Today, I've made my Kindle titles available for free, you can download a copy right now:
👇👇👇👇👇Click the title of your choice
Showing posts with label Snob's Guide to New Zealand. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Snob's Guide to New Zealand. Show all posts
April 05, 2025
November 08, 2024
Looking at Moving to New Zealand?
Many Americans appear depressed now that Donald Trump has been elected President for a second term. Internet searches related to New Zealand have increased. Before making the move there are a few things to consider, and many such things are addressed in my book: Snob's Guide to New Zealand
Get your copy today: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1727804147
November 01, 2024
Book Promotion November 2024
For a limited time I'm giving away free Kindle editions of my books, grab a copy of anything you fancy:
Clink the title and the link will take you to the book's page on Amazon:
June 30, 2024
Book Promotion - Ken Horlor
For the next couple of days you can download a free Kindle read of my books: just click on the following titles:
May 01, 2024
Free Book Promotion
Over the next few hours you can download a free Kindle version of each of my books.
Simply click on the link to take the link to the Amazon store:
And for all things interesting or informative about New Zealand:
February 02, 2023
Snob's Guide to New Zealand
For the next two days my book about New Zealand is available free on Kindle. It is a useful guide and a close examination of issues confronting the country. Rather than be a recitation of facts and figures and an endless gush about the place, it is honest and addresses things like how the locals think, and what you need to get ahead. If you haven't read it, you're missing out, grab your copy today.
January 02, 2023
Snob's Guide to New Zealand
For the next two days you can download a free Kindle copy of my guide to New Zealand. It is not just for tourists, it is an essential guide on where to go, what to do, what it's like and what the locals think.
www.amazon.com/Snobs-Guide-New-Zealand-Horlor-ebook/dp/B07J9XRCWK
May 01, 2022
Ken Horlor: Author Book Promotion
Over the next two days it will be possible to download Kindle version of my titles for free. Grab your copy today:
Dana Point
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FP5DLJ1
March 02, 2021
Ken Horlor: Book Promotion on Now
I'm having a free Kindle promotion right now. Over the rest of the day you can download any of my titles for free on Kindle. You don't need any special device, just a computer and the free Amazon software to read the books.
Here are the links to each book, grab a copy now:
Fiction:
Basketball Obsession: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B00VIEZ51G
The Crushing Son: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B01DK352BK
Dana Point: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FP5DLJ1
Non-fiction:
Snob's Guide to New Zealand: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J9XRCWK
December 01, 2020
Big Kindle Read Giveaway
Pick up my titles FREE in this huge Kindle giveaway. Christmas has come early for my valued blog visitors:
Just click on any of the titles below to download a free copy of the book...
November 10, 2020
Snob's Guide to New Zealand Making Comeback
My book on navigating around New Zealand society is undergoing a resurgence. When first released it was always top 100 on Amazon's Australian and Oceanian Politics category in both the physical and Kindle format. As a Kindle read it also rated highly within travel guides, a subject it does also address. But then it fell away, still selling but not enough to push it back into the limelight.
Recently readers have started borrowing the book from the Kindle Lending Library, which is new for me as in the past people bought the book. I know how much of the book gets read this way as I'm paid by the page through the Kindle Lending Library. My last two books get read completely when borrowed which I'm told is quite rare. Books are generally not read properly, readers skip pages, more than 20% of each book can be skipped through in fact. These readers later claim to have finished the book, when they haven't done that at all. So it's nice to know that my efforts are appreciated or at least hold the reader.
Why the comeback for Snob's Guide to New Zealand? I think the answer is twofold, people in the US are unhappy with the way things are headed there and maybe looking to escape. The other is controversy surrounding NZ's election and the possibility of electoral interference there as well. Readers are interested to know how the NZ system works, and exactly how its electoral system is flawed.
You can read my book by following this link: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J9XRCWK
It's an easy read, written in an accessible way, but it's not endless gush either, if you want to know exactly how NZ operates, this is your first port of call. You get the lowdown, need to know stuff.
September 01, 2020
Bonus Free Kindle Reads
Two more of my books are now available as free Kindle reads over the next couple of days.
Dana Point https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FP5DLJ1
And for those interested in everything New Zealand:
Snob's Guide to New Zealand https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J9XRCWK
Dana Point https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FP5DLJ1
And for those interested in everything New Zealand:
Snob's Guide to New Zealand https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J9XRCWK
November 11, 2019
Here's the Deal
I have many readers and others who buy my books. I thought, why not combine the two by offering them a deal? Here goes:
If you buy the physical copy of any of my books, I'll reciprocate with one of the following;
What do you say? You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.
If you buy the physical copy of any of my books, I'll reciprocate with one of the following;
- I'll rewrite your website landing page for you, up to 300 words, making it SEO friendly. Google will love you.
- I'll either post a lengthy comment on your blog (up to 500 words), or blog about you on this site, mentioning you and providing a link to your blog or website.
- I'll either edit any document, presentation, corporate statement or press release (up to five pages or 1,000 words), or rewrite any of the same up to 500 words.
What do you say? You scratch my back, I'll scratch yours.
If this sounds like a good deal, simply buy the physical copy of any of my books. A good starting point is Snob's Guide to New Zealand Alternatively you may choose any of my three novels
Why the physical copy? Self-interest, I make more money out of the paperback.
How to collect: take a selfie on your computer, using any of the many tools available for this, Skype comes to mind. Then email me using the contact form >>>>> over there on the right. I'll reply, whereupon you then send me the selfie image of you holding the book or displaying it (if you're bashful, conceal your face, ahem).
That completed, I'll then do as promised, you just say what you want done.
Will this work for you? It could, there are no guarantees but I've got some pretty good blog posts out there floating around. My reporting on the claims that Prince Charles and Camilla have a love child went ballistic and still drives traffic to my blog nearly four years later. I've even seen the post appearing as a rich snippet (you know, the things that appear at the start of Google search results), even though I've never bothered setting any of my posts as rich snippets or structured data - go figure.
Will I have the time to do this for you? Probably, I figure only a few will take up the offer, but the effort will be worthwhile.
November 01, 2019
Snob's Guide to New Zealand
For the next two days my book, Snob's Guide to New Zealand is available free on Kindle. It's the essential guide to New Zealand and its people:
https://www.amazon.com/Snobs-Guide-New-Zealand-Horlor-ebook/dp/B07J9XRCWK/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
https://www.amazon.com/Snobs-Guide-New-Zealand-Horlor-ebook/dp/B07J9XRCWK/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
October 24, 2019
Auckland SkyCity Convention Centre Fire
Blame the inability to contain the fire on 9 years of National government under-funding while they were in office. They're bloody incompetent. Read this blog post;
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/10/24/nz-herald-online-coverage-of-the-sky-city-fire-concerns-the-cbd-can-be-shut-down-by-a-blowtorch-why-the-fire-is-a-perfectly-delicious-metaphor-of-national-in-power-for-9-years/
I talk about the lack of infrastructural investment and the tendency to centre everything on Auckland in my book Snob's Guide to New Zealand; funny thing is, it's been read all over the world but New Zealanders are not so keen. Ridiculous I know, but there you go.
https://thedailyblog.co.nz/2019/10/24/nz-herald-online-coverage-of-the-sky-city-fire-concerns-the-cbd-can-be-shut-down-by-a-blowtorch-why-the-fire-is-a-perfectly-delicious-metaphor-of-national-in-power-for-9-years/
I talk about the lack of infrastructural investment and the tendency to centre everything on Auckland in my book Snob's Guide to New Zealand; funny thing is, it's been read all over the world but New Zealanders are not so keen. Ridiculous I know, but there you go.
July 21, 2019
Snob's Guide to New Zealand
Shameless self-promotion here; my latest book Snob's Guide to New Zealand is available on Amazon in paperback and kindle. It's very accurate, an example is not a single word in the book needs to be changed about what I had to say about cricket in NZ. The chapters are organised alphabetically, cricket being dealt with under the chapter...Sport.
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1727804147
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1727804147
March 06, 2019
EV Nonsense Just Won't Go Away
Yes, a popular theme of mine, explaining just how impractical and nonsensical purely electric vehicles are. My advice - don't buy one. In 10 years time they're going to be valueless in New Zealand and I'll tell you why:
Installed Generation Capacity
NZ does not have the installed generation capacity to power a sizeable fleet of EV's. If NZ ever did get a sizeable EV fleet, then electricity prices would skyrocket. The situation would be so bad, the entire country would need to go back to living like they were in the nineteenth century, with candles for lighting and cooking over a wood burning stove.
Electricity Industry Not Built for EV's
When NZ's economic planners were structuring NZ's electricity supply, they did not provide for an EV fleet. When the automobile was invented battery powered cars were tried and they failed as all EV's do.
Car manufacturers looked at various gases and steam, but the petrol and diesel powered internal combustion engine won hands down. That's why almost all cars are powered by fossil fuels through an internal combustion engine. They work well and provide the greatest utility.
What was left for electricity was in powering houses, offices and fixed industry. Most of this power goes into heating homes across the country. Winter is a time of high demand.
So what did the planners do? They looked at NZ's large water resources and figured that if they built large hydro lakes then they'd fill during the summer when the snow melted, making that potential energy in the lake available to be transferred into electrical energy through the winter. There have been a few hiccups with this, notably during winters delivering little snow, meaning the coming summer didn't get the melt and the following winter ran low on available electrical supply. If the lakes are empty, you have no power.
Most of NZ's electricity comes from these hydro lakes. But what can make things worse? Any demand that draws on the lakes during the summer. This is the problem with EV's as NZ car use is highest during the summer months. If NZ was to rely on EV's, it would be equivalent to every home in NZ turning on a heater day after day, 360 days of the year. This would mean no electricity at all as the hydro lakes would be empty.
EV users would then need to turn to their own devices, most likely petrol or diesel generators due to their reliability. This defeats the whole purpose of EV's.
Decentralised vs Centralised Generation
When addressing the problem of demand no matter the time of year, the call is then made to install the generators, get it done. This sounds like a willingness to get somewhere but it too falls short. That's because most quick-fix solutions involve decentralised models, and they don't work. What's decentralised? That's where the home has its own solar panels, maybe a battery, and possibly wind turbine or micro hydro. Sounds good, but it isn't so good.
Is a decentralised model practical? How can an 85 year old get onto the roof to clean those solar panels? When you move house what will the system be like where you move to, and will it have been maintained? What about apartment blocks? A decentralised model adds complexity where none is desirable. The consumer wants to flick a switch and voila, the lights go on.
The decentralised model is expensive, is subject to uncertain output, and trusts millions of households to play their part - it's a recipe for disaster.
Centralised generation is the sensible approach and the only way forward, but once again the problem is the expense. NZ does not have the money to install enough generation to power an EV fleet. It doesn't matter what the means of generation are, the money simply isn't there. NZ would be bankrupted trying to install the required capacity (the calculations are provided in my book Snob's Guide to New Zealand).
Losses
EV zealots forget that moving to electricity harms the liquid fuels industry. I think this is the killer blow to any EV's being allowed on the road. Who has paid for the roads? The car user paying through fuel tax, that's who. That revenue begins to dry up but may be replaced by similar charges for EV's, but the service stations and fuel distributors will suffer losses and need to downsize. This also adds to the miles car users will need to travel to refuel. The government will be deprived of fuel tax revenues, along with less income tax revenue after worker layoffs and business failures, and the whole economy suffers because transport becomes less efficient.
Bear in mind EV's would not be able to replace all cars. Police cars and other emergency responders would need to be powered by the internal combustion engine (imagine the bad guys getting away because the cop car battery was low, or the ambulance failing to arrive) and they'd be faced with the same nuisance of not being able to find fuel readily.
Conclusion
There is nothing good to be said about EV's. If you want a formula that bankrupts New Zealand, then EV's are the perfect storm.
In a later blog post I'll address how NZ should approach things. And last year I posted the following about why exactly EV's are useless cars: https://kenhorlor.blogspot.com/2018/07/why-electric-cars-are-no-good.html
Installed Generation Capacity
NZ does not have the installed generation capacity to power a sizeable fleet of EV's. If NZ ever did get a sizeable EV fleet, then electricity prices would skyrocket. The situation would be so bad, the entire country would need to go back to living like they were in the nineteenth century, with candles for lighting and cooking over a wood burning stove.
Electricity Industry Not Built for EV's
When NZ's economic planners were structuring NZ's electricity supply, they did not provide for an EV fleet. When the automobile was invented battery powered cars were tried and they failed as all EV's do.
Car manufacturers looked at various gases and steam, but the petrol and diesel powered internal combustion engine won hands down. That's why almost all cars are powered by fossil fuels through an internal combustion engine. They work well and provide the greatest utility.
What was left for electricity was in powering houses, offices and fixed industry. Most of this power goes into heating homes across the country. Winter is a time of high demand.
So what did the planners do? They looked at NZ's large water resources and figured that if they built large hydro lakes then they'd fill during the summer when the snow melted, making that potential energy in the lake available to be transferred into electrical energy through the winter. There have been a few hiccups with this, notably during winters delivering little snow, meaning the coming summer didn't get the melt and the following winter ran low on available electrical supply. If the lakes are empty, you have no power.
Most of NZ's electricity comes from these hydro lakes. But what can make things worse? Any demand that draws on the lakes during the summer. This is the problem with EV's as NZ car use is highest during the summer months. If NZ was to rely on EV's, it would be equivalent to every home in NZ turning on a heater day after day, 360 days of the year. This would mean no electricity at all as the hydro lakes would be empty.
EV users would then need to turn to their own devices, most likely petrol or diesel generators due to their reliability. This defeats the whole purpose of EV's.
Decentralised vs Centralised Generation
When addressing the problem of demand no matter the time of year, the call is then made to install the generators, get it done. This sounds like a willingness to get somewhere but it too falls short. That's because most quick-fix solutions involve decentralised models, and they don't work. What's decentralised? That's where the home has its own solar panels, maybe a battery, and possibly wind turbine or micro hydro. Sounds good, but it isn't so good.
Is a decentralised model practical? How can an 85 year old get onto the roof to clean those solar panels? When you move house what will the system be like where you move to, and will it have been maintained? What about apartment blocks? A decentralised model adds complexity where none is desirable. The consumer wants to flick a switch and voila, the lights go on.
The decentralised model is expensive, is subject to uncertain output, and trusts millions of households to play their part - it's a recipe for disaster.
Centralised generation is the sensible approach and the only way forward, but once again the problem is the expense. NZ does not have the money to install enough generation to power an EV fleet. It doesn't matter what the means of generation are, the money simply isn't there. NZ would be bankrupted trying to install the required capacity (the calculations are provided in my book Snob's Guide to New Zealand).
Losses
EV zealots forget that moving to electricity harms the liquid fuels industry. I think this is the killer blow to any EV's being allowed on the road. Who has paid for the roads? The car user paying through fuel tax, that's who. That revenue begins to dry up but may be replaced by similar charges for EV's, but the service stations and fuel distributors will suffer losses and need to downsize. This also adds to the miles car users will need to travel to refuel. The government will be deprived of fuel tax revenues, along with less income tax revenue after worker layoffs and business failures, and the whole economy suffers because transport becomes less efficient.
Bear in mind EV's would not be able to replace all cars. Police cars and other emergency responders would need to be powered by the internal combustion engine (imagine the bad guys getting away because the cop car battery was low, or the ambulance failing to arrive) and they'd be faced with the same nuisance of not being able to find fuel readily.
Conclusion
There is nothing good to be said about EV's. If you want a formula that bankrupts New Zealand, then EV's are the perfect storm.
In a later blog post I'll address how NZ should approach things. And last year I posted the following about why exactly EV's are useless cars: https://kenhorlor.blogspot.com/2018/07/why-electric-cars-are-no-good.html
Edit to add: After Hurricane Ian many EV's caught fire - why? https://media.gab.com/system/media_attachments/files/120/742/623/playable/26b11f358efd82f3.mp4
October 28, 2018
Snob's Guide to New Zealand - Selling in France
A nice surprise has been the sales of my new book in France. I have mentioned France and Frenchmen a few times in the book and this may have resulted in favourable search results within the Amazon platform. Over the weekend Snob's Guide to New Zealand was higher than Bill Bryson's Downunder, and Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf (the English translation).
The Kindle version can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J9XRCWK
Paperback: www.amazon.com/gp/product/1727804147
The Kindle version can be found here: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J9XRCWK
Paperback: www.amazon.com/gp/product/1727804147
October 24, 2018
Snob's Guide to New Zealand: Second Week Hit #1 New Release
Snob's Guide to New Zealand hit a new landmark, Amazon #1 New Release on Kindle in the second week, mainly due to Kindle Unlimited.
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J9XRCWK
Paperback: www.amazon.com/gp/product/1727804147
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J9XRCWK
Paperback: www.amazon.com/gp/product/1727804147
October 21, 2018
Snob's Guide to New Zealand: Selling Well
My latest book, Snob's Guide to New Zealand has started off well, within the first week it has made top 10 in Germany and the USA within the politics category. In Germany it was for the paperback and in the US for the Kindle version.
Not a bad start then. Readers can find the book here:
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J9XRCWK
Paperback: www.amazon.com/gp/product/1727804147
Not a bad start then. Readers can find the book here:
Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07J9XRCWK
Paperback: www.amazon.com/gp/product/1727804147
