Go south young man.......and read a book on a SmartPhone

I have got into reading books off my HTC smart phone using the Microsoft Reader. It means you always have a book with you (as well as a web browser, blog writer, phone etc.....)

The problem has been getting books in a suitable format, yes I know that you can buy electronic books but there are so many out of copyright classic's I have not read yet. You can download many from Project Gutenberg (and convert them to the right format using the add-in for Word) so why buy newer ones?

So recently I have been re-reading one of my favourite books, a good one to dip in and out of, "The Worst Journey in the World" about Scott's last expedition which Paul Theroux describes it as the best adventure book he’s ever read. This obviously lead me to a book on the site I have not read before "The South Pole" by Roald Amundsen.

The first thing I have to say is that in my opinion Apsley Cherry-Garrard is a far better writer than Amundsen (this maybe the translation but I doubt it). Irrespective of the style the two books read very differently Amundsen just makes it sound so matter of fact almost easy. Much of this I think is down to being bought up in a snowy land - being prepared. Scott, as has been much written, made some strange decisions often based on his poor past experiences (such as the use of dogs) and was certainly unlucky as well. Scott's is a story of the Edwardian gentleman amateur.

However, it is also interesting to see the all Edwardians not just the English had a similar view of the world - to travel, find new creatures, kill them then eat and/or stuff them.

So how do I like reading using the SmartPhone form factor? Well I find it fine usually. The only problems are that the HTC is useless direct sunlight and on the cheap short haul airlines you can't switch your phone on even in flight mode. So buy a magazine at the airport.