The latest e-book I am reading is The Lost World, by Arthur Conan Doyle. Yes, he also wrote stories with Sherlock Holmes. It is an old story published in 1912, but because of a modern day movie called Jurrasic Park it seems familiar. If you ask me, Steven Spielberg stole the entire plot for his film from this book. All he did was to make the creatures come to life for the movie. Don’t get me wrong Spielberg’s accomplishments in showing us stories with realistic animatronics and green screen techniques is nothing to scoff at. His genius has made him a multi-millionaire if not a billionaire.
What impresses me about this story is the writing. Sir Arthur Conan Doyle does a masterful job of creating images with words. I find myself on the edge of my seat wriggling with anticipation as the story unfolds and the plot becomes filled with action, suspense, and excitement. The writing of many of the old books I read during this COVID season were stodgy and stiff and lost me in proper English grammar and phraseology of the nineteenth century. Lost World hasn’t done that to me. Since I have not completed the book I cannot comment on the ending, I still don’t know what it is.
One problem I am having at this moment is a lap-top battery that is dying. When the battery suddenly comes to the end of its power, the screen goes black and all reading, writing, or computing is finished. At least with a hard copy book, and a simple book mark, one can resume reading almost instantly. All I do is pick up the book, (i.e. after finding it) and open to the mark. On the computer, one has to wait until the battery is recharged then boot the machine before reading may commence. As long as there are old people alive the need for hard copy books will thrive.
Since the boomers are all aging they too will learn the simple joys of holding a book and flipping pages. That is so much simpler than swiping the touch pad with two fingers, only to learn that the curser has gone to sleep or is not on the book page and needs to be found before the swipe thing works. I forget though that evolution will cause boomers to grow a phone out of their palm and an extra thumb on each hand to facilitate texting.
Filed under: Biography, Book Review, family, Satire, Seniors | Tagged: eBooks, Lost World, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Steven Spielberg |
How are you doing