Free Book (ADE/PDF) - Isolarion

koland · 03-01-2011, 07:52 AM

Isolarion: A Different Oxford Journey ($9.99 Kindle), by James Attlee, is free from the University of Chicago this month.

Book Description
Through the centuries, people from all walks of life have heard the siren call of a pilgrimage, the lure to journey away from the familiar in search of understanding. But is a pilgrimage even possible these days for city-dwellers enmeshed in the pressures of work and family life? Or is there a way to be a pilgrim without leaving one’s life behind? James Attlee answers these questions with Isolarion, a thoughtful, streetwise, and personal account of his pilgrimage to a place he thought he already knew—the Cowley Road in Oxford, right outside his door.

Isolarion takes its title from a type of fifteenth-century map that isolates an area in order to present it in detail, and that’s what Attlee, sharp-eyed and armed with tape recorder and notebook, provides for Cowley Road. The former site of a leper hospital, a workhouse, and a medieval well said to have miraculous healing powers, Cowley Road has little to do with the dreaming spires of the tourist’s or student’s Oxford. What Attlee presents instead is a thoroughly modern, impressively cosmopolitan, and utterly organic collection of shops, restaurants, pubs, and religious establishments teeming with life and reflecting the multicultural makeup of the surrounding neighborhood.

From a sojourn in a sensory-deprivation tank to a furtive visit to an unmarked pornography emporium, Attlee investigates every aspect of the Cowley Road’s appealingly eclectic culture, where halal shops jostle with craft jewelers and reggae clubs pulsate alongside quiet churchyards. But the very diversity that is, for Attlee, the essence of Cowley Road’s appeal is under attack from well-meaning city planners and predatory developers. His pilgrimage is thus invested with melancholy: will the messy glories of the Cowley Road be lost to creeping homogenization?

Drawing inspiration from sources ranging from Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy to contemporary art, Attlee is a charming and companionable guide who revels in the extraordinary embedded in the everyday. Isolarion is at once a road movie, a quixotic stand against uniformity, and a rousing hymn in praise of the complex, invigorating nature of the twenty-first-century city.

Click HERE to sign up for the free book. You'll need to enter your email address, then check your email for the link to download the book. Mine arrived within seconds -- you get a .ACSM file, which, when opened, will load the PDF book inside of Adobe ADE. This is a DRM'd PDF that is not compatible with the Kindle.

petercreasey · 03-01-2011, 10:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by koland

, will load the PDF book inside of Adobe ADE.

Karen, This is what I expected also based on prior experiences.

On this occasion, though, it offered me the option of dowloading and opening the book into Sony Reader Library which I tried. And it worked fine. The process opened Adobe Digital Editions but never used it!?!

koland · 03-01-2011, 12:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by petercreasey

Karen, This is what I expected also based on prior experiences.

On this occasion, though, it offered me the option of dowloading and opening the book into Sony Reader Library which I tried. And it worked fine. The process opened Adobe Digital Editions but never used it!?!

It is probably because Sony's software registered on your machine to handle ADE tasks. Mine tried, but I had to make it stop doing that (for some other site, long ago, that I don't remember anymore).

Other than the PDF format, it installed quickly here (unlike last night, when the Adobe servers were overwhelmed by people buying after the RH announcement; I had error after error trying to open the books I bought or checked out from the library last night).

DixieGal · 03-01-2011, 01:22 PM

I just got it and the Jetta travel book. Here is the email:

Quote:

Subject: March free e-book: Isolarion by James Attlee

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Since you previously requested a free e-book from the University of Chicago Press, we thought you'd like to know about the March free e-book selection.* (If you prefer not to hear about future e-books from Chicago, you may unsubscribe below.)

“A time may come in your life when you feel the need to make a pilgrimage.” James Attlee’s acclaimed Isolarion: A Different Oxford Journey is the story of his own pilgrimage, but with a difference: “Why make a journey to the other side of the world when the world has come to you?” Attlee is a pilgrim in a city he thought he knew; an Oxford not of dons in gowns but an invigorating multicultural organism just around the corner and up the street.

Get your free e-book edition of Isolarion during the month of March.
*
Also, this month get Attlee’s new book, Nocturne: A Journey in Search of Moonlight, at 30% off list price of the cloth or e-book edition. Or get Spiral Jetta: A Road Trip through the Land Art of the American West by Erin Hogan. Use promo code ATTLEE30 during checkout.
*
*
*
About Chicago's e-books: The University of Chicago Press has over 1700 titles in its Chicago Digital Editions e-book program. See our complete list of e-books by subject. Chicago's e-books require Adobe Digital Editions software, which is freely downloadable. Chicago Digital Editions are powered by BiblioVault.

The University of Chicago Press | 1427 E. 60th Street Chicago, IL 60637 | Tel: (773) 702-7700

They require you to have the Bluefire reader app, and the format is ADE.

petercreasey · 03-01-2011, 01:39 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by koland

It is probably because Sony's software registered on your machine to handle ADE tasks. Mine tried, but I had to make it stop doing that

the RH announcement

Karen, How did you make the Sony Reader software stop handling ADE tasks?

And what is "RH"?

anjirlly · 03-01-2011, 07:04 PM

Looks like a fun read. Thanks for the tip.

koland · 03-01-2011, 09:13 PM

RH = Random House.
The late afternoon announcement must have touched off a flood of book purchases Monday evening, as adobe's licensing servers were too swamped to get a license to install.

I believe what I did for Sony was to right click on an .ACSM file I downloaded, went to Open With, the picked "Choose Default program" (directions for W7, you do the same for any version of windows, but steps can be located in different places, may need to open properties to find choice to change default open with). Then choose adobe Digital Editions from the listed programs.

You can probably also re-install ADE and it may give you the chance to reset handling of ACSM files that way.

I had to fix handling after the first Sony upgrade that handled ADE EPUB, as they decided they should take control without asking, and do the same for mobi after installing Kindle for PC the first time. No doubt for people that never use another reader program those defaults make it "simpler", but it messed my machine up, as I get books from various sources (and have for years).

03-01-2011, 07:52 AM	#1
koland Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,560 Karma: 8033155 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: TN, USA Device: kindle(all), nook, nookcolor, Sony, Kobo, epic, iphone, iPad, pc	Free Book (ADE/PDF) - Isolarion Isolarion: A Different Oxford Journey ($9.99 Kindle), by James Attlee, is free from the University of Chicago this month. Book Description Through the centuries, people from all walks of life have heard the siren call of a pilgrimage, the lure to journey away from the familiar in search of understanding. But is a pilgrimage even possible these days for city-dwellers enmeshed in the pressures of work and family life? Or is there a way to be a pilgrim without leaving one’s life behind? James Attlee answers these questions with Isolarion, a thoughtful, streetwise, and personal account of his pilgrimage to a place he thought he already knew—the Cowley Road in Oxford, right outside his door. Isolarion takes its title from a type of fifteenth-century map that isolates an area in order to present it in detail, and that’s what Attlee, sharp-eyed and armed with tape recorder and notebook, provides for Cowley Road. The former site of a leper hospital, a workhouse, and a medieval well said to have miraculous healing powers, Cowley Road has little to do with the dreaming spires of the tourist’s or student’s Oxford. What Attlee presents instead is a thoroughly modern, impressively cosmopolitan, and utterly organic collection of shops, restaurants, pubs, and religious establishments teeming with life and reflecting the multicultural makeup of the surrounding neighborhood. From a sojourn in a sensory-deprivation tank to a furtive visit to an unmarked pornography emporium, Attlee investigates every aspect of the Cowley Road’s appealingly eclectic culture, where halal shops jostle with craft jewelers and reggae clubs pulsate alongside quiet churchyards. But the very diversity that is, for Attlee, the essence of Cowley Road’s appeal is under attack from well-meaning city planners and predatory developers. His pilgrimage is thus invested with melancholy: will the messy glories of the Cowley Road be lost to creeping homogenization? Drawing inspiration from sources ranging from Robert Burton’s The Anatomy of Melancholy to contemporary art, Attlee is a charming and companionable guide who revels in the extraordinary embedded in the everyday. Isolarion is at once a road movie, a quixotic stand against uniformity, and a rousing hymn in praise of the complex, invigorating nature of the twenty-first-century city. Click HERE to sign up for the free book. You'll need to enter your email address, then check your email for the link to download the book. Mine arrived within seconds -- you get a .ACSM file, which, when opened, will load the PDF book inside of Adobe ADE. This is a DRM'd PDF that is not compatible with the Kindle.

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03-01-2011, 07:04 PM	#6
anjirlly Groupie Posts: 155 Karma: 58410 Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: SE Michigan Device: Kindle on Android phone; PB360; Sony 950	Looks like a fun read. Thanks for the tip.

03-01-2011, 09:13 PM	#7
koland Grand Sorcerer Posts: 8,560 Karma: 8033155 Join Date: Aug 2008 Location: TN, USA Device: kindle(all), nook, nookcolor, Sony, Kobo, epic, iphone, iPad, pc	RH = Random House. The late afternoon announcement must have touched off a flood of book purchases Monday evening, as adobe's licensing servers were too swamped to get a license to install. I believe what I did for Sony was to right click on an .ACSM file I downloaded, went to Open With, the picked "Choose Default program" (directions for W7, you do the same for any version of windows, but steps can be located in different places, may need to open properties to find choice to change default open with). Then choose adobe Digital Editions from the listed programs. You can probably also re-install ADE and it may give you the chance to reset handling of ACSM files that way. I had to fix handling after the first Sony upgrade that handled ADE EPUB, as they decided they should take control without asking, and do the same for mobi after installing Kindle for PC the first time. No doubt for people that never use another reader program those defaults make it "simpler", but it messed my machine up, as I get books from various sources (and have for years).