Who reads book nowadays ?

 

No really, who reads books today ? Text books prescribed in schools and colleges…well, they still have their takers. But I am talking of all those novels and long form literature. Buying those hardcover books is sheer waste of money. As I recently found out. You see, I had a bunch of these old novels lying around the house. And in order to make space, I decided to get rid of them. Now in the past, I used to drive straight to  the second hand book store, where the book-loving-sales/agent would give me at least 40% of the cover value of the books in return. Higher if it is an non-Indian author, and even higher for hard cover books instead of paperbacks. Enough money to go buy another brand new book.

So imagine my surprise when this time the seller blankly refused to take the book. No one reads them, he tells me. Nowadays everyone buys soft copy. By that he meant the PDF/EPUB versions of books sold online. He then further proceeds to make me an offer. I can exchange my 3 year old Tom Clancy novel for another book by the same author, and pay him 50 rupees for his inconvenience. So, he wants my money AND the book.

No thanks, I respectfully declined. And then gave the book, and a few more I had to the kabbadiwala. Those road side dealers of paper and scrap. I got the worth of the book in the weight of its paper. About 15 rupees. I had bought some of them for 750/- plus.

This was today. But then something else had happened around two weeks prior. We got a free promotional copy of the Hindu at our doorstep, with the advertisement: one year subscription rates halved !. What used to cost 1800/- a year will now just cost 900/- for one years subscription to the paper. They were actually giving them away for its paper’s weight. Now I have never taken a newspaper subscription during the 10 years I have lived on my own. But I could see that more and more people were turning of these physical news feeds.

Back home, I used to have my own little collection of english novels I loved to read, even when I knew the whole story in my head. But they too went into the garbage when the paper in them started to disintegrate.

So this lead me to ponder, who are the ones still reading physical books and subscribing to newspapers today ? Maybe they are still popular in small towns and deep within villages. But within the cities, it no longer makes sense to spend money on them, when you can get the news for free. And the books for slightly more than free.  In a way, mass media and book publishers are also being disrupted, they will have to find a new way to price their products within the spare budget of today’s smartpone wiedling techies, if they want to stay in business. No one seems to be doing anything about it. Digital is the way forward.

But I still miss the joy and smell of a good book during a rainy day.

 

PS: My favourite authors are Agatha Christie, Michael Crichton, and P G Wodehouse. I have read every work they have created.

Fortis Fortuna Adiuvat

 

Taking small steps today. Hopefully things will work out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

India’s data science conundrum

 

Came across a nice article attempting to burst the myth of data science jobs, supposedly the coolest new job trend. Every day I get at least 2 e-mails from companies advertising data science courses which enables candidates to get data science jobs. Turns out, they are eventually paid the same salary which programmers working in traditional languages get. Maybe a little more. But the median is the same.

This is primarily because most of India’s data scientists only know how to use the tools, but do not possess the solid foundation in math and statistics to grow in the field.

 

 

 

 

And some of the these data-scientists are also jobless.

Stranger Things - Bingeing on Season 2

I don’ usually do this binge watching thing, never understood how people find time to do it. But I just had to watch season 2 on Stranger Things the day it is released. I had so many questions ! And I love the eighties ! Yay !

Well i just finished watching all nine episodes back to back.  Overall, loved it !

Its amazing how the show creators have managed to build up the entire mythology and increased the danger, and still got children to save the day. And nobody else in the little town is aware of all these dark tidings. This season ended without a cliffhanger, but there is definitely one more season coming.

I loved the story, acting, and all those eighties references. Arcade games, nylon records, the costumes and music…reminder of a simpler era. I kept forgetting that they still don’t have mobile phones there, so they all cant talk to each other over long distances like you today. And we all need a sister like Erika !

But I hated that the breakout character from last season, eleven, is separated from the rest of the group. They only meet in the last episode.  Also I didn’t like Will’s exorcism, and when Dustin tried to protect his creature, knowing it is from the other side. And I could not also relate to some of the newer characters.

Poor Bob had to die. :( . Barb did get a funeral, but what about Bob now ?

----------------------------------------Earlier content------------------------------------------------

Here are some thoughts….in real-time.

Twist right at the beginning : eight ! Somebody got out earlier.

Eighties vibe…arcade games, those cool cycles, retro cars, and the music. The terminator is playing, and some in a ghostbuster suit is walking into the upside down.

How did they get all those pictures of younger Barb ?

Eleven is back ! She is staying with Hopper ! Wow.they treated that so…calmly.

Ok…moving on to episode 2.

Flashback time. Eleven is stuck in the upside down, trying to get back.

Yep, its worse now in the real world for her. Felt so bad for her in the woods.

I don’t like Madmax. And her mullet-brother creeps me out.

Ok, this episode was more about Eleven than Will.

Ok..moving on to episode 3. I think I will watch this at the gym.

Eeww…new …strange…creature..and it is growing…its actually a little version of the demogorgon, revealed in episode 4

Poor mews.

Episode 7—this one felt out of place. The events in this episode is entirely out of Hawkins. Weird Chicago punk.

Jumping right to the final episode, it was Will’s exorcism. Everyone was heating and poking the poor guy. And of course eleven’s show of strength.

The Predictable Mr Dan Brown

 

I finally finished reading Dan Brown’s new novel. Yes, he is still writing, and he still has got a few tricks up this harris tweed sleeve. I remember the first time I read his novel, it was the DaVinci code, which I read more than 10 years ago. My dear friend Tomci loaned me his original copy. Back then, I was gripped by the narrative, transported instantly to Paris, and London, the setting of the story. This was before the internet had penetrated our lives like it has today. There was no way to verify the claims mentioned in the book, and one simply had to take it at face value. Being  non-christian, I was not offended by the book, but was smiling mischeviously with a I-knew-it smirk. An author with the guts to write, I remember thinking to myself.

Not anymore. Since the day he found his style, he has stuck to it. Religiously, for the lack of a better term. His latest book is equal parts boring and interesting. Boring because it is completely predictable. The settings, the characters, some of the lousy dialogues, and excrucitating detail. And interesting because the book again talks of the rivalry between science and religion. Most of the ideas presented in his latest books are not original, he has taken some ideas and theories presented by others and neatly packaged it. But man of man, it is so boring. Brown needs to find a new characther, or a new genre.

Just a few chapters into the book, I grew suspiciuos of the charachter Winston, and suspected him to be the mastermind orchestratin the crimes about to be committed in the story. There is another, young female companion for Robert Langdon to talk to, who is again a subject matter expert from science, complimenting Langdon’s own expertise in symbols. The whole story takes place over a few hours, less than a day. But the mastermind has planned it all for weeks , or even months. And in the end, predictably, Robert Langdon saves the day, and reveals the secret. He will live for his next adventure. Something about an ancient cult trying to prove aliens exist on earth among us…..

Again the latest book has attracted negativity from religious circles. I find it fascinating that even in this day and age religious evangelists use technology to criticize…well, science ! The question of where we came from is the oldest question mankind has asked. Brown has distilled some long standing ideas into a quick two day read, there is no need to question his faith because the ideas itself are not his original. Until the real truth is revealed, I think the dialogue should be kept open.

And comging back to Origin, well, nothing in it is original. Its a merge of all this previous charachters and style in a new setting and facing a graver threat.

 

In a 2006 interview, Brown stated that he had ideas for about 12 future books featuring Robert Langdon. Oh no….

 

 

PS: I lied, This time, I did not ‘read’ the book. I listened to it. On audiobook. Some chaps have uploaded the audiobook version directly on to youtube, and it can be accessed for free.