Twin Peaks 2
Months ago I shared my iBook version of The Autobiography of FBI Special Agent Dale Cooper. With the recent updates of the iBooks Author software, Apple has removed the option to have an iBook be both portrait and landscape orientated. Even loading my previous file which had both versions is now only in landscape (the original template selected). It seems now you can only have one or the other, not both. And let me tell you, landscape looks horrible in portrait mode. Needless to say I’m not too happy about this. I hope in future releases they will bring that option back. Looks like I’ll have to go and make a portrait mode version now. The good thing is that iBooks Author-created books can now be viewable on iPhones with the latest iBooks app.
As my close friends can attest, I am a big Twin Peaks fan. I was only 10 when Twin Peaks first aired on television in 1990 and I had no real interest in it at the time. It wasn’t until college that I was really re-introduced to it and became hooked immediately. Being a tech person–and also because in 2011 I lost a lot of books and artwork when our basement had flooded–I now buy eBooks whenever I can. Yeah I still miss that tactile feeling of a real hardcopy in my hands–it’s almost nostalgic anymore–but the lack of shelf space it takes up and the fact that it won’t mold and have it’s pages stick together because it can’t get wet is a good enough sales pitch for me.
I own physical copies of The Secret Diary of Laura Palmer (2 actually; gave one to a friend) and The Autobiography of F.B.I. Special Agent Dale Cooper: My Life, My Tapes, but now really want them in eBook format. The problem is, only Laura Palmer’s diary is available, not the other. Well, this is the perfect opportunity for me to dive into the iBooks Author software to create an iBook. I tested this software when it was first released over a year ago and found it extremely frustrating and pretty much gave up on it. But since the release of version 2, I’ve had a yearning to try it out again to see if it got better with age.
I can honestly say that it was a decent experience creating an iBooks version of Dale Cooper’s autobiography with very few hiccups. Now, I didn’t go in real media or widget heavy, as I really just wanted to recreate the book as it was originally printed. I did however create some new cover art for it.
As one Twin Peaks fan to another, I really hope you find this iBooks version useful (especially since you can only find out of print copies on eBay or some used bookstores). I also exported it as a PDF in case there’s some folks out there who do not own an Apple device. So, enjoy, and I can’t wait for more TP in 2016!
The Autobiography of F.B.I. Special Agent Dale Cooper: My Life, My Tapes
- iBooks version (for iPad and Mac only with iBooks installed)
- PDF version