2020, what an eventful year! The name of the game changer is called Covid 19; people got sick left and right, unemployment rate climbed, businesses went burst( and boomed), an already uncertain economy outlook marred by political backstabbing and instabilities…. all these happen within one year. In response, we change our working and socializing habit, and maybe for good. This is a watershed year!
On the eve of new year, it’s common to take a step back and review how we did throughout the year. We hope that by regularly reviewing, we can do better for the coming year!
Business
2020 is a year of growth for Kindle and Boox. Despite pandemics, despite that we are not able to do roadshows like past years, we still witness a 30% year to year growth. It’s a deeply humbling experience to see growth despite all odds, and we are thankful to the kindle/boox fans who supported us.
Not only that, we also established our presence at Lazada/Shopee via our Penang partner. Thank you to our partner who join in our mission in spreading the joy of reading!
On the Boox side, Onyx Boox came up with a slew of new reader models: from the most entry level model, the 6 inch Poke 3, to the medium level model, the 7.8 inch Nova 3, to the gigantic model, the 10 inch Note Air and finally the ultra gigantic model, the 13 inch Max Lumi, Onyx Boox just can’t stop innovating. As a result, we see that the device specs take a huge boost: lighter weight means easier to carry, higher resolution means crispier display and most importantly, better processors and RAM means faster page turning speed!
Onyx Boox also introduces the first ever e-ink color reader, 6 inch poke2 color.
All these new models whetted the appetite of the readers, and contributed to our growth.
The books that we read:
Pandemics confines us to our living quarters, and we have a lot of time to read ( maybe this is also the reason why we are growing). This year we wrote about a dozen of book reviews. Here we just want to share the books that are good enough to be read a second or a third time:
- Range, by David Epstein. A book talks about how generalists fare better than specialists in volatile environments. We all have to be generalists now, because what awaits us is CHANGE that no one can foresee, Covid 19 pandemics is just one of them.
- The case against Education, by Bryan Caplan. Education, especially the tertiary education is providing more values in the form of skill certification rather than actual knowledge imparted. In other words, when you pay for education, you are paying for the certificate rather than the knowledge it teaches you. Bryan just calls out the elephant in the room that we all don’t want to acknowledge
- False Alarm, by Bjorn Lomborg. Climate change is a real problem, and it’s man made, we all can agree to that, for to acknowledge otherwise is either intellectually dishonest or plain moron. But what we really can’t agree on is how to best tackle it. And our reaction ( or, over reaction) against it can only make things worse. Read the book and the review to find out more.
- The subtle art of not giving a ****, by Mark Manson. Here’s the paradox: the very act of pursuing the happiness is often the source of unhappiness. Happiness cannot be itself the goal, it can only be a byproduct when you pursue other, meaningful things. There are and will always be things that you won’t be able to control, there are and will always be instances when you are being letdown, the correct response to all these is not try to correct them, but just to accept that they– be it uncontrollable events or disappointments– are a part of life.
- Missing Microbes, by Martin Blaser. Antibiotics is a life saver, but overusing it only makes the bacteria stronger and harder to kill. The takeaway is this: don’t use antibiotics unless you absolutely have to. Adhering to this philosophy not only can reduce your medical bills, but also prevent more powerful bacteria from rising.
- Selfish reasons to have more kids, by Bryan Caplan. If you have nothing to do during this pandemics, read this book. You will find A MEANINGFUL thing to do. 😉
That’s the end of the review, now we shall retreat to our woodland ( but business still as usual, you can still get your kindle/boox in the form of hand wrap Christmas gift from us, don’t worry!), and we hope that next year when we emerge from our cocoon, we can add more values to our fans by either offering better reading devices and services, or by recommending interesting books.
See you!
