What’s next on your ASD bookshelf?

by Seana Smith on Thursday, March 25th, 2010

What’s next on your ASD bookshelf?   Read on for some suggestions on how to minimise your book buying bills, especially if you have an addictive Amazon habit.

I’m taking my four children up to a resort in Queensland for a few days these holidays.  My husband works overseas so I’m a mum alone – wish me luck.

Anyway, my thoughts turn optimistically to wondering which books I might take to read.  Trashy romance novels – yes!  But I’ll also take a couple of the  ASD books which are on my shelf.

The first one has been there for a couple of months, it’s called”  A Parent’s Guide to Asperger Syndrome and High Functioning Autism” written by a trio of heavy hitters in the USA, Sally Ozonoff, Geraldine Dawson and James McPartland.   I’m interested to see how they write and what they say, will blog on this later.

The second is actually not on my pine bookshelf but on my digital bookshelf, it was cheap and easy to get and I thought I’d share the steps.

I’ve been wanting to read Rupert Isaacson’s “The Horse Boy” for ages, it sound really interesting and well written too.   So, I had checked in bookshops and on Dymocks online and it costs around $35.  A friend said she’d loan me hers but the weeks have rolled by….

So…. I have my trusty iPhone and one day I learned about the Kindle for iPhone app and downloaded it quick smart.

A day or so later I was at the gym taking a lazy, leisurely stroll on the walking machine.  I got out my iPhone and opened the Kindle app, then touched the “Get Book’  icon and typed in “The Horse Boy.”

Up popped the book  and I touched here and there to buy it.  I didn’t even have to enter credit card details as they are already at Amazon, so I could use the 1-Click purchase.

And, miraculously, right  there on the treadmill, the book was sent to my iPhone.  HOW DO THEY DO THAT????

I was gobsmacked, I would have fallen off the treadmill if I hadn’t been going so slowly.

Cost of the Kindle version of the book?   $6.50!  Delivered instantaneously, saved on the cost of the petrol to get to a bookstore as well.  Blimey.

Do a search on the Kindle Store section of the Amazon website and you will find dozens and dozens of ASD books available, including lots of the classic must-reads.

For we Aussies, this is a great step ahead, much easier and cheaper access to books and information than has been available before.   I’m not saying the iPhone is the best digital book reading device, it isn’t, iPads and Kindles will soon become more popular, I’m sure.  But it’s a start.

Nor are digital books perfect.  You can’t loan them to your friends and you can’t sell them when you’ve read them.   But at that price, I’m delighted nonetheless.

Now then (Benison, are you reading?) it is actually NOT THAT HARD to work this all out.  Your kids can help, especially some of the ASD kids.     So, for the iPhone friendly, I say… get that Kindle app.

So that’s my reading list for the holidays.  I wonder if I will be able to wrestle the iPhone away from the kids long enough to get past Chapter 1?