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Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division

stephendiehl.com

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Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division

#31

Post by caconym_ »

hectdev wrote: post #13
maximinus_thrax wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't 'buy' digital items from Amazon, because you won't actually own them. Pay extra, support your local bookshop and get a physical copy which you will actually own.

This disregards the benefit of a single device that is easy to carry. Love where this is come from so maybe do both if you can.

It's a trade-off. I love the convenience of ebooks, but not owning my books is just categorically unacceptable to me. I want my daughter and anyone else coming after me to have free access to them, not to have to jump through Amazon's hoops (if such hoops even exist) for access.

I have a Kobo that I use to read the non-DRM ebooks I'm able to acquire. One such source is downloads from the Kobo store, when publishers make the non-DRM file available.

Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division

#32

Post by Insanity »

root_axis wrote: post #29
maximinus_thrax wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't 'buy' digital items from Amazon, because you won't actually own them. Pay extra, support your local bookshop and get a physical copy which you will actually own.

I basically always start with digital, if the book is good I always buy a physical copy for my shelf.

I do something similar - but I'm quite picky with books I buy due to limited physical space.

Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division

#34

Post by tantalor »

maximinus_thrax wrote: post #11
HardwareLust wrote: post #4

Good timing, the Kindle version is $1.99 right now.

Please don't 'buy' digital items from Amazon, because you won't actually own them. Pay extra, support your local bookshop and get a physical copy which you will actually own.

I borrowed it from the library.

Support your local library!

Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division

#35

Post by shimman »

hectdev wrote: post #13
maximinus_thrax wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't 'buy' digital items from Amazon, because you won't actually own them. Pay extra, support your local bookshop and get a physical copy which you will actually own.

This disregards the benefit of a single device that is easy to carry. Love where this is come from so maybe do both if you can.

I use a kindle but I have never bought a book on the kindle store ever (been using it for 10 years). Totally doable and not hard to avoid... especially since the smaller stores not only have better sales but the author typically gets more money too.

Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division

#36

Post by presbyterian »

sublinear wrote: post #14
maximinus_thrax wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Please don't 'buy' digital items from Amazon, because you won't actually own them. Pay extra, support your local bookshop and get a physical copy which you will actually own.

Amazon allows EPUB downloads for publishers that have chosen to go DRM-free.

They used to allow downloads of all books, which you could then rip the DRM from, but they got rid of that last year. Huge disappointment, and is why I don't buy books on Kindle anymore.

Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division

#37

Post by troupo »

xnx wrote: post #15

24 days ago: Sci-Fi Short Film “There Is No Antimemetics Division” https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47363133

There's also a short web series which is very good: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLm3ywOKVBeAp1CmOhpsfu...

I haven't seen the short film, so cannot compare.

Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division

#39

Post by scrumbledober »

It's surely not a great book and if you are someone who reads a book every few months i wouldn't recommend it. It's very weird and different and fun, though. I suggest it for people who read a lot of sci-fi and are looking for something that doesn't feel the same as 10 other books they've already read.

Re: Book review: There Is No Antimemetics Division

#40

Post by mentalpagefault »

AnotherGoodName wrote: post #7

I wonder if this is for the rewrite or the first version. I read the first version and thought the first half was good and that the second half felt clunky. To the point where i don’t recommend it to anyone (not a huge negative, there’s just better books out there).

This review appears to be of the first version despite the recent date. (The rewrite filed the serial numbers off the SCP references and changed character names both for copyright reasons and to provide a degree of separation from the original.)

I read both versions and agree that the second half of the first version was very abstract and difficult to follow. While I would consider the first half of the new version more edited than rewritten, the second half got a significant overhaul which fixed almost all of my issues with it and made for (in my opinion) a much more satisfying ending. I would recommend giving the new version another chance, though those who read the first version may find the new character names distracting. (Most didn't bother me, but Marion Wheeler -> Marie Quinn never felt quite right.)

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