Made by Hand- Kindle edition
Here we are on the edge of a new year and what a year 2010 has been. I was just over visiting www.Amazon.com and noticed that Made by Hand-Furniture Projects from the Unplugged Woodshop is now available for Kindle.
What’s Kindle you ask?
(following text from Squidoo.com)
Kindle is a thin, lightweight, electronic reading device that you can take anywhere and download your favorite book, newspaper, or magazine. It was created by the net’s largest bookseller, Amazon.com. You can download from a library of over 300,000 books, as well as many top newspapers, magazines and even blogs. The kindle screen simulates paper, and you can read it even in bright sunlight with no glare whatsoever. It also costs much less to download a book to the kindle than to buy the book in a store. You typically save 60-70%. You can store over 1500 books in your kindle, so it has plenty of space, and if you decide to buy a newer version of the kindle in the future, you can transfer all of the books to your new Kindle.
Kind of funny isn’t it-
hand tools and wood
computers and kindles… what a wonderful world it is . 
happy holidays everyone- ; )
Tom,
Books like your with the wonderful color photos are the main reason I don’t own a Kindle. I seriously thought about it but realized that one of the things I love about many of my books is the color photos. If I ever get into novels I may change my mind but until then its gotta be the real thing (or maybe the iPad if it wasn’t so much $$$$). Hope you had a Merry Christmas and I’m looking forward to seeing what projects you have for next year.
Mike
mike-
i have never used or even looked into a kindle myself but hear what you’re saying about the feel of paper and colour photographs- fonts and text…real paper pages are hard to replace.
does kindle have a colour version or application ?
i’m so out of touch….
i think i’d be interested in downloading the free kindle for mac and then seeing a copy of it…gees eh? you think someone would send me a ‘sample’ seeing as i wrote the damn thing!
thanks for the comment- ; )
Tom,
I am amazed with your book. I can not recall another author not only admitting he made a mistake, but showing it and showing how to correct it. You make a persuasive case for hand tool only. I am struggling with abandoning my planer and jointer totally.
Thanx for a great book and blog.
ralp
ralph,
thanks for the comment- if you have the space then keep the power tools…you never know right?
enjoy the process for the time you have doing it-
i still enjoy working with hand tools- even on the days i don’t…
thanks for sharing ~
oh yeah as for the mistakes… a few friends and i used to work at this set shop and joke about having a slogan that went something like this:
‘ here at the unplugged woodshop we learn from our mistakes….in fact, we’re learning all the time ! ‘
have a great new years !
cheers…
Actually, I received a Kindle for Xmas and have downloaded the sample or preview of Made by Hand. (Samples are free.) Right now there is no color version of Kindle, but the B&W technology is amazing; the screen isn’t “lit” like a computer or smartphone screen, it uses “digital ink”. I don’t understand the technology, but it looks kind of like a vivid Etch-a-sketch screen. Every time you “turn” a page the screen kind of wipes clear and leaves the imprint of the next page. The Kindle itself is very cool. The screen resolution is quite fine, and the photos in Made by Hand show up nicely on the Kindle, but the screen is a bit small. The Kindle DX is larger and might be better for this type book.
I’m not sure any Kindle is the best platform for Made by Hand, though. If you used the Kindle app on an Ipad where you could zoom in and out easily, that might be the best option for an ereader version of Made by Hand.
thanks for the comment doug-
very useful information…
love the etch-a-sketch mention- we all remember those maybe all too well -; )
Ok, here’s a follow up on the Kindle edition of Made by Hand.
I decided to give it a try on mine. So far, I’m pleasantly surprised. I just got the Kindle for Xmas, so I’m still learning a few things about it.
My biggest objection to reading a book like this on an ereader was the inability to zoom in on images and diagrams. The Kindle does, in fact, allow you to zoom in on images and enlarge them to a size that you can see pretty much anything you want clearly. The resolution of the images is quite good in standard format and enlarged. A couple of charts, for example the metric/imperial conversion chart near the beginning of the book, for some reason reproduced a bit fuzzy but were still readable.
Also, in a couple of images it was a bit tough to see the lines during dovetail layout.
The last issue is everything is in black and white, of course, but I found that not very much of a hindrance.
All in all, I don’t believe I’m missing anything that you’re trying to teach, Tom, by reading the Kindle version as opposed to the print version. (BTW, I don’t own the print version but I have looked at it extensively while in bookstores.) They both have their virtues and their drawbacks and people will always have their preferences, but if people are worried that they will miss anything important by reading the Kindle version they shouldn’t be.
Cheers, and Happy New Year!
wow- thanks for that review Doug F.
very nice of you to share…
; )
I was also curious how it looked.
I downloaded the kindle for mac- iphone app. and purchased a copy of Made by Hand as well from amazon. Felt a little strange to say the least…. the iphone app. keeps it in colour and allows you to zoom into the pics as well but the lay out seems a little ‘broken up’ …??
what i mean is you’ll see an image and then scroll to the next page to see the caption that goes with the previous image etc..but still not too bad and not difficult to read or reference.
I’d say Kindle version is also nice for the instant download ability…30 seconds later and you have any book you want.
cool.
thanks again for the comments.
Hi Tom,
I purchased your book at Lee Valley a couple of days ago. It was the last one, so they had to give me the book on display. I read it within a couple of days and enjoyed it.
I suspect that the book was written, at least in part, to demonstrate the quality of your work and it certainly did that. In fact, I found that this was one of its disappointing aspects. I am a hand tool hobbyist with little natural talent, so I am constantly on the look for projects that use simple joinery and deliver a nice result. In your book, the Krenov sawhorses (or bends?) and the other shop jigs were the most interesting projects because they were so doable.
The problem with your more elaborate pieces, such as the tool chest, is that I found it difficult to follow all the steps to build the chest and then use it as a temporary work area. Some of the other projects, such as the table were easier to follow, so thank you for that. I should mention that I gave all your selections a very detailed reading.
I also liked the section on planing a board six-sided square — probably because I went through the same exercise at a recent course on hand tools given by Rosewood Studio in Perth, Ontario.
I mention all this to encourage you to think about a new book, to explore new methods of joinery. such as dowels (yes, I know you included an example in your current book), box joints, pocket screws, etc. My late father-in-law trained as a wooden boat builder in his youth and made us a number of furniture pieces over the years with butt joints held by nails (squared of course), tables joined by screwed on battens and the like. All have lasted more than 20 years and have a lovely rustic look. Indeed, he is the inspiration for my hand tool interest and my modest attempts to follow his example.
Thanks for your good work. My comments do not override the fact that you have written a very nice book.
Rod Fraser
thanks Rod,
your points are well taken.
I too sometimes think that butt joints and nails are the way to go in certain pieces. – 😉
thanks for the comments.
happy shavings-
Tom:
I have your “made by hand” book which I’ve found very informative.
Have you ever used the Veritas scrub plane? If so, I would be interested in any comments you would have on it.
Thanks so much,
Gary
The kindle edition of Made by Hand is not available on Amazon. Did you pull it back?
Thanks,
BG