Dangerously e-books: How do I know if my ebooks have been altered?

[Ripplinger]

But EbookNovice should be aware this problem isn't limited to just ebooks. Different publication dates of the same paper books can and often do have some differences. Some may be only minor, but some... well the differences just might make one's head explode!

I don't think it's safe to read anything from anywhere ever again!

[BookCat]

I doubt this will assuage the OP's crisis of faith in books, but Manybooks have lots of public domain self-help books; just look in the 'Genres' section, where you'll find such subjects as Health, and Psychology etc. They're all legally free!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by BookCat

I doubt this will assuage the OP's crisis of faith in books, but Manybooks have lots of public domain self-help books; just look in the 'Genres' section, where you'll find such subjects as Health, and Psychology etc. They're all legally free!

But perhaps dangerously altered. Who can tell?

[Prestidigitweeze]

Originally Posted by pidgeon92

What makes an official version, anyhow? Look at what happened to The Picture of Dorian Gray (via Wikipedia). . . .

There's nothing wrong with publishing multiple (but correct) versions of a book, esp. one that has been edited by the author over time. Everyone has their favorite version of Leaves of Grass, for example, and critics generally agree that the original version of Confessions of an English Opium Eater is superior to De Quincey's expanded (and some would say distended) revised edition.

Richard Wright's autobiography/bildungsroman American Hunger (a/k/a Black Boy) was, in the original published edition, butchered and bowdlerized by editors who censored it for sexual and political reasons, even removing the second half ("The Horror and the Glory") for fear of offending the communists whom Wright excoriated. At this point, there's little reason for me to read the original Book of the Month Club edition, but a critic or interested reader might find it instructive to compare to the restored edition to see exactly which bits were deemed unacceptable.

Personally, I'm a fan of variorum editions when the edited and original texts prove equally interesting. Some writers revise to accentuate their own mannerisms at the expense of prose that was a tad ostentatious to begin with (Firbank); others erase their personalities in the interests of becoming more readable or close to the character (Flaubert).

Certain writers, however, actually replace one exquisite choice with another they later deem more apt. One of the most fascinating exhibits I've ever seen was shown at the late Donnell Library in NYC: handwritten revisions to manuscripts by Nabokov and Yeats. Nabokov seemed a master of improving on perfection.

[EbookNovice]

Originally Posted by doubleshuffle

There's Wikisource, of course. The epubs their site generates won't win a beauty contest, but the intention there is to present authoritative texts. As is the intention of many uploaders to the Patricia Clark Memorial Library, btw., including myself. (Though one of my uploads has been altered: If you read one particular poem you will receive a subliminal message that will make you travel to my hometown and do unspeakable things to my neighbours' nasty fat cat. Nobody's done it yet - it's a shame that no-one seems to read poetry anymore...)

Originally Posted by speakingtohe

IIRC the OP is looking for free self help books mainly and mostly these are under copyright.

So under the assumption this is still the case.

@EbookNovice
There is no place to get these books for free legally AFAIK. There is no website that can tell you for sure that there are no alterations made. Sure maybe they can say that, but you would be foolish to believe them.

I don't think you are trying to get illegal books, just that what you are looking for is not there.

Your best source is the public library if you want free books that have not been altered in a harmful way.

Helen

Right, I don't want to do anything illegal or unethical. I'm just looking for a source of free .epub files that I can be sure haven't been altered.

I just thought an .epub site with a large community would be a good way to know that the .epub files haven't been altered because so many people would have downloaded them.

[HarryT]

The simple answer is "stop worrying about it". Nobody else does, so why do you? There is no mass changing of books going on - the problem exists only in the your mind.

[tompe]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The simple answer is "stop worrying about it". Nobody else does, so why do you? There is no mass changing of books going on - the problem exists only in the your mind.

Except that people here admitted to unacceptabe changes in the books put on Mobileread.

Another thing is that you want to know what edition you are reading. And I read one of your Dumes book from Mobileread but I could not find out what paper edition it was based on. That was a bit annoying.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by tompe

Except that people here admitted to unaccetabe changes in the books put on Mobileread.

Another thing is that you want to know what edition you are reading. And I read one of your Dumes book from Mobileread but I could not find out what paper edition it was based on. That was a bit annoying.

Seriously? If you don't like the work of a group of volunteers who are providing mostly well edited and formatted public domain books for free, I'd suggest you look elsewhere. Nobody is forcing either you or EbookNovice to accept what's provided. If you think you can do better, I'm sure that the maintainers of this site would be glad to accept your output. I understand that gutenberg.org will provide you with books, though I understand the editing quality is less than perfect.

[JSWolf]

I have to agree that someone deciding to make changes to the wording of a book is unacceptable. Leave the words as is.

Also, it would be nice (when possible) to put what edition/version of the book it is so when you are looking for a specific version, you know if the one posted to MR is it or not.

[Rev. Bob]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I have to agree that someone deciding to make changes to the wording of a book is unacceptable. Leave the words as is.

I could see fixing typos, but that's about it...and it should be noted.

[jgaiser]

Originally Posted by JSWolf

I have to agree that someone deciding to make changes to the wording of a book is unacceptable. Leave the words as is.

So Jon, can you provide us with a book that the wording has been changed? Or is this just comment for the sake of commenting?

Some of you folks are starting to sound like the tin foil is getting a bit tight.

I'll say once again. If you don't like the ebooks that are being provided, join those that are providing their free time to make them available here.

For my part I'm thankful for the editors who have filled a library with some amazingly fine books.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by jgaiser

So Jon, can you provide us with a book that the wording has been changed? Or is this just comment for the sake of commenting?

Some of you folks are starting to sound like the tin foil is getting a bit tight.

I'll say once again. If you don't like the ebooks that are being provided, join those that are providing their free time to make them available here.

For my part I'm thankful for the editors who have filled a library with some amazingly fine books.

Earlier in this thread, AlexBell revealed that he altered the word "gay" to "light-hearted" in a novel by Wilkie Collins, because gay would "almost certainly" be read as homosexual.

I admit it, I was rocked by this. All the books in the MR Library are tainted by such an admission, even though it's unjust to the other hard-working and scrupulous uploaders. While I acknowledge the time and effort, it's to no end if the books can't be trusted. Moreover, the clear implication that the uploader thinks the general reader is too stupid to understand a common English word in context is offensive.

And if that puts me in the tinfoil-hat brigade, so be it.

[JSWolf]

Originally Posted by issybird

Earlier in this thread, AlexBell revealed that he altered the word "gay" to "light-hearted" in a novel by Wilkie Collins, because gay would "almost certainly" be read as homosexual.

I admit it, I was rocked by this. All the books in the MR Library are tainted by such an admission, even though it's unjust to the other hard-working and scrupulous uploaders. While I acknowledge the time and effort, it's to no end if the books can't be trusted. Moreover, the clear implication that the uploader thinks the general reader is too stupid to understand a common English word in context is offensive.

And if that puts me in the tinfoil-hat brigade, so be it.

Well said. I could not have said it better.

[meeera]

Originally Posted by issybird

Earlier in this thread, AlexBell revealed that he altered the word "gay" to "light-hearted" in a novel by Wilkie Collins, because gay would "almost certainly" be read as homosexual.

I admit it, I was rocked by this. All the books in the MR Library are tainted by such an admission, even though it's unjust to the other hard-working and scrupulous uploaders. While I acknowledge the time and effort, it's to no end if the books can't be trusted. Moreover, the clear implication that the uploader thinks the general reader is too stupid to understand a common English word in context is offensive.

And if that puts me in the tinfoil-hat brigade, so be it.

I agree that that is unacceptable. However the OP is worried (to the point of insomnia) about reading nonfiction that may physically harm him if he follows its advice, which is rather a different beast.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by issybird

Earlier in this thread, AlexBell revealed that he altered the word "gay" to "light-hearted" in a novel by Wilkie Collins, because gay would "almost certainly" be read as homosexual.

I admit it, I was rocked by this. All the books in the MR Library are tainted by such an admission, even though it's unjust to the other hard-working and scrupulous uploaders. While I acknowledge the time and effort, it's to no end if the books can't be trusted. Moreover, the clear implication that the uploader thinks the general reader is too stupid to understand a common English word in context is offensive.

And if that puts me in the tinfoil-hat brigade, so be it.

Exactly. This is what concerns me. And too many people have just been pooh-poohing this legitimate concern as paranoia.