Amazon to Cut E-Book Prices, Shaking Rivals (making Amazon a Monopoly)

[kentauros]

113. I have also spent time in an urban setting without power.

That's part of life on the Gulf Coast. However, for us, it's hurricanes, not ice/snow storms.

In 1983 Hurricane Alicia knocked out power for our neighborhood for a full week. That's no electricity and no generator in Houston. In August. I don't remember doing any reading during that. We didn't have time. What we did have was next to no damage to our home while our neighbors had trees on top of their houses. We had two chainsaws, the equipment for doing tree removal, and the skills to match. Even with all that physical labor, we still didn't get much sleep at night. Have you ever tried to sleep in hot, humid weather without a/c? I don't recommend it.

Yet, in 2008 I lived through Hurricane Ike, and while our apartments were without power for only 24 hours, our neighborhood went without for three weeks. The place was deserted, too. Most people left town while the electricity was out, if they had the means to do so (this neighborhood seems more affluent than others in the surrounding area, thus why it was deserted.) Even then, I still didn't do any reading of books while the power was out. No, I went walking around here taking pictures while I still had power for my camera. My phone had already died due to txting my ex-wife in Bellingham while I was going through the worst of the storm the night before. She kept me calm through the scariest storm I've ever lived through

Even with practically nothing to do, I didn't want to spend time reading. It was an event not worth "missing" by wasting it away in a book. Plus, when you don't have the luxury of a generator, you spend more time outside, talking with neighbors, or walking around. Some disasters aren't as conducive to wiling away the hours reading as some would believe...

Thanks for the Baen Library link. I thought I had it in my bookmarks, but I know I do now