that the world is on the cusp of disastrous overcrowding, depletion of natural resources, and rapid environmental destruction, Lee hurtles the reader through the Big Bang theory, the ambling rise of hunter-gatherer Homo erectus, and the raw, gene driven sex habits of humankind. Along the way, his book argues that the planet is indeed warming, and the hole in the ozone layer is ever widening. The author backs up his pronouncements with research from an impressive bibliography that includes Al Gore’s Earth in Balance, Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring, Willis Harman’s Global Mind Change, and Carl Sagan’s Cosmos. In a particularly bold stroke, Lee encourages the devout to set aside their myriad gods in exchange for proven scientific facts and belief in Mother Nature. Writes Lee: “Floating on the cherished beliefs of their forefathers, religious beliefs have survived on faith alone. But their survival has come at a heavy price...”

The author infers that a worldwide commitment to living within the laws of Mother Nature is the single path that might avoid the bedlam ahead. “Throughout her annual migrations around the sun, Mother Earth blindly follows a strict code of quantum physics and a precise time schedule. She does not know if there is life aboard and cares less. She is on her own mission.” With regard to the book cover, if you guessed that the author believes himself a descendent of Homo erectus rather than Adam and Eve, you are correct. Random House and Fawcett, publishers of most of Lee’s earlier books, provided Lee with proofreading services. This book, published by Seahorse Productions, contains syntax errors that Lee says he is correcting in the upcoming second printing, though these faults in no way detract from the powerful message of Owen Lee’s magnum opus.

Douglas Beach is a writer living in Zihuatanejo.
Mother Nature, My Nature is available via amazon.com

(ADIP April 2008)

Listen to author Owen Lee read an excerpt from his book, Mother Nature, My Nature.

Intercultural Communication: A Practical Guide
By Tracy Novinger
Reviewed By Catherine Krantz

Do you often find yourself frustrated or confused in your business or social interactions in Mexico? Do you feel like your simple, reasonable or logical requests are often met with incomprehension, disdain or indifference? Do you sometimes find yourself in situations that are inexplicable, flabbergasting or infuriating? Welcome to the world of culture clash, where just because it is different does not mean it is wrong…and just because it does not seem logical does not mean that it isn’t.

Cultures have been clashing, probably since the very first humans left their homes and went exploring. Every country has its stories of invaders coming in and finding the natives to be heathens, pagans, and uncivilized brutes. (The natives—it should be no surprise to find out—felt exactly the same about the intruders.) These early cultural clashes often resulted in wars, massacres and the overthrow of civilizations, but even our modern non-violent culture clashes can leave more than bemused confusion in their wake. Intercultural interaction, especially in this age of globalization, is a modern reality, and not only for people who choose to live outside their native countries. The world has gotten smaller in every possible way and our business and social interactions are now being played out on an international field—a playing field fraught with invisible obstacles. Rest assured, there are rules to every game—even if they aren’t the rules you learned at home.

Venturing out into this totally new territory, you will do well to find a guide to assist you, and luckily one exists. With a multicultural, multilingual background and a lifetime of traveling, Tracy Novinger knows about culture differences. She has written a book, Intercultural Communication, A Practical Guide, which should be required reading for anyone who lives in Mexico, does business in Mexico, or is considering doing either. Hans Durrer, writer, interpreter and intercultural coach, says of Novinger's book, “This is a well-written tome with plenty of telling anecdotes, full of clever insights and enjoyable to read: a book that sharpened my cultural radars and made me feel enriched.”

Communication barriers are often thought to be language-based, but language is just the tip of the iceberg. Novinger spent seven years researching this book and wrote it while she was getting her master’s degree in Communications. Having spent her childhood and young adulthood in multiple countries and fluent in English, Portuguese, French and Spanish, she became attracted to the study of intercultural communication after noticing her own communication style would differ depending on the language she was speaking. She sometimes felt as if she had multiple personalities, so distinctive were her interactions in one language or another. Novinger began to realize it was not merely her language fluency that allowed her to communicate effectively, but the nonverbal cues she was expressing, contributed as well. These cues played very different roles in different cultures. More importantly, being able to understand these nonverbal cues was the difference between effective communication and misunderstanding. This realization led her to pursue advanced studies in communication and to write two books on the topic.

In our home environments, being able to share ideas and effortlessly communicate one’s thoughts, wishes, or needs is something we often take for granted. The amount of misunderstanding routinely faced in foreign environments, whether they are language-based, culture-based, or both, can be overwhelming. These miscommunications can leave you feeling isolated or alienated on the personal level, and can cost you money and opportunity on the professional level. Whether your interactions in Mexico are for business or for pleasure, a little understanding of the cultural forces at work under the surface can go a long way in alleviating the amount of frustration and friction you experience (or cause).

(ADIP December 2007)

Further Resources:
Tracy Novinger has an M.A. in Communications and has written two books on intercultural communication published by UT Press, and available on Amazon.com.

She speaks English, Portuguese, French and Spanish, and has some knowledge of other languages. Ms. Novinger was born on the island of Aruba where three generations of her family lived. She then went to school in Portuguese in Brazil from age ten until she began university studies. After graduation, she lived and worked in French-speaking Tahiti for nine years. She has a home in Mexico and travels extensively. She has, in fact, “lived” intercultural communication her whole life and has the ability to step in and out of several cultural worlds.

Ms. Novinger wrote a series of articles for ADIP in the 2007-2008 season. You can find them in the ADIP archives (January, February, March 2008)

Hans Durrer is the author of "Ways of Perception: On Visual and Intercultural Communication (White Lotus Press, Bangkok, 2006); his homepage is http://hansdurrer.com; his blog http://durrer-intercultural.blogspot.com