Head in the Cloud

I've discovered a whole new way to enjoy reading. eBooks have been around for years but since the introduction of the Kindle Reader by Amazon.com in 2007 they've really taken off. I've resisted buying a Kindle because I didn't want to be forced to buy books from a single outlet, be it Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Sony, that produces those books in a proprietary format readable only on their device. But I've changed my position on that recently because as a traveler and a voracious reader I simply cannot bring with me all the books I will read in a span of 6 or 8 months. I don't have room for them and I don't want to pay to ship them all over the world. I read most books only once and then I must decide what to do with them. I usually give them to a friend but sometimes I throw them away or sell them at a second hand shop. I definitely don't want to carry them on my motorcycle or stuff them into my already heavy roller bag and take them flying with me.

eBooks solve that problem perfectly. They weigh nothing and take up no space. I can read several books simultaneously, choosing one for bedtime reading, another for afternoons, still another for a quick, topical read. Conventional bookmarks aren't required because the page you're on is always remembered. And you do not need to buy a separate stand-alone reader. At Amazon at least, you can download your books to a normal computer (or several computers) and read them in your browser. The Kindle Cloud Reader is a Flash based application that requires nothing other than a recent version of Chrome or Firefox. I'm carrying a raft of books with me now -- a couple of them in book form would be weighty tomes (A tale of Two Cities, Infinite Jest) that would push the weight of my roller bag over the 23 kg limit. And, surprise, surprise, some of the books in my Cloud Library were very cheap to purchase, some even free.

A portion of my Kindle Library

One of the nicer features of these apps is that you don't have to be online to read. You can download and "pin" any book (or many books) and read offline. In the photo above you see some of the titles I've purchased. They are in "The Cloud" in Amazon's parlance -- they do not actually exist on my computer but are on Amazon's servers somewhere in cyberspace. In the top center of this screen shot you can see a tab labeled "Downloaded". Clicking on this tab displays the books I've pinned, i.e., downloaded.  These are ready to read anytime I want them, whether I happen to be near a wi-fi access point or not. A full electronic copy exists on my computer. Very cool.

Are the eBooks expensive? Yes and no. They usually cost less then their printed counterparts but Amazon and others have got to be making a ton of money on them because, let's face it, the production costs must be small compared with manufacturing a printed book, packaging it, distributing it, stocking it, etc. That said, most of the books I've bought cost about $10 -- about what you pay these days to download an mp3 album by an established group.

And here's something I discovered only recently. Many Kindle books are available cheap, from 99 cents to 1.99. These are termed Kindle Singles. Some of these are books that might never have seen the light of day if conventional metrics applied. They are good books in their own right but for various reasons, maybe they're too short or appeal to only a limited audience, would never have been printed. Ebooks have opened the door for many authors, some very well known, to get these works published despite a lack of industry interest. The entire top row of titles in my Cloud (which happens to be displayed in order of purchase) are Kindle Singles and represent about $15-20 worth of purchases. There are the short, topical reads I mentioned above -- most can be finished in an hour or two. One is by Pulitzer Prize winner William T. Vollman. Into the Zone describes his experiences when he visited Japan following the 2011 Tsunami Disaster.

Aside: How does one find these free or cheap books? Pull up Amazon's listing of Kindle Singles, for example. When it first appears it will be arranged by Popularity. There's a drop down list near the top of the page where you can choose to see the list sorted by price. The cheapest items will now appear first.

Many of the other titles in the top row of my Cloud Library were discovered in a new blog I've begun to follow. It embraces the fact that eBooks are here to stay and that science buffs as well as science writers and educators need a source of critically reviewed short subjects available in eBook format. Check out Download the Universe. This blog just started in January so it is very new but I'll be following it closely for  recommendations. This blog is oriented towards science topics so it may not appeal to everyone but their notion that books that aren't worth printing using the conventional publishing paradigm are nevertheless worth reading is certainly important and one that will create gigantic repercussions throughout the publishing world.

Oh, and a few of those titles in the screenshot came to me absolutely free. When is the last time you saw this in an online catalog?

I don't know if I'll ever get around to reading A Tale of Two Cities but it's on my list of Books I Must Read, it cost nothing to buy, weighs nothing and takes up no room in my suitcase. Why not carry it along in my Cloud Library?

The Cloud Reader app is a limited version of what's available in full blown readers, Android tablets and the iPad. The possibilities for publishing truly stunning works of art and literature and science are practically limitless given where the technology is heading with those very capable platforms. Am I ready to buy a Kindle Reader? I'm close but I think I'll wait a while yet to see what's ahead in the Android Tablet world. The browser based reader in my tiny Netbook is easy to hold in bed, almost like a book, and serves my purpose for now. Eventually I'm sure I'll fully embrace the new paradigm.

What about you? It's easy to try. If you already have an Amazon.com account, go to Amazon.com and search for Tale of Two Cities. Click on the title to display the full page spread and then click on Kindle Edition. Buy it (for 0.00 dollars) and elect to begin reading on your Cloud Reader.

Also, and importantly, you needn't buy an actual Kindle reader to read Kindle books. There are Kindle apps available for both Android and iPhone. Using an app instead of a dedicated Kindle Reader allows you to read books in formats other than Amazon's proprietary one. Many of my books are in epub format and can often be found for free on the Internet. 

Vespas, or what?

1959 Vespa - Note the small wheels allowing
a step-thru chassis, spare tire, cowling

Why would I write anything at all about Vespas? They're not even true motorcycles but motor-scooters — you know, they have those tiny wheels, a small motor — everything about them is small and low to the ground. I remember them from my childhood years when they were practically the only two wheeled vehicle on American roads that wasn't named Harley or Indian. By the way, the name Vespa derives from the Italian word for wasp and is a reference to the buzzing sound those tiny high-revving motors made as they raced along the highways of Italy.

During my motorcycle trip to Nan last month I spent a few evenings chatting with biking buddies Al, DC, Sean, and Andy over beers at our hotel. These guys have been riding for years. They're true aficionados. When we get together we constantly talk about motorcycles; Bimmers, Kawasakis, Hondas, tires and exhaust pipes, street bikes vs off-road, etc. One evening the conversation somehow turned to Vespas. To my surprise, Sean said he'd gladly pay $4,000 USD for an older Vespa, properly restored. Al immediately chimed in with his affirmation.

I said, Whoa, are you kidding? You'd both be willing to pay four grand for a Vespa, an old Vespa?

"Yes", they said, practically in unison, "in a heartbeat  — cash money."

So I thought I'd do a little research about Vespas. If I do some reading, I reasoned, maybe I'll end up liking them too.

As it happens, the Vespa was a revolutionary 2-wheeler for its time. The small wheels allowed a step-thru chassis that made getting on and off easy even if the driver was wearing a skirt, unlike other motorcycles of the day. The 2-stroke engine was enclosed and hidden inside a streamlined rear end and they had a cowling up front to protect the driver from rain and mud. The modern Yamaha Finos and Honda Scoopys and Clicks borrow heavily from that original design and you see hordes of them in Thailand, often driven by attractive gals in skirts and high heels. These bikes far outnumber Vespas on the roads nowadays. Vespas are made in Italy by Piaggio and always have been. The company started out making interiors for train coaches but in the late 1940s developed the stylish motor scooter that made the  Vespa marque famous. I read somewhere that over 15 million Vespas have been manufactured since they first appeared. That's more than 4 times the number of Harleys that have sold in their one hundred year history. Who knew?

(More reading: Here's a blog article about the Vespa Museum near Pisa, Italy: Velvet Escape)

Chiang Mai girl riding a Honda Click

Because the modern bikes have automatic transmissions these machines have no clutch lever. Of course, having no clutch to operate with the left hand, only a brake, makes it easy for people to hold a drink, or even a cell phone, with that hand. This is all too common a practice in Thailand. Hell, you're never gonna need that other brake anyway, right?

Taking a call while driving one-handed in heavy traffic

Vespas are fairly common in Thailand. Most of those I see here are older ones with 2-stroke engines. The two-strokes are the ones that have lubricating oil mixed with the fuel which results in the production of a lot of smelly smoke, which in turn causes me to curse them. Lonely Planet calls the Vespa the iconic motor scooter, the machine that defines what a scooter is. I call them crop-dusters. Whether on the open road or waiting for a light to change, there's almost nothing worse then being caught behind a crop-duster. Two-stroke engines have been pretty much phased out in the U.S. except for chain saws and other applications requiring a high power to weight ratio, which is one of the few redeeming virtues of 2-stroke motors. (They're light because they use no valves or camshafts. Plus they deliver one power stroke for every 2 crankshaft revolutions, while a 4-stroke engine delivers only one power stroke for four revs.) Every once in a while you'll still see an old outboard motor or vintage motorcycle trailing a characteristic plume of blue smoke but they're mostly gone now. They're very inefficient compared to four-stroke engines and the stinky exhaust gas they produce is both smoky and polluting. Good riddance.

2 old Vespas in our parking lot Business end of  a 2-stroke Vespa motor

Another neighborhood Vespa Mirrors and lights

But things have changed. The company almost went bankrupt a while ago after losing ground and sales dollars to Japanese bike makers for many years. But beginning in 2003 new management and the employment of Japanese assembly line techniques have reinvigorated the marque and have once again made Vespas a cult item, in demand for the metropolitan commuter and Sunday drive in the country crowd. For example, the young fellow I chatted with at Wangwon Farm the other day had a new LX150 of which he was quite proud.

Nut and I looked at an assortment of new Vespas at the big Honda dealership in Chiang Mai the other day. They are pretty cool I must admit. Why the Honda dealer is selling them is a question I cannot answer. (More profit margin? If you can't lick 'em, join 'em? The owner loves Vespas as do my buddies Sean and Al?)

Vespa GTV 300

The new Vespas boast state of the art fuel injected, 4-stroke engines ranging in size from 50cc to 280cc. Gone are the smelly plume of blue smoke and the ring-a-ding-ding sound of those venerable 2-stroke motors. Enter Halogen headlights, electric starters, disc brakes and efficient automatic transmissions. But I had an attack of sticker shock when I looked at the price tag on the top of the line GTV 300. This little baby will set you back 300,000 baht, close to $10,000 USD. I read an article in Wired magazine while I was putting this together that talks about an experimental model, the X9, which has a 460cc motor.

Note: Feb 2013 - I learned the X9 was released in 2005 but was not particularly successful and is not listed on the Vespa site (link below). It never caught on in the states, nor here as far as I can tell.

(The Vespa site for the USA is  here.)

So, now that I've looked the situation over have I changed my mind about Vespas? In a word, No.

I do like them better than I did but still think my buddies are crazy. Pay four grand for a restored crop duster? No way. Pay 10 grand for the new, sportier 4-stroke, automatic transmission equipped GTV 300? I don't think so. The Japanese brands competing in the step-thru category cost far less than any Vespa. A brand new 125cc Honda Click or Yamaha Fino can be had for under $2,000 USD and there are service centers literally everywhere in the kingdom.

Just for the hell of it and as another point of comparison even though not completely fair, a new BMW F800GS, practically a superbike here in Thailand, will set you back around 800,000 baht, ($26,000 USD!) In the U.S. the F800GS can be had for a paltry $13K USD. My CBR250 is, of course, manufactured in Thailand while the Vespa and the Bimmer are imports and therefore carry a stiff import duty that jacks their MSRPs to almost double the cost elsewhere.

The 2012 BMW F 800 GS - you can have one for only $26,000

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The other day I bought the tickets that will take me to the east coast of the U.S. and out of Thailand for the summer months. My original plan was to spend a month or so in France and the Netherlands but I decided for various reasons not to do that and will instead come more or less directly back to the states. I'll fly west out of Bangkok to Amsterdam for a 3-day stop at one of the favorite cities of my 2009 visit to Europe and then on to Buffalo and North Carolina. After that I'll spend a few weeks in Eugene while my son Tuli recovers from knee surgery for a torn ACL and then sometime in late May or early June return to Alaska for the main part of the summer.

What does the summer hold now that I no longer have a place to hang my hat in Homer? Good question. I'll tell you about it when I figure it out.