Google has started selling electronic versions of my book for $15.12. I have not yet receive my copy so I am not sure about the quality of product or whether it is key word searchable but the Mountaineers Books seems to think its a very usable version. If it will load in an smart phone or an Ipad it could be the rebirth of the guidebook. Hopefully, this development will eventually lead to a third edition including all the routes you folks have pioneered in the last 10 years.
Imagine carrying your small and lightweight iPad on your hike. You start questioning the route you are on, so you pull out the iPad, where you can reference Tom's electronic version of his book. You read where Tom says to avoid the class 5 rock by traversing climber's right of 2nd tower on the east ridge. You aren't sure if this is the 2nd or 3rd tower on the ridge, so you pull up photos that you saved to your iPad prior to the trip showing the east ridge, dang... still can't tell for sure. Now you launch your GPS application that overlays your position on a topo map, viola, you see that you are on route.
All would be available without a cell signal. I know that makes you purists cringe, but that would be some cool stuff right there!
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Now imagine tripping on something, falling, and smashing the screen of that very expensive ipad as you land on it. That would be my worst nightmare and it would almost make not even want to bring it. I know someone who has this happen to them.
Other than that I agree that that would be a really awesome resource to have in your pocket. I would just be afraid of breaking it somehow.
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The techie in me thinks that sound very cool. But its scary too.
Too much technology makes a person more and more reliant upon that technology, and less reliant upon their own navigation skills. Once that happens, a person is hosed if they drop and break the gadget, then have no skills to fall back on to get them out of trouble.
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One way to find your way home is to take lots of pictures with your digital camera. Then, to return home, you can look at the pictures in reverse order.
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I have learned that the electronic text is searchable and that Google Books will work on IPads and IPhones and I suspect Android phones as well as any computer. So, you can take it with you.
Also, it appears that the electronic text can be updated and supplemented. I am still awaiting details about that process. Stay tuned.
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Hi Tom, Your book is a great service to the mountain lovers of Idaho!
Thank you.
Now that your book is online, how do you get paid for your work -
or does your intellectual property now become part of the public domain?
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Dave, that is a good question? Google pays the Mountaineer Books each time it sells a copy on line and perhaps some of it will trickle down to me. I am not sure what the amount would be but my guess is that Google is paying very little for each copy it sells. The Copyright is protected but since you can read a lot of the book on line I am not sure how this is all going to turn out. As you know from your great book, putting a guidebook together is a labor of love and not that profitable. I was not included in any of the negotiations but I think its the only way to sell any significant number of books in the future. Hopefully, this process which is just in its infancy will lead to more content and constant updating and reader input.
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