Bill Gaines, what a character! [DO NOT PURCHASE ON KINDLE]
921739
Update: I wanted to own a copy of this, having enjoyed reading the library's print copy so much, and since the print book is out-of-print and therefore expensive, I was glad to see it being offered in Kindle now. I don't believe it was at the time of my original review. I purchased the book and it is illegible. I had to return it for a refund. It was a disaster. The text has spaces in middle of words. The text doesn't have proper alignment. There are all sorts of screwy symbols in place of special characters (and even in place of apostrophes). Font sizes change randomly. The table of contents is a mess. None of the images from the print book are in the eBook. Instead they replaced by... well, I don't know what they were. Black and white blobs I guess. Makes me sad. It's a wonderful book, just stick to the print copy. My original review follows:

Bill Gaines, what a character! That's what Frank Jacobs stuffs into this book: tons of character. I felt like after reading this book I had met Bill Gaines - like I'd known him, sat down with him at one of his favorite restaurants, and laughed with him about some really zany antics. This was exactly what I was hoping for with this book.

One of the focuses of my comic book studies has been the early days of comics, and particularly the assault on comics between 1948 and 1954. While Gaines wasn't the first publisher of comics to come under heavy fire, he certainly was the most notable. EC Comics pushed the boundaries of horror comics in the early 50s - an era which is briefly touched upon in this book. Gaines was the only witness in defense of comics at the Senate hearing that led to their demise, and because of it, became the face of the "evil" of comic books. When his comics line was banished from the newsstands, Gaines fell back on Mad, which flourished to become an extremely successful magazine.

Knowing a basic biography on Gaines from other reading, including some of his quirks and generosity, I couldn't help but to want to learn more about this man. Frank Jacobs, who was a friend of Gaines and a contributor to Mad, writes an amusing and revealing semi-biographical, semi-anecdotal account of Bill Gaines life, work, and passions.

Some of the stories in this book are so outrageous I couldn't help but smile while reading them. This is one of the liveliest biographies I've ever read. Biographies can often be dry, simply regurgitating facts on a timeline, but this book alternates between simple fact and an honest view into character.

Jacobs may be a bit bias. He clearly had a great affection and admiration for Gaines. For further reading, I hope to find something from the point-of-view of Harvey Kurtzman, Mad's original creator and editor, who had a difficult relationship with Gaines.

Overall, this was a wonderful book, providing insight not only to the life and character of William Gaines, but to many other members of the EC Comics/Mad Magazine crew.
4705949
My wife complained how much I giggled reading this - I was banned from reading it any time near bedtime!  Bill Watterson is phenomenally good, well worth the read - and having it available on the kindle makes it even more portable.

Highly recommended.
4089216
I have read all of the original offerings by Terry Goodkind and loved the series so when I went to the kindle version to utilize my new tablet more, I wanted this series. After purchasing Wizards First Rule, I was severely disappointed at the amount of time this title was off the market as well as hundreds of other prospective buyers who made their opinions known through reviews. Now that it's back up and available, it's pathetic to see this title isn't priced to reflect the frustrations of the time waiting for this format by the consumer for at least as long as it was off the market. A strong suggestion would be half off the original price, but hey... who am I but a single person helping to pay your bills by buying your products. I've waited this long, guess i'll wait a bit longer or just blow the dust off my paperback until this gets a proper price point. Think more about the consumer the next time you want my money. The book itself is fantastic, but in this format it's been too long in the fixing. I'll update this review to reflect the actual book quality if there is any move by the seller to make ANY recompense to the consumer besides the dollar or so off that would be better spent somewhere else.
452557
The content here speaks for itself. Marsha Linehan's work has been important to many people, and I was really looking forward to having the latest versions of her work as ebooks for reference.

The kindle version is a major problem on both my devices though (Ipad4 running IOS8, and Samsung S4 android smart phone -- both with kindle app). The book isn't really an ebook at all; it's like a very clean scan of a printed book, with set page breaks and two columns of text. At best, you can either see a whole page (on an ipad in portrait orientation), then zoom in the way you would with a photo to read part of that page. You cannot change text size or spacing, nor does the text wrap to fit the screen. This makes reading uncomfortable on a tablet and pretty much impossible on a smart phone -- unlike basically every other ebook in existence.

No idea why they did this, but it's a dealbreaker for sure. The book was not cheap, and luckily I already had a print version.

This really needs to be fixed -- it's as if the publisher doesn't understand the concept of kindle at a really basic level . . .
383281
Terrific book--Lileks gets five stars for his part. But whoever did the optical character recognition and editing to turn it into a Kindle book should be fired or maybe horse-whipped. Worst. Job. Ever.
388361
I usually stay away from coming-of-age stories, but this author's way with words impressed me immensely; talk about evocatively phrased descriptions!

My rating would have been nudged to five stars if the Kindle version hadn't been filled with strange typos. It looked like a kitten had gotten onto a keyboard. There were some nonexistent words that any decent spellcheck should have caught; with each occurrence it became more annoying. My hunch is that these are mainly Kindle conversion errors; nevertheless, SOMEone should have picked this up before submitting it for e-distribution.

The reader encounters indecipherable words, orphaned letters and errant capitalization. These aren't errors of ignorance which is refreshing, but it doesn't make them any less frustrating. (The only actual typo I saw was the use of the female "fiance" for fianc.)

I noticed that the book did disappear from Amazon for a short while, so I have my fingers crossed that perhaps someone tackled the Kindle errors.

Otherwise, this is the type of thing I mean:
Ruf in another way ...Rut in another way
Liz on lier tiptoes
I'd like very much to sec you... "I don't call it anything until I sec it"
The memory he had carried with him in F.urope
Herause you're afraid
T know you are...T killed her...Because T'm drunk
He became very keen on figuring tilings out...You're no sure of tilings
Never larked for companionship
He was hardly, in the first plare
Naivctd
It certainly docs
First you said a showdoxon
Barbie'* face...But whyl, Barbie, why?...the dreaml he cried...
Back apjd forth
Sl*e put her hand...she put a long finger on his lips arid brought his fare around
Hut now it coursed in her blood
Arc you tired......arc you sure you're all right?
Side by side witli the immediate human compassion
Be--twecn
Then he stumbled fonvard
That name Tings a bell
I remember nowl You're
Kissed him lightly on the Hps
"The useless expenditure of energy 1"
"That's his business. 4"
They lived up to the illusion but not ns.
I'm glad everything's so nire for yon now
The stain on the sofa rush ion
It's funl
"tears began to How from her eyes"

Well, enough ranting on that subject; I hope a corrected version is in the works. The reason I chose to wade through all the weirdness was that some authors are simply worth it, and Clifford Irving is one of those.

The reader goes from feeling hopeful to hopeless as the story moves from situation to situation. The characters faced lots of ups and downs and general angst as they maintained relationships through time. The book outlined intelligent transitions and philosophical concepts of moving into adulthood with the press of life's decisions---trying to figure things out with a focus on how to make oneself happy and satisfied.

Author Irving has a fantastic way with words that definitely put me in the middle of the moment's particular situation. This guy definitely can write!
2288415
I really enjoyed this book. It's, as others have mentioned, about Mr. Takei's coming to understand how social media works and really finding some solid methods for building and maintaining his Facebook (and early Twitter) presence. His signature humor is there, and as I was reading I could hear his voice in my head. For me, that's a bonus! So why 3 stars and not 5? I normally do all of my reading these days on my Kindle Paperwhite. The images, particularly the Twitter posts, were pretty much unreadable. So, when I was finished with the book, I went to my iPad and downloaded the book to my Kindle app and looked back at all of the images throughout the book. If not for this, I would have given the book a higher rating.

I often gripe about people giving low ratings for products based on shipping problems and the like. That has nothing to do with the product! However, in this case, I feel like if a Kindle version of a book is released, it should be tested on all available Kindle models. Or at least an e-ink version and a Fire version.

So, to break it down... Content: 4.5 stars. Format: 2 stars.
2446280
I got my Kindle as a Christmas present and have already been hooked! Kindle proves that a brilliant idea (in this case, Gutenberg's) can always be carried a bit further - give it half a millennium or more...
Living in Norway, Europe, it has become a ritual at 6 a.m. to turn on my Kindle and download the latest edition of International Herald Tribune. Today, triggered by the letter by Albert R. Hunt in the IHT, I naively looked up "Game Change" on amazon.com for downloading and got the (nicely wrapped) message by Amazon that a Kindle version is denied until the publishers have axed down a bit more trees for their Gutenberg version...
I am 55 years old but I do think the directors at HarperCollins must be close to their big sleep.  - What is this?! Denying people access in these post-Gutenberg days is a loser strategy, don't you know? Gentlemen, this is not Pirate Bay, this is an exponentially growing community of your most important customers! And you deny us access because of some compartmentalized marketing strategy that belongs to the last century, where you most certainly belong.
I confess I have asked Amazon to email me when you concede to distributing the book on Kindle as well. Having reflected upon it, this book will never be downloaded by me. And I hope not by any other customer aware of the customer power you probably studied at university years ago (remember?).
A last wish: Please show this review to your shareholders. And be prepared.

Regards,
Helge Lund, Oslo, Norway
1496540
After resisting the urge for some time, I finally went ahead and bought myself a Kindle for my birthday in September. Since then I've gone all in on e-books, buying dozens and reading on my Kindle exclusively despite still having a large backlog of unread books sitting on my bookshelf at home. Unfortunately, while reading on Kindle makes it easy and relatively cheap to find books that satisfy my tastes, I find myself continually appalled by the lax standards of quality when it comes to e-books, small press books in particular. Does anyone proofread or edit these things?

I mention all this because, while Pillowface is an entertaining read storywise, it's probably the single worst example I've encountered yet of an e-book filled with constant errors. Not just spelling and grammatical errors, but also extremely distracting word substitutions that suggest the sole "editing" done was to run this thing through a spell-checker and call it a day. For example, a harrowing flashback sequence set in a terrorist compound in Afghanistan is completely destroyed by the substitution of the word "turbine" for "turban" not once or twice, but over a dozen times thoughout the scene, leaving me to imagine a terrorist torturer with an engine strapped to his face. By the end, a scene that should have had me sympathizing with characters who were being tortured instead left me deeply annoyed and wanting to torture whoever was supposed to be in charge of editing this damn book.

So yeah, storywise this books is great, highly enjoyable. If you're a fan of horror and particularly of slasher flicks, you'll find this a creative and entertaining take on the genre.

This books gets Five Stars from me storywise and One Star for the quality of editing exhibited. So, split the difference and call this Three Stars. It pains me to rate it so low but the errors in this book are really unacceptable and it just seemed to get worse as the book went on. Bad show.
1558281
Thank you so much for this series where the heros are dyslexic kids. Thank you for making it available on the kindle, which is a great tool for dyslexic readers. But were you REALLY lost me was making it so the text-to-speach function doesn't work! Are you kidding? Bummer. Great series, but to limit the access for kids who REALLY need this type of hero in their lives... must have been another nasty game played on us mortals by the "gods".
4969971
Excellent First person detailed reporting of Tarawa Invasion by a reporter with both boots on the ground foxhole and command level perspectives.

However, the Kindle version is nearly ruined by OCR errors which make it almost unreadable in vast portions of the digital version.

It is painfully clear that a text version was scanned and Optical Character Recognition was used to convert the scanned image to a digital Kindle version. What is almost criminal is that no one edited the OCR version to correct the glaring errors!! Amazon should be ashamed for letting a Kindle ebook this bad to be sold on their website.  Some of the errors are painfully macabre considering the powerful and historic story being told. For example in a number of cases "the marine" was OCR translated as "die marine".
4728194
This review is not regarding content.  Grudem's work is valuable and an asset to understanding 1 Peter.  This review is a response to THIS Kindle version.

First, the table of contents of the print volume is not reproduced in the Kindle version.  This Kindle version has only one TOC entry for the whole Commentary section; it is simply titled "COMMENTARY."  Click on that and you will be taken to the beginning of the bulk of the book's content - no further breakdown of chapters or sections.  The only available recourse:  flip through the pages till you see the chapter or heading you desire.

Second, click on the "Author" section under "INTRODUCTION" and you are taken to a page with "INTRODUCTION" at the head and nothing else.  It is only n the next page that the "Author" section starts.

Third, while the "Additional Notes" section does have links, two of those links land on a page that is actually two pages prior to the actual page desired.  And, finally, footnotes links do not have a return link on the note.

As it is, this KINDLE volume, by its poor execution from print to KINDLE, is rendered useless for reference work and cumbersome for simple reading.
3681809
Though the premise of the book is great, this is definitely not for the Kindle user. You cannot even SEE the cartoons that are such an integral part of the book. Forget Kindle - go for the "real thing".
652656
This is an excellent series and Cornwell is one of my favorite authors. That being said, don't bother purchasing Kindle eBooks. Paper backs are cheaper and I'd much rather hold the book.
4589379
Rondberg needs to give his book a digital chiropractic adjustment.  He should have had a Professional take his printed book and prep it for Kindle. IMHO.
What does not work you say? Search function.  And the "Go to Page _____ " crashes Kindle.  Also, no page numbers on his Table/Contents.  Also no hot links from the Table/Contents to chapters.
Why did he even consider digital format?
Maybe the printed book is OK but I shall never order it.
How do I get my $$$ back?
Major Point:  Why did Amazon allow this defective digital product in their system?
1797525
I have read several books from this author and enjoyed them, but this was awful. I could not even finish it, so glad I did not buy it. The reader is asked to suspend their belief too much, I have sci-fi books that were more believable. The main characters were awful. William and his hick hillbilly speech was creepy and Pecola was dumb you did the mail order bride because of what two women said about your books. What! This is what kept saying to myself, thank god for kindle unlimited.
466226
I love these 5 books on the Oregon Trail, but the formatting was awful!  This was worse than any "volunteer" formatting I have ever seen!  Please, clean this up!  As a librarian I have recommended this series hundreds of times, but not in the kindle version! I love my kindle and am sorry that this formatting was so poorly done. It detracts from the story!