| Re: Ice and Wind: Standing on the Arctic Ocean [message #80111] |
Wed, 02 May 2012 07:43 |
ben.bighair
Messages: 221
Registered: April 2007
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Senior Member |
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Hi,
Nicely done, David!
I bought it right away, but tried to set it aside while I finished worked and made dinner. As these things tend to go, I couldn't put it down and so I finished reading it just before I burned the chops (well, maybe it I finished just after I burned the chops.)
It's fascinating to read about characters who I know in person. I shared an office with one, and worked for years in the lab next door to another. The latter I never had a clue about who he was. Not a lurker so much as a "absent" presence, kind of like Melville's scrivener Bartleby but not so shy. The tale you tell here seems outlandish, but knowing what I do the story seems real.
I'm jealous of your adventure (well, parts of it anyway) and even more so of your ability to cast it down in what WH Smith calls "a thumping good read".
Thanks for making it available!
Cheers,
Ben
On Tuesday, May 1, 2012 1:38:39 AM UTC-4, David Fanning wrote:
> Folks,
>
> A number of people have sent me e-mails over the years,
> after reading something on my web page, suggesting that
> maybe I ought to "write a book." You will be happy to
> know (or, maybe not) that I have taken your suggestions
> seriously. Today I announce a new book that has nothing
> whatsoever to do with IDL, except that it was an IDL
> friend who got me into this mess in the first place.
>
> In fact, it was here, in the IDL newsgroup, where I first
> announced that I really needed to "get out of town." The
> next thing I knew, Ben Tupper had fixed me up with a group
> of oceanographers heading up to the Arctic Ocean. When I
> checked the weather the day Ben called, it was -35 degrees F,
> with a wind chill of -65 degrees. Good God! I meant a sunny
> beach in Greece where nobody spoke English!
>
> So anyway, the result is a long essay about the month I
> spent in the Arctic Ocean with these scientists. The book
> is what we call long-form journalism, which means the story
> is too long for a magazine article or essay, and too short
> for a book. It is fast becoming my favorite kind of reading
> on my Kindle.
>
> The book, Ice and Wind: Standing on the Arctic Ocean, is
> an E-book and is formatted for the Kindle, the iPad/iPhone/Nook/Etc
> and the computer (in PDF format). (The iPhone is a great place
> to read these kinds of articles, while you are waiting for your
> next meeting to get started.) I've priced the book at half the
> cost of a cup of coffee, and you enjoy it for approximately twice
> as long. It will take you about an hour to read the story, more
> or less.
>
> You can find the book (in whatever format you need) in the E-Books
> section of the Coyote Store:
>
> http://www.idlcoyote.com/store/index.php
>
> My plan, if all goes well, will be to make this book available
> at the Kindle Store and other locations where people typically
> buy E-books.
>
> I hope you buy it, and I hope you enjoy it. In any case, I'd love
> to hear from you about it. I have several more books in mind if
> this one strikes a chord with anyone. :-)
>
> Cheers,
>
> David
>
>
> --
> David Fanning, Ph.D.
> Fanning Software Consulting, Inc.
> Coyote's Guide to IDL Programming: http://www.idlcoyote.com/
> Sepore ma de ni thui. ("Perhaps thou speakest truth.")
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