A Day for the Books

Anyone that talked to me last summer, especially in August, knows I had to take on a grueling project for work that definitely was not the highlight of my year! My organization was working on a second edition to our textbook, and even though we had a team of editors and contributors, my team and I were tasked with a sizable amount of formatting, editing, and manuscript preparation. This job is usually handled by our Training and Education Department, but their director was out on maternity leave and it fell to me. I had a great team helping me and by the end, all of us hated the project.

But all the hard work paid off when advance copies arrived at my office today. At first, I really wasn’t that affected by their arrival. I didn’t want to look for fear of seeing an error that it was too late to correct. But as the day went on, I started flipping through the book. I even used it this afternoon to look something up. It is a great resource already!

On another book related note, I looked at a friend’s Kindle today. I have been on the fence about Kindles, because I really, really love books. I love the way they feel in my hands and the way they smell. Today I even took a big whiff of the new textbook. Although I do get most of my news online, I still have a special place in my heart for newspapers. Instead of becoming a crazy cat lady, I have always thought I would be a crazy single lady with a house full of stacks and stacks of newspapers. 

I just can’t get completely behind the idea of the wireless reading device. My friend (the Kindle owner) said he doesn’t love books and newspapers any less post-Kindle, but it is just so convenient. I admit, I do see the appeal for commuting, and it was pretty cool. Maybe by Christmas I’ll be completely sold.