David Copperfield and the Magic of Amazon WhisperSync
I’m currently reading the classic David Copperfield by Charles Dickens 📚 for the first time. I’m reading it on my Kindle with an add-on $3 splurge of the Audible audiobook. I experimented with WhisperSync many years ago when it was first released and found it buggy. For such a low fee, I thought I would give it another try.
I went from reading last night on my Kindle to listening this morning in the car, to reading again in a waiting room, to listening once more as I did chores. Never once did I lose my place.
I have a love-hate relationship with ebooks and Amazon, but wow — what an immersive, magical reading/listening experience. How did I not know this worked as well as it does?
Currently reading: David Copperfield by Charles Dickens 📚
Finished reading: The Death of Grass by John Christopher 📚
A short 1950s SciFi novel about a virus that kills grasses. Starvation and violence breaks out. Governments fall. Civilization crumbles. Except for the very dated portrayal of women, the story felt current. ★★★★☆
Finished reading: The Reformation by Will Durant 📚
Currently reading: The Death of Grass by John Christopher 📚
How A Hidden Feature in Bear Changed the Way I Review Notes
The Bear app has continued to impress me as a Mac/iPad/iPhone note-taking and writing platform. I switched to Bear from Craft at the beginning of this year and continue to be impressed. Since then, I’ve moved my Day One journal and writing in Ulysses to Bear.
Fellow Micro.blogger @dgreene196 pointed me to Bear’s random widget functionality back in February. Thanks to Devin, I now use these widgets as a kind of ReadWise-style review of my reading and knowledge. It’s been a game-changer. If you’re a Bear user (or Bear-curious!), check out my latest blog post: How A Hidden Feature in Bear Changed the Way I Review Notes.
📷 April 2024 Micro.Blog photo challenge, Day 30: Hometown
Vashon Island will always be my hometown.
Finished reading: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf 📚
An absolute masterpiece. Totally gutted by the end. I can’t believe it took me this long to read it. ★★★★★
Finished reading: Sibley’s Birding Basics by David Allen Sibley 📚
Ah, the inevitable slide into birdwatching. Great introductory guide to help me get started. ★★★★☆
📷 April 2024 Micro.Blog photo challenge, Day 29: Drift
📷 April 2024 Micro.Blog photo challenge, Day 28: Community
Of all the communities I’ve been a part of - industry leader, islander, 55+ retirement living - liveaboard boat life was the most incredible. We all had a little extra salt water in our veins that compelled us to a life afloat. Good times.
📷 April 2024 Micro.Blog photo challenge, Day 27: Surprise
My all-time favorite Surprise. In fact, all twenty volumes of this Aubrey/Maturin series by Patrick O’Brian are wonderful. I am perpetually rereading them. I think I’m on my fourth circumnavigation after my first voyage some 20 years ago.
📷 April 2024 Micro.Blog photo challenge, Day 26: Critters
📷 April 2024 Micro.Blog photo challenge, Day 25: Spine
The spine of this tattered old book tells a story of how loved it is. I must have read these stories a dozen times over the past thirty years. Scribbles and underlines and exclamation marks scattered throughout. A life in marginalia.
📷 April 2024 Micro.Blog photo challenge, Day 24: Light
Is there anything more mesmerizing than the shifting light and shapes of a campfire under a blanket of stars?
📷 April 2024 Micro.Blog photo challenge, Day 23: Dreamy
Currently reading: To the Lighthouse by Virginia Woolf 📚
Finished reading: The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin 📚
Characters who love books and reading, lots of fun literary references, a bookstore set on an island … this one could have been written just for me. ★★★★☆
📷 April 2024 Micro.Blog photo challenge, Day 22: Blue
Crossing the Strait of Juan de Fuca on a clear, calm day.
📷 April 2024 Micro.Blog photo challenge, Day 21: Mountain
Mount Rainier while under sail in Commencement Bay (2006).
