"Frommer's The Royal Wedding" Skips the Shelf for the E-Book Reader

There have been books published solely in electronic form, for reading on an electronic device. But Frommer's The Royal Wedding is one of the few travel guidebooks published solely as an e-book that can be read by just about every e-reader device on the market (Kindle, Sony, Nook, iPad, etc.). It is intended for use either by people actually in London at the time of this Friday's wedding (or thereafter) or by armchair spectators watching the pomp and ceremony on television from their own home cities.

It sells for only $1.99. And how long a book is it? Well, that's a product of the size of type that you choose for viewing the book. Using what I regard to be a rather small typeface 10-points in size, it comes to about 61 pages on the iPad to which I've downloaded the Kindle reading application. On an actual Kindle with smaller dimensions for the size of a page, the resulting number of pages would probably amount (for most readers using average-size type) to just under 100.

Whatever the number of pages, it makes for pleasant reading. It's a rather chatty book adopting a personal tone, and it's written by a consummate expert in all things British, Ms. Dinah Hatch, the author of two larger Frommer's guidebooks to Britain and a secret royal watcher. What I like best about it is that it's specifically geared to the events of the wedding and to the type of information helpful either a.) to a person wanting to travel to key locations related to the wedding, or to a stay in England at the time of the wedding, or b.) to one of those armchair spectators, trying to visualize the key locations in England that might be visited by actual tourists to England.

It starts with the story of William and Kate, and how they met at St. Andrews University in Scotland. It follows some of their life together (to date) and then talks about what will happen on the actual day of the wedding: who will arrive first at Westminster Abbey, who will come afterwards, and how Kate and her father will then travel by limousine to deposit the bride at the church's entrance for her four-minute walk down the immensely long aisle of that Cathedral. It talks about the parties, receptions and other festivities that will then follow the big event, and after that it quickly reviews for you many of the main attractions of London, its museums and major sites, its restaurants, shops and nightspots. And then it briefly describes key attractions throughout Great Britain, including some of the landmarks and structures that will play a role in the future life together of the new royal couple.

As I've earlier mentioned, I read the book on my iPad to which the Kindle was downloaded, and therefore I've been able to see in vivid color the many illustrations appearing in the book of the landmarks mentioned in the text -- Westminster Abbey, especially, and the several royal palaces figuring in the events.

Now why am I describing the book's contents? If this were a book printed on paper, you'd have to schedule a visit to the nearest bookstore to obtain a copy. And with public interest at its height, that bookstore might be sold out. But since Frommer's The Royal Wedding is e-book only, you can always obtain a copy and download it right after you read this blog post.

I have mixed emotions about the competition to printed books posed by e-books. But for an event happening just two days from now, it seems a perfect device for reminding you, and informing you, about all the colorful highlights of events of this sort. I think you'll enjoy this quick read. And it will cost you only $1.99.