Loved it, but regret buying Kindle version
584759
I loved this book, which was a selection of my book club. Several other members bought traditionally bound books to our discussion, so I saw how much my Kindle version lacked, especially a photo which would have added to my enjoyment. The e-book  also lacked the Discussion Topics for Book Clubs in the back, which I always enjoy pondering whether I'm reading for Book Club or not. Given these missing parts & my reading preferences, the Kindle-version was not worth the small amount saved (over the paperback).
2937972
I really enjoyed thumbing through this book and looking at all of the beautiful tattoos. Unfortunately that first thumb through was enough to destroy the binding. I recommend the book, but if I had it to do over again I'd have opted for the Kindle version.
1727253
I love this book, except that the kindle version is SO full of typos and nonsense words it drives me crazy.  I actually have switched to a borrowed printed copy because it's so annoying.  As for content, can't put it down--fascinating look at Africa and the baboon goofballs.  The language is very like speaking language, very casual, and easy to read.
1628027
Let me start by saying that I think the content of this book is great, the problem lies in the conversion to kindle.  Prior to buying I read in another review that the person felt they made a mistake in buying the kindle version because you could not see the colors (the colors are essential to learning this game) but I thought that downloading it to my PC would solve that problem since the little bit of the book that I was able to review in advance showed color.  Plus the other reviews were several years old so I figured the problem would have been resolved by now.
 After downloading it I discovered that although the illustrations were in color, the print copy was all in black which made it impossible to follow the explanations being given.  When they are referring to red, green and blue and all you see is black, that is not at all helpful.
Also the book contains an older version of a score sheet which is referred to in all the examples.  While it states that the book has one you can cut out to refer to as you read along, the kindle version, of course, does not offer this option.  The score sheet is included in the kindle version and is in color but is so small it is unreadable.  I could make the book text print as large as I liked but the score card illustration stayed the same size no matter what.  Again, not useful.
I returned the kindle version for a refund and ordered the hard copy.  Can't wait for it to arrive.  LOVE the content, hate the kindle version.
August 14, 2012
To be fair I want to edit my review of this book after having used the hard copy version for several months now.  I used this book to self-teach myself and a few friends . . . all of us new to the game.  We found this book to be an excellent source of information as well as being easy to follow.  Loved the exercises given to drive the lessons home and the questions at the end of each chapter to make sure your understanding is clear.  I rate the hard-copy version of this book 5 STARS.
2327698
You can see that the author put a lot of time and love into this book. However, my Kindle version is the most difficult
digital book to read that I've ever purchased, and I am very disappointed. You have to keep changing the font and page size in order to see all of the many images, and read every page without it jumping around. I am considering buying the paperback instead. My advice: don't buy the Kindle version, for a few bucks more just get the tangible book.
3267094
First, let me say this is an excellent book.  I won't go into that, though, as many other review address all it's great qualities. What I WILL say is DON'T BUY THE KINDLE VERSION. I bought the kindle version with the intent of being able to print any of the many excellent reproducables straight from my ipad to my printer (no more hassle of trying to squash a book into a copier and only getting mediocre prints in return). Unfortunately, the print option (while available on SOME of my kindle books) was completely missing- NO WAY TO PRINT ANY OF THE REPRODUCIBLES. What a wast of money- if you plan on actually using any of the ideas, you will either have to make up your own worksheets (waste of time) or buy a hard copy of the book (waste of money). Save your money and send away for the actual book. It will save you time and money, in the long run. I wish amazon would fix this glaring mistake!
1303884
LOVE LOVE LOVE the book. The story will always be a favorite for me. However the formatting of the Kindle edition is, as other reviewers have noted. TERRIBLE. Do not buy the Kindle edition, just go for the actual book now that it's finally available again.
2639425
I really LOVED the anime (so I'm automatically giving this 5 stars) and I was really looking forward to the release of the Kindle version of this book...however it is not compatible with my Kindle touch! I wish Amazon would have blatantly specified that it can only be read on certain devices. Oh well, paper back version it is. Just be careful when purchasing for Kindles.
313286
I bought the Kindle version - DON'T get the Kindle version! To use this, you need to move back and forth on the pages, and you will likely want to make some notes. Can't do that with Kindle version. I tried copy/paste some short selections to make notes (since I couldn't make any notes) and there's a maximum number of copies you can do. In the end, I ALSO had to get the paper version. It is 5 star... Kindle is 3 star.
1081132
I liked the characters, I liked the sense of humor this book has, and overall, I enjoyed reading it.  I honestly wish I hadn't bought the Kindle in Motion version though because I like to imagine the characters how I want them to look and not keep seeing the illustrations.  That's my problem though because I should've got the version without the pictures.  It's good escapist fun.
2844753
The book itself is a great read.  My beef is with the Kindle version.  There are many graphs,text blocks, drawings,etc. that appear as only white blocks of space in the Kindle version on my Kindle Fire reader.  They show up correctly  when I open it on my Mac - just not in the Kindle.  One example is at location 1417 entitled "Special Sundays."
2211465
Do NOT buy this if you have an early version of the Kindle. The footnotes don't work, though they are interesting to read when the book is done... It's a stunning book in many ways, but I wish I'd read it in paper instead. For me a long and complicated book like this just doesn't seem pleasurable in Kindle, maybe the newer versions of Kindle handle it better. It took a very long time to read, and I'm usually a speedy reader, not complaining, but when the ending happened so suddenly I was taken by surprise.

It made me want to read more by Melville, but NEVER on Kindle. Why did we give up on paper so readily? Sad.
1706293
I'm in the rare position of owning this on both the Kindle and as the physical book. So I'll focus on that, but let me just say that the content of this book (in any format) is excellent. The humour combined with knowledge helps keep you engaged and will make you laugh out loud in certain parts. Highly recommended, in particular if you have a slightly dark sense of humour.

That said: The Kindle edition of this book is pretty poor. Part of this book's charm is the diagrams, often split over two pages, these are ruined in the Kindle version, often two halves aren't next to one another or worse the image is sideways on making it hard to read and ruining the flow of the book. The Kindle version just feels slapped together, like someone scanned the book in really quickly, didn't really look at the result and then they put it immediately for sale.

The format of the physical item in this case IS part of its charm. The cut off corners, the feel of the paper, all of it has been selected to make it feel like a really old "manual." That charm is subtle but completely lost in the Kindle version. The text itself is readable in both formats, but the charm is not.

I give this book a 4/5 on paper form, a 3/5 in Kindle form.

I'd only take off one star in the paper form because it felt like the humour was better at the start of the book and as you got further in they stopped trying to keep it light (and it gets a little dry in places). But still better than any other baby book I know of.
2454747
I love the elemental mysteries stories, the characters, the love story. I didn't want it to end!  Strange thing I found about the kindle version, maybe in paper it's the same but very poor editing.  There are lots of typos, double words, misspelled words, etc.
315970
This is a great sci-fi action adventure type book full of 80's pop culture and video game references.  I enjoyed it so much that I didn't want it to end...and now I wish I had purchased the physical version instead of the Kindle version.  I'd read this again and again until the spine was busted and the pages were worn and dog-eared...when I wasn't loaning it to responsible friends :o)
4754939
I'd be happy to give this a 5, but the editing of the Kindle version was non-existent! May wrote a wonderful piece and conclusion to her Saga of Pliocene series and it was full of inventive characters and plot turns. I only wish the publishers has taken as much care presenting her work as she did writing it! The word "torc" was constantly replaced with "tore" and words slid into each other: misspellings on every page ruined an otherwise fine effort on the author's part. I could usually suss out the meaning but there were times that I was just lost. It took an otherwise wonderful book and ruined it. Shame on you for selling this at full price publishers, heck I would even have edited the book for you if anyone would have taken the time to upload a corrected version! Thank you Ms. May for a great book!
2008626
I've been putting off reviewing this book because it is so good, yet a bit hard to explain. But maybe i'll come back later and give a more detailed description. For now: If you are a fan of Zen, and a lover of great fiction, this is absolutely the book for you. Dogen-zenji's Shobogenzo meets intriguing interwoven interpersonal story with layers of science, natural history, WWII, and the tsunami in Japan, and more.

Note: Do not buy Kindle version. There are 160 footnotes that are near impossible to access on the kindle version, which resulted in me being repeated frustrated and irritated.