TedPark
06-21-2008, 12:45 AM
Well, are any of you as bummed as I am that there is no simple list of authors and titles for PG? Then your foundest wish has come true. I downloaded their XML/RDF catalog and did some serious data mining. I kept only those things that were in English or might be in English. I also eliminated a lot of duplicates and did some other housecleaning. Here is a simple XLS file that you can sift and sort all you want.
PS - Phew, that was some ugly job. They need a good DBA bad. Overall their database is good and righteous, but there are hundreds of records that are in need of various types of repairs.
{sigh} <--- is there a smiley for that?
PPS - I don't know if this is the best forum for this, but I figure one of you SYSOPs can move it if appropriate.
Sparrow
06-21-2008, 02:44 AM
Excellent!! Many thanks :2thumbsup
zelda_pinwheel
06-21-2008, 07:09 AM
holy cow ! is your name really Hercules, and your 12 labors are all e-book related ??? thanks for all your hard work. us mere mortals appreciate it.
vivaldirules
06-21-2008, 09:32 AM
Terrific, Ted! I've always wanted to quickly browse PG's contents and have been as frustrated as I am with Amazon and Sony with not having a downloadable list. I don't know how practical it will be scanning through 21,032 entries but at least now it's an option. Thanks!
TedPark
06-21-2008, 01:20 PM
Wake up - middle of the night - heel of hand to forehead - aarrgghh - forgot the author list.
I re-up-loaded the file. Check out the second tab. It's interesting to sort by the number of entries. Among the highest are the usual suspects, Twain, Dickens, etc. But there are some real head-scratchers also. Someone at PG must have a fetish for specific obscure authors!
HarryT
06-22-2008, 11:45 AM
Have you got a method of keeping it updated, Ted, or was this a one-time "snapshot", so to speak?
ricdiogo
06-22-2008, 12:05 PM
They need a good DBA bad. Overall their database is good and righteous, but there are hundreds of records that are in need of various types of repairs.
Hi Ted.
As you know PG is made by volunteers and volunteers only. If you are willing to help us out, just subscribe PG's mailing list gutvol-d and say what you can do for PG. We'll be more than happy to read your suggestions and I assure you that PG's community will welcome everything you may develop in favour of free ebooks.
Take care.
TedPark
06-22-2008, 10:02 PM
Have you got a method of keeping it updated, Ted, or was this a one-time "snapshot", so to speak?
Alas, there was a great bit of "hand job" on this. Without some better tools, I can't do it totally automated. But I was thinking about waiting a few months and seeing if some kind of "update since" file can be obtained and maybe it will be easier to work with. We'll see.
Hi TedPark,
Nice list thanks.
Also, Gutenberg has other ways to search for books. These search engines have an up to date list and includes authors from the Australian site.
Online searchable (using google and yahoo's search engine)
http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/
and
One can also download a master list from the Gutenberg site.
http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Gutenberg:Offline_Catalogs
Thank you,
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