Kindle

Amazon UK runs a lot of deals on Kindle ebooks. There’s a daily deal, where there books are offered, usually for £0.99, there are other occasional daily deals, and there’s a big monthly deal, with hundreds of books ranging from £0.99 to a few pounds. Lots of people take advantage of these deals to pick up books they might not have read at bargain prices, or often to begin or complete a series of books, such as mysteries, fantasy novels, etc. I check the list every month, and often find books that I’d been wanting to read; for a pound, it’s a no-brainer to buy them.

Among these deals are non-fiction books. This month, Amazon’s selection is surprisingly political; not that there are a lot of political books in the lot, but that most of them are pro-Brexit, pro-Trump, and anti-Corbyn (Jeremy Corbyn is the leader of the Labour party). Here’s what you can find this month in the monthly deal selection.

This one’s thesis is very clear from its title: the EU is bad:

Here’s a biography of Jeremy Corbyn. It might not be biased, but the title is clear. It’s published by Biteback Publishing, which is owned by Michael Ascroft, former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party:

Here’s another one attacking the Labour party. Coincidentally, also published by Biteback Publishing:

In fact, it looks like Michael Ashcroft’s publishing house has quite a deal with Amazon this month. I wonder why? Perhaps because it’s likely that there will be new elections in the UK soon?

This one is also pretty clear; another from Biteback Publishing, as are all the rest of the books I cite below:

Here’s a memoir from the person who led the Leave.eu campaign:

A book “written” by Nigel Farage:

Here’s Ann Coulter’s pro-Trump screed:

And another pro-Trump book:

Another pro-Brexit book:

And one more for good measure:

It’s not uncommon for a publisher to offer a bunch of its titles at a discount to Amazon. (It’s worth noting that the first book above, The Great Deception, is from a different publisher, Bloomsbury, who is a generalist, not a propagandist.) But having this many books that clearly lean in a specific direction politically is dangerous. People who scan the sale titles will see these books, all clearly ideologically biased, and not see only other options at these low prices. A publisher funded by an ideological politician is selling books at bargain prices in order, perhaps, to try to sway public opinion at a time when the UK is in crisis. I think this shows Amazon’s bias as well.

No one can ignore that the hottest book right now is Michael Wolff’s Fire and Fury, a narrative history of the beginning of the Trump administration. It’s the best selling book on Amazon, even though it’s not currently available in hardcover. (Amazon.com, Amazon UK) Originally scheduled for release on January 9, it was pushed up to the 5th to meet the demand that had been created by some carefully planned magazine excerpts, and a few tweets by the subject of the book, followed by some weak attempts to block its sale.

It’s a page-turner; I’ve read about half so far. It confirms that things are really bad in the White House, but also that they’re much worse than we could have imagined.

What’s interesting about this book is that it’s the first real Kindle moment. The first printing sold out in hours, and Amazon currently shows it as being available in 2 to 4 weeks. This estimate is probably exaggerated, because they should be able to get enough books printed in a day or two to satisfy the early demand, but it’s possible that they have so many orders already, that their next deliveries are already sold.

Unlike an iPhone, which is a physical product that often suffers from this sort of unavailability at launch, this book is also available in Kindle format. And Amazon is taking advantage of that, reminding readers that they can buy the Kindle version without waiting:

You’ll note that the Kindle version currently costs more than the (unavailable) hardcover. This is a sort of surge pricing for books; why discount the hottest book of the season? It’s not a loss leader like the latest novels by Dan Brown or Stephen King, it’s a must-read that people want now, because it won’t be as interesting in a week, after many of the salacious elements are reported in the press.

It’s not often that a book like this drives demand so much that the publisher can’t keep up. Amazon is stepping in to help meet that demand, shifting a lot of readers from print to ebook. Even if they don’t have Kindles, they can read it on their phones or tablets.

Recent reports have suggested that ebook sales are sliding, but this is the kind of book that can give an unexpected bump to the format.

One note: credit is due to Amazon for policing reviews on this book. Following recent changes to Amazon’s review policy, this book can only be reviewed by verified purchasers. This weeds out the many fake reviewers that attempt to lower the ratings of controversial books. Nevertheless, at the time of this writing, more than 500 people have reviewed this book, giving it an average rating of five stars. I’m sure not all of them have read the book in its entirety, but many people are posting reviews just to say that, in spite of attempts to quash it, they’ve bought it.

There are currently 14 one-star reviews, including:

President has declared book illegal. If you read you illegal. America now great. Obey law or go gulag. Bad book. Bad writing. Go far away.

And…

VERY SAD!!!!!
I read a lots of books more than anyone and this book is a DISGRACE.Wolff is a loser A TOTAL LOSER and everyone knows it. you know it, I know it, everyone knows it.This book is NOT FOR SMART PEOPLE. Only a very for dumb people would read this TRASH. Only very dumb people like, not the kind of book I would read because I’m one of the SMARTEST PEOPLE.

And…

Sorry I made a mistake I want the actual book it is a present por my mom can you return it?

My initial thoughts when the Kindle Oasis (Amazon.com, Amazon UK) was announced was that it was a WTF ebook reader. With an odd shape, a case with a built-in battery, and a stratospheric price, it simply didn’t make sense. Nevertheless, I ordered one in order to try it out and see if I was wrong. I think I was, in part.

The Kindle Oasis comes in two parts: the reader itself, and a leather case that contains a battery. The two link together using magnets, so when you slip the reader into the case, it automatically starts charging, if there’s any power in the case’s battery.

The two items together weight 230g, a bit more than the Kindle Voyage, which is 179g. However, if I add the felt case I use with my Voyage, it comes to 219g, so there’s not much of a difference. The Oasis is a bit wider, but not as tall as the Voyage, yet the display on both devices is the same size.

As with the iPad smart cover, the Kindle Oasis wakes up when you open the cover of its case. It’s very quick, so you can start reading immediately. You can read the device with the case on, folding back the cover, or you can remove the reader, which then weighs only 131g. The only downside I see to the case is that it doesn’t cover the entire back of the Oasis, because of the way the reader connects to the case.

The case is interesting. When the Kindle Oasis is connected to the case, and you tap the Settings button, you can see the charge levels of the device and the case. But to charge the entire unit, you have to connect the Oasis itself, not the case, which means that you charge the two together. I would have preferred being able to charge the case on its own, then slip the reader in the case to charge it.

It’s interesting to see that the battery indicator at the top of the display – which you see when you tap in that area – shows the battery level of the case, if the reader is connected to the case, or of the reader, if not. You don’t get a sort of hybrid battery level indicator, which might be more useful. however, tap the Settings button to see the charge levels of each one, in percentages.

Now to the reader itself. I thought the one-handedness of the device was a bit wacky when I first saw it, but once I held it in my hand I could see why Amazon designed it like this. I generally hold my Kindles with two hands, but you can still do that; you just grip the right side, and steady the device with your left hand. Or, if you prefer, turn it the other way; like an iPad, the display automatically flips.

There are two physical buttons on the wider side of the reader – gone are the press-and-pray buttons of the Voyage – and the are set up so the top button goes to the next page, the bottom button to the previous page. You can change this is the settings (as I did; it seems to make more sense to me that the bottom button is the next button).

The display is an improvement on the Kindle Voyage, with more LEDs to light the page. However, mine seems a bit cloudy on the right side of the display where the LEDs are. While the extra light makes the display a bit crisper – it’s the same resolution, 300 ppm – it’s not that different from the Voyage. However, comparing the two, the Voyage is noticeably bluer. Perhaps Amazon has made the display warmer because of the theory that bluish displays prevent you from sleeping.

Surprisingly, the Oasis doesn’t have an auto-brightness option like the Voyage. This means that you’ll need to manually change the brightness if you’re reading, say, in the evening as it gets darker. Also, battery life of the reader is poor; reading for about an hour, with the light fairly bright, I found the reader was down to 63% of its battery. This means that you have roughly three to six hours of reading time, if you use the backlight; considerably more if the backlight is turned off and you’re reading outside. But since there’s no auto-brightness, you’ll need to remember to lower the brightness to save battery. Of course, all you need to do is put it back in the case to charge it, but woe betide you if you ever lose or forget the case!

Page turns are faster than with the Voyage, but typing is just as slow. When you’re used to typing on a tablet or smartphone, you immediately realize that you have to pause after each letter when typing on any Kindle.

The Oasis offers some different fonts from the Voyage. There is Amazon Ember, a sans serif font, and there’s no Futura or OpenDyslexic. If you depend on the latter, you’ll want to stick with the Voyage.

(Update: My Kindle Oasis updated the day after I bought it, and both the missing fonts are now available.)

We have to discuss the price. At $290 or £270, the Kindle Oasis is expensive. That’s $90 or £100 more than the Kindle Voyage, and it makes this a luxury ebook reader. If you add the cost of a case – Amazon charges a fortune for their leather cases, $85 or £80 for the Kindle Voyage’s case – it comes out a lot closer than it looks. However, that’s a lot of money for a case. To be fair, this case has a battery, that claims to offer “months of combined battery life.”

Should you buy the Kindle Oasis? If you don’t have a Kindle Voyage, and you want to upgrade your device, I’d consider it, but only if you have money to burn. The Voyage is nearly as good, and even the Paperwhite is a fine ebook reader. If you don’t count your dollars or pounds, and use the Kindle a lot, I’d recommend the Oasis. You’ll probably like the overall lightness of the device (when not in the case), and the ease of charging. It’s a nifty idea, one that’s not perfect – especially because the case doesn’t protect the entire back of the reader – but one that makes sense if you read a lot.

So check out the Kindle Oasis (Amazon.com, Amazon UK) if you’re willing to spend this much to read ebooks. But there’s no hurry; it looks like it won’t be in stock until June 1, so you have plenty of time to make up your mind.