Toby Atkin-Wright

I buy quite a few books. When reading for pleasure I prefer to buy hardbacks. The larger pages, the physical presence of the book in my hands, and the book as an object to treasure, all contribute to my enjoyment of reading. I don't think ebooks could replace hardbacks for me.

But I also buy a fair number of computing books. Going back a decade or two, Addison-Wesley seemed to be the most common publisher on my computing bookshelf. Since the mid-90s O'Reilly has been prevalent, although in the last few years I've bought several books published by Pragmatic Programmers. Since last year, I've been buying my computer books as ebooks, and as I upgrade to new editions of my existing books, my computer book shelf is getting smaller.

Both O'Reilly and Pragmatic Programmers release ebooks in a variety of formats (PDF, ePub, and mobi for Kindles), and all are without DRM. I tend to use the PDF versions on my computers, and the ePub version in Stanza on my iPhone. I've mostly been happy with the results; Stanza works better for reading a book rather than searching, whereas PDFs on a computer screen are better for searching than for reading. Having the ebooks available both at work and home has been useful.

I wouldn't buy any ebooks with DRM, though.

Worth noting is the O'Reilly ebook deal of the day, where one of their books is available for $9.99 each day. Follow the feed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/oreilly/ebookdealoftheday

I buy quite a few books. When reading for pleasure I prefer to buy hardbacks. The larger pages, the physical presence of the book in my hands, and the book as an object to treasure, all contribute to my enjoyment of reading. I don't think ebooks could replace hardbacks for me.

But I also buy a fair number of computing books. Going back a decade or two, Addison-Wesley seemed to be the most common publisher on my computing bookshelf. Since the mid-90s O'Reilly has been prevalent, although in the last few years I've bought several books published by Pragmatic Programmers. Since last year, I've been buying my computer books as ebooks, and as I upgrade to new editions of my existing books, my computer book shelf is getting smaller.

Both O'Reilly and Pragmatic Programmers release ebooks in a variety of formats (PDF, ePub, and mobi for Kindles), and all are without DRM. I tend to use the PDF versions on my computers, and the ePub version in Stanza on my iPhone. I've mostly been happy with the results; Stanza works better for reading a book rather than searching, whereas PDFs on a computer screen are better for searching than for reading. Having the ebooks available both at work and home has been useful.

I wouldn't buy any ebooks with DRM, though.

Worth noting is the O'Reilly ebook deal of the day, where one of their books is available for $9.99 each day. Follow the feed at http://feeds.feedburner.com/oreilly/ebookdealoftheday

While shopping at the weekend I picked up a bottle of “Chop” brown sauce. Made by “Hammonds of Yorkshire”, I was amused to find that it was manufactured in Lancashire. Mind you, it is refreshing to find another brand of brown sauce that is actually made in the UK.

We tried it this evening with our dinner; Quorn sausages with mashed potato, red cabbage, and broad beans. The Chop sauce had a pleasantly spicy taste, although it was much less vinegary than any other brown sauce that I’ve tried. It will be a pleasure to work our way through the rest of the bottle. I’m not sure whether Chop sauce will be a regular purchase, but it may become an occasional addition to our usual pattern of HP, Daddies, and Branston brown sauces.

Kate used her new potato mashing device, to good effect.

While shopping at the weekend I picked up a bottle of “Chop” brown sauce. Made by “Hammonds of Yorkshire”, I was amused to find that it was manufactured in Lancashire. Mind you, it is refreshing to find another brand of brown sauce that is actually made in the UK.

We tried it this evening with our dinner; Quorn sausages with mashed potato, red cabbage, and broad beans. The Chop sauce had a pleasantly spicy taste, although it was much less vinegary than any other brown sauce that I’ve tried. It will be a pleasure to work our way through the rest of the bottle. I’m not sure whether Chop sauce will be a regular purchase, but it may become an occasional addition to our usual pattern of HP, Daddies, and Branston brown sauces.

Kate used her new potato mashing device, to good effect.