giapet.net

So I mentioned a while back that I might be spotty on the deals for a bit as my household adjusts itself for its latest addition: Pixel, a 16-pound Pomeranian mix (we think! Present prevalent theory is Pomeranian/Tibetan Spaniel mix). I promised photos, so without further ado:

She’s a sweetheart, and I think in a lot of ways we lucked out- she appears to already be crate trained and more or less house trained, though we still have plenty of work to do.

Title: The Fall of the Roman Empire
Price: $1.99
Author: Peter Heather (historian)
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Genre: Nonfiction – History

Publisher’s Summary:

The death of the Roman Empire is one of the perennial mysteries of world history. Now, in this groundbreaking book, Peter Heather proposes a stunning new solution: Rome generated its own nemesis. Centuries of imperialism turned the neighbors it called barbarians into an enemy capable of dismantling the Empire that had dominated their lives for so long. Heather is a leading authority on the late Roman Empire and on the barbarians.

Conclusion: Probably Not

I wasn’t aware that the fall of the Roman Empire was considered a “mystery” per se; there were obviously a lot of factors involved and we know of most of them, it’s pretty much a debate about which mattered more and when and whatnot…isn’t it? At least, that was my understanding. Not to mention that the fall of the Western Roman Empire actually gave way to the Byzantine Empire, which was basically a direct continuation, but this book isn’t talking about that particular entity’s failure, which didn’t happen until 1453. (Of course I don’t remember this off the top of my head. Wikipedia’s back, remember?)

Anyway, I assume that the author knows more than the summary-writer, but I’m disinclined to pick this up as I haven’t had as much reading time lately and I still have a lot on my to-read list.

A while back I realized that somewhere along the way, my Kindle 3 device had been stolen. I discovered this due to someone buying a Kindle book on my Amazon account (I hadn’t even taken the Kindle with me anywhere recently, since I was already lugging around an iPad for work). I deactivated the Kindle and hoped that it might be returned to me, but not very much. While greatly irritated I mostly wasn’t concerned; I have that iPad’s Kindle app to use in the meantime until I get around to replacing it.

But…I finally found a reason for liking the Kindle device over the iPad: it’s the only device Amazon allows users to borrow books from the lending library from. Prime members cannot borrow books onto their iPads or even onto Amazon’s Cloud Reader.

I understand the reasoning behind it: there has to be some advantage to actually buying a Kindle instead of an iPad (the light weight and a week-long battery life is enough for me, personally).

But as a Prime subscriber I wind up feeling like I’ve paid for something I can’t use, and like I’m being punished because someone stole something from me.

So, Amazon, I’ll reiterate the request that I gave you before, and to which you sent me a poorly-written note explaining that the reason is because it’s an “automated process” (no shit, the request is for you to automate it for other devices/apps): make Kindle lending available through Cloud Reader. I’ll even sit through a banner ad or two on the side if I must.

Or alternatively: turn off the %@&$!ing setting that keeps telling me that books are $0.00. It’s annoying because a lot of Kindle books really legitimately ARE free, but to think I can get a book free only to find that I can’t because I can’t borrow it because of your silly setup is VERY irksome.