Reading Statistics

[ranman]

Does the Kindle keep track of my reading statistics?  While reading a book, it would be nice to know that I read an average of 1 page per minute and have about 2 hours to finish the book.  Even better, Amazon could provide recommendations on my reading habits and I could request a book that takes about 4 hours to read and they would be able to find something based on my reading profile.

[Leslie]

Does the Kindle keep track of my reading statistics?  While reading a book, it would be nice to know that I read an average of 1 page per minute and have about 2 hours to finish the book.  Even better, Amazon could provide recommendations on my reading habits and I could request a book that takes about 4 hours to read and they would be able to find something based on my reading profile.

While this is a very cool concept, it is not available right now. You need to remember than Amazon doesn't track your actual reading habits, they just know what books you bought. So time on reading is probably beyond the scope of what they can offer.

L

[Teninx]

If I had any inkling that Amazon was keeping statistics on anything other than the actual books that I bought from the Kindle store, I'd take the reader to Jeff Bezos' house and shove it down his chimney.

[Leslie]

If I had any inkling that Amazon was keeping statistics on anything other than the actual books that I bought from the Kindle store, I'd take the reader to Jeff Bezos' house and shove it down his chimney.

Except I don't worry because I know there is not way they would ever get data that are reliable. 99% of the time my Kindle goes to sleep on an actual page and it may be on that page for 3 minutes or 10 hours (or more). So what kind of info about my reading habits is being conveyed...really?

L

[Teninx]

The tinfoil hat is a metaphor; my dislike of information mining is literal. I opt out whenever and however I can. I'm not fearful that some corporation is going to make a profile on me based on reading habits or grocery store purchases and I doubt it would be of much use if they do. I just don't like snooping.

[ranman]

I suppose I meant that the kindle itself would keep track of the reading information, not the Amazon website.  I always like to put down a book at a good stopping point, such as the end of a chapter.  With the Kindle, I have a hard time estimating this.

[Betsy the Quilter]

I suppose I meant that the kindle itself would keep track of the reading information, not the Amazon website.  I always like to put down a book at a good stopping point, such as the end of a chapter.  With the Kindle, I have a hard time estimating this.

There aren't chapters in the books I buy from Amazon?  I haven't started reading anything other than the NYTimes, Time magazine and Leslie's FAQ book...will have to go look!

Betsy

[Leslie]

I suppose I meant that the kindle itself would keep track of the reading information, not the Amazon website.  I always like to put down a book at a good stopping point, such as the end of a chapter.  With the Kindle, I have a hard time estimating this.

There aren't chapters in the books I buy from Amazon?  I haven't started reading anything other than the NYTimes, Time magazine and Leslie's FAQ book...will have to go look!

Betsy

There are chapters, if the print book has chapters. My FAQ book has chapters!

I think the issue is...many people sit down to read. They look at the chapter to see how long it is and think, "Hm, okay, I can read for 30 minutes and get through this chapter. Then I'll go do the laundry." (or whatever they are supposed to be doing besides reading!). With the Kindle, it's not as easy to do that.

One thing I've suggested to folks on the FAQ...when you start a book, open up the table of contents. Many books open to the first page, not the TOC so use the scroll wheel to go to it  -- or go to the cover and then move ahead to the TOC. You can see how many chapters the book has which, to me, gives me a sense of the length of chapters. That is, if a book has 100 chapters you can bet they are pretty short. If it has 6, they are probably pretty long (assuming a normal 100,000 word book, that is).

Another hint is to bring up the menu again and choose "go to location." That will show you how many locations are in the book, total. Keep that number in mind. If a book has 4000 locations and you are at 1000, you are one-quarter of the way through.

L

[Ethan]

Tenix,
I know just what you mean about info-mining and would NEVER trust any company or govt that says it does not do it.  Look at the NSA and all that it does.  And why does my DISH tv receiver click and moan when it is not even on - it sure sounds like a ping went out from HQ looking for any new data (like what I was watching).

FYI - I retired from a top secret job with the fed. govt. and was surprised on more than one occasion when I thought I knew something was true and it was not (like when the FBI told me one thing and then learning from another source that that was not the case).  I have become not so trusting as I once was about surveillance issues.

Moral: be afraid, be very afraid.....

[Teninx]

Ethan: Right now I'm reading "The Shadow Factory" by James Barnford regarding the post-9/11 attacks policy of the NSA. Have recently completed "Legacy of Ashes" by Tim Weiner, a comprehensive history of the CIA from its OSS origins to 2007. Both books are rather abusive and perhaps politically motivated in obvious disdain for these two vital agencies, but the authors seem to have pried loose some of the camouflage.

I had a job with one of the 'alphabet agencies' when I was in the service.

[Ethan]

I just finished Legacy of Ashes and it was a real eye-opener.  I gotta say I must have been naive because I always held the CIA in high regard.  The amount of incompetence that has been shown by what are supposed to be educated people is staggering.  I know they have had successes that they can't talk about, but their failures have been catastrophic and we will be living with them for many, many years.
Those in the trenches can see the problems, but the connected bureaucrats are clueless. 

[Ann in Arlington]

Re: chapters.  You can also, when you first get the book, use the Table of Contents to go directly to each of the Chapters and put a bookmark there.  Then, when you are in the book and click on the location dots, it'll show the points where the chapters starts which gives you some idea of how long each one is.  If it doesn't have a linked table of contents you can still do this, but it's harder.

Ann

[Leslie]

Re: chapters.  You can also, when you first get the book, use the Table of Contents to go directly to each of the Chapters and put a bookmark there.  Then, when you are in the book and click on the location dots, it'll show the points where the chapters starts which gives you some idea of how long each one is.  If it doesn't have a linked table of contents you can still do this, but it's harder.

Ann

Great hint, Ann. Thanks!

L

[Selcien]

Re: chapters.  You can also, when you first get the book, use the Table of Contents to go directly to each of the Chapters and put a bookmark there.  Then, when you are in the book and click on the location dots, it'll show the points where the chapters starts which gives you some idea of how long each one is.  If it doesn't have a linked table of contents you can still do this, but it's harder.

Ann

I'm not sure how useful I'll find this but I'm glad that I decided to give it a try with The Mermaid Chair as going to the Table of Contents let me find out that it has a Prologue (it automatically begins on Chapter 1 when you first open the book and I never thought to check to see if it gave the correct starting point).

Thanks.

[LuckyRainbow]

Selcien,

I have also noticed this little problem. Now when I start a new book, I click go to Cover and begin from there. That way I don't miss anything. But, my need to do this also comes from my obsession to thoroughly inspect any new book I am starting to read. (Front cover, Back cover, Fly leaf, copyright page, reviews, acknowledgments.)

[quiltlvr]

Glad to know I'm not the only one. I read the copyright page, the dedication, the "this book wouldn't have been possible without the help of..." page, etc. I don't know why, OCD I suppose.