Reading the Jack & Stephen books on a Kindle

August 24, 2016 3:04 PM

I'm re-reading the Aubrey and Maturin books, this time on a Kindle. Is there a custom dictionary I can use as my normal Kindle dictionary?

The first time I read the books, I plowed on through for the plot and adventure and characters. The second time I had A Sea of Words; Harbors and High Seas; and Persons, Animals, Ships and Cannon in the Aubrey-Maturin Sea Novels of Patrick O'Brian at hand so I could dork out.

I'm reading them again, now on the Kindle. I still have my reference books, but I'd like to be able to look up words on my Kindle as easily as I do using the Kindle's dictionary -- I want to switch my Kindle's default dictionary to one that will have the nautical terms I want, ideally one written for O'Brian readers. Is this possible?

posted by The corpse in the library to Writing & Language (6 answers total)

Well, the first solution would be to download the kindle version of A Sea of Words, etc. But that's $8 and you'd be switching back and forth between two ebooks.

Haven't tried any of these things (RIP Kindle Keyboard), but apparently it's possible to create a custom dictionary and sideload it onto Kindle. Since "A Sea of Words" is pretty thin, it may be possible for you to create a custom dictionary from it, if you can get it off your kindle and into a CSV file that fits the required format. Might be an interesting project.

Fair winds!
posted by Sunburnt at 4:24 PM on August 24, 2016

Short answer: no. I feel you. One good thing, though, is that the Kindle also has access to Wikipedia, which can be very helpful for more obscure terms. Also I'd check for an O'Brian reference like Sea of Words in Kindle format.
posted by bearwife at 4:25 PM on August 24, 2016

Also, I should tell you that one of the best ways to "read" these books is via audible.com, which has the inimitable Patrick Tull narrating many of the books in the series. (Accept no other narrator! Only Tull!) He is so good that many meanings that would be obscure otherwise are illuminated by his narration. Also, you can listen and stop the book and look things up in Sea of Words or online . . .

I realize this is not exactly what you asked, but it would help you accomplish your mission of re-reading and also having lookup ability.
posted by bearwife at 4:31 PM on August 24, 2016 [2 favorites]

Response by poster: > Accept no other narrator! Only Tull!

Agreed. I am not new to this world.
posted by The corpse in the library at 8:50 PM on August 24, 2016

This delightful group of POB obsessives might be a good place to ask too.
posted by runincircles at 2:03 AM on August 25, 2016

I have this Wikipedia page bookmarked on my phone for when reading the Aubrey/Maturin series.
posted by Happy Dave at 6:33 AM on August 25, 2016