I picked up java software to facilitate reading novels on my cell back in 2002, with a 2 inch by 1 inch screen. REALLY hard on the eyes.
On Mon, Feb 9, 2009 at 5:53 PM, Jed Rothwell <[email protected]> wrote: > The Kindle 2 screen size is 4.8" high, 3.6" width, 6" diameter (15.3 cm > diameter). The weight is just over 10 oz (280 g). This is about the same > page size and weight as a 517-page paperback book on my shelf. (A book by > David Hume.) > > Paperback book size (h, w): 7" x 4", 1.25" thick, page size excluding > margins: 6" x 3.5" > > Kindle 2 overall gadget size: 8" x 5.3", 0.36" thick, page size excluding > gadget 4.8" x 3.6" (as I said) So it is about an inch shorter. > > The book has 43 lines per page, probably 10 point font, with 429 words on > one particular page, as follows: > > "no more contradiction than the affirmation, that it will rise. We should in > vain, therefore, attempt to demonstrate its falsehood. Were it > demonstratively false, it would imply a contradiction, and could never be > distinctly conceived by the mind. > > It may, therefore, be a subject worthy of curiosity, to enquire what is the > nature of that evidence which assures us of any real existence and matter of > fact, beyond the present testimony of our senses, or the records of our > memory. This part of philosophy, it is observable, has been little > cultivated, either by the ancients or moderns; and therefore our doubts and > errors, in the prosecution of so important an enquiry, may be the more > excusable; while we march through such difficult paths without any guide or > direction. They may even prove useful, by exciting curiosity, and destroying > that implicit faith and security, which is the bane of all reasoning and > free enquiry. The discovery of defects in the common philosophy, if any such > there be, will not, I presume, be a discouragement, but rather an > incitement, as is usual, to attempt something more full and satisfactory > than has yet been proposed to the public. > > All reasonings concerning matter of fact seem to be founded on the relation > of Cause and Effect. By means of that relation alone we can go beyond the > evidence of our memory and senses. If you were to ask a man, why he believes > any matter of fact, which is absent; for instance, that his friend is in the > country, or in France; he would give you a reason; and this reason would be > some other fact; as a letter received from him, or the knowledge of his > former resolutions and promises. A man finding a watch or any other machine > in a desert island, would conclude that there had once been men in that > island. All our reasonings concerning fact are of the same nature. And here > it is constantly supposed that there is a connexion between the present fact > and that which is inferred from it. Were there nothing to bind them > together, the inference would be entirely precarious. The hearing of an > articulate voice and rational discourse in the dark assures us of the > presence of some person: Why? because these are the effects of the human > make and fabric, and closely connected with it. If we anatomize all the > other reasonings of this nature, we shall find that they are founded on the > relation of cause and effect, and that this relation is either near or > remote, direct or collateral." > > - David Hume, "AN ENQUIRY CONCERNING HUMAN UNDERSTANDING" > > http://18th.eserver.org/hume-enquiry.html > > Based on my experience with the Kindle emulator, I doubt you could fit that > much text on the screen, even with the smallest font. > > One nice thing about the Kindle is that you can zoom up the text size. I > find this old book with 10 point text kind of hard to read. The Kindle 2.0 > will read the text aloud. > > I believe this 7" x 4" format is the smallest paperback book in common use > in the U.S. Incidentally, Japanese paperback books ("bunkobon") are smaller: > 6" x 4.25". Actual page size excluding margins: 5" x 3.25". Almost the same > as the Kindle! > > I predict these things will be a huge hit in Japan, if anyone there still > reads books when Amazon gets around to introducing them. Japanese publishers > are conservative and I predict they will not introduce them, although at > present there is a widespread fad of reading novels on cell phones, which > are specially written to be read in very short segments. > > - Jed > >
