It's always OK to send nice comments to them. Smaller authors will usually appreciate it, and bigger names will probably have somebody to read their fan mail and pass on some of the good ones to them. If the author has a web site, it will usually have a way to contact them. If not, you can contact their publisher and ask.

It's probably a good indication. My wife can't listen to audiobooks either, despite being an avid reader. I guess it's just something that doesn't work for some people.

The two worst things about Austria are that you're always getting confused with a different country, and all the kangaroos jumping around.

Of course. That's what the cover is for. I usually look for a title or picture that looks interesting, and for the name of an author that I've heard of. If any of those catch my attention, I'll pick it up and see what it's about. If it sounds interesting, then I'll buy it.

Sometimes the book sucks in spite of a cool cover, but books are cheap, so that isn't a big deal. And I'm pretty sure I've probably missed a few good books because the covers sucked, but maybe I'll see it again and I'll recognize the author's name the second time.

Also, "rent" or buy? Do you mean "borrow" or buy? I'm not familiar with renting books.

It depends on whether you stir with the same linear velocity or the same angular velocity.

The coffee cup is about 9 inches around, and if you stir it once per second, the coffee is moving at 9 inches per second. In a 26 foot pool, 9 inches per second will barely move the water, and it will stop almost as soon as you lift the spoon.

On the other hand, if you stir the pool at one stir (360 degrees) per second, the water will be moving at 980 inches per second (55 miles per hour!), and will keep moving for a very, very long time.

Also, that will probably generate enough outward force to destroy your pool. (I'm too busy to calculate the force right now, but if somebody else wants to, I'd be interested to see it.)

The worst I've had myself was the audiobooks of the Lensman series, by E. E. "Doc" Smith. It's old classic sci-fi, which I like, but I'd never read that series. I saw the whole thing was available on audiobook, and went ahead and got them all. I started listening in the car, as I drove to work.

They started reading the preface/introduction/whatever, and talking about the author, and how the story inspired other space opera, and the Green Lantern comic books, which I knew, and then just casually talked about the plot of not just the first book, but the whole damned series. Like "This happens in book one, and it looks like it's resolved when that happens, but this comes back in book 2, and it gets resolved like this. But then, in book 3, this other thing happens, and it's tied to this thing in book one, and that doesn't get resolved until this character from book 2 does this thing in book 4, and ..."

If I wanted that, I'd have read the Cliff's Notes, not bought the book. And it's an audiobook, so skipping the introduction isn't really an option, particularly while I'm driving. What the hell were they thinking? I mean, it's early pulp space opera, so you know most of the stuff that's going to happen is just "The protagonist is the best of the best at anything he tries, and science can do anything", but you shouldn't know the details before they happen.

I just turned 59, and no, I don't. I still read much more fiction than non-fiction.

If you're having a hard time with getting back into fiction, I'd suggest historical fiction, set in a time that interests you. Otherwise, if you're happy with non-fiction, that's fine, too. Read whatever makes you happy.

I'm pretty sure most of the filmmakers never actually read the book. They just saw the previous movie and based the newer one on that.

In fact, recent movies have caused me to wonder whether modern filmmakers actually can read.

The last time I was forced to read particular books (in high school), I would read chapter one, the first paragraph of all the other chapters, and the last chapter. That seemed to be enough to pass the tests (usually with an A), so I'd read my own books instead after that. In one case (The House of the Seven Gables) I didn't even read the book at all, and just learned enough from class discussions to pass the test (got a B on that one.)

In college, when one professor wanted us to read a particular book, a group of us got together and asked for permission to read a different one instead, which he allowed. That was pretty cool. (We picked one by an author we knew he liked.)

"I'm gonna have three more drinks, and if my horse ain't back I'm gonna have to do what I done in Waco, and I don't wanna do what I done in Waco!"

When I was younger, I had more time than money, so most of my books were from the library. Today, I have more money than time, so I buy most of my books. I also seem to have less time to read them, though.