FREE/BARGAIN - Non-Fiction - 2015

[Cinisajoy]

I pick up most PD at Amazon because it is easier.
Now I did pick up Faust here.

[bgalbrecht]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

If you know of an weird-greekie-name publisher who issued an book which didn't come from Gutenberg ?

PG now issues some books with clickable TOCs but the older ones never have this so a good reason may exist for taking the Kindle freebie.

The question is, why do they omit illustrations ?

Their plan is to add a cover image and a clickable TOC and push it out so I don't see how taking the non-illustrated version helps unless Amazon objected to the larger file size.

Does anyone review PG output for points like that ?

I think that Amazon charges publishers download fees for their books based on the size, so adding illustrations may cost them more.

I have seen some PD works from "a weird-greekie-name publisher" that were not from PG, but not many.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by clickable TOC, as in does the ebook have a TOC accessible to ereaders TOC function (e.g., Nook's Contents menu) vs. if there's a TOC within the book, are the entries clickable. I think in general, PG books generally have the former, not necessarily the latter. The TOC also looks to be potentially multi-level, which may not work with some ereaders.

I think PG has an automated html to ebook conversion process that they run periodically, so reloading ebooks that were downloaded from PG from several years ago might give you what you are looking for. The Calibre ebook viewer says that the .mobi files available now are KF8 MOBI of type 'joint'.

I can tell from the size of the files that about half the PG ebooks actually have images, but I have no idea if the images are covers or internal illustrations. Many of the older PG books omitted illustrations from the original print books, and don't have covers, especially if the scanned print book has some sort of plain library binding. Since the PD publishers are probably using stock images of PD paintings or illustrations, I don't know if that matters. Then again, the illustrations in those PG books could have been the stock images of the original print book's era...

Finding, buying, and downloading a free PD book to one's Kindle is always going to be easier at Amazon than at Project Gutenberg or here. I'm just ambivalent about whether a thread like this needs to be 60% or 70% announcements that some publisher is selling some PD books free at Amazon. I don't know or care what the actual percentage is, and I'm really not trying to start a debate. If people want to post them, knock yourself out. I just ignore them, most of the time. I was just curious what sort of illustrations, if any, Medieval Medicine might have had. I was really hoping that it would have a bunch of illustrations of medieval medical instruments, and it had at least one.

[Phogg]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

I pick up most PD at Amazon because it is easier.
Now I did pick up Faust here.

I would suggest that you do a few side by side comparisons.
The public domain books from here really are formatted better than cheap versions elsewhere.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by Phogg

I would suggest that you do a few side by side comparisons.
The public domain books from here really are formatted better than cheap versions elsewhere.

Thanks Phogg. I will remember that.

[sufue]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Thanks for informing/reminding us about this.

The cynic in me says that that the situation is not surprising. No one ever accused these publishers of made-over public domain books of pursuing excellence. There may be some publishers operating with a similar modus operandi which do try to provide excellent products (there's always at least one black sheep in every family), but I'm hard-pressed right now to think of any names.

{edited}

They are not free, but I've been quite happy with Delphi Classics titles. They do have sales from time to time, and their prices are pretty reasonable anyway IMO. A lot (most?) of what they publish is available on MR or PG, but they gather titles from PD (or mostly PD) authors and put them in single-author collections, making it easy if you want to get all, or sometimes nearly all, of the works of a particular author. (The downside of this, is, of course, large file size, although they have recently introduced a way to buy partial collections, which might help.) And they add some interesting extras sometimes, like info on the author.

I'm not in any way connected to Delphi Classics - I've just been happy with what I've bought from them.

www.delphiclassics.com

added later: Delphi did have one problem a while back (2012?) when they somehow lost the records of all of their customers' accounts, and so past purchases weren't available to download anymore. I had downloaded all of mine, so it didn't affect me, and they have been fine since then, but I remember a few folks were upset at the time.

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by sufue

They are not free, but I've been quite happy with Delphi Classics titles. They do have sales from time to time, and their prices are pretty reasonable anyway IMO. A lot (most?) of what they publish is available on MR or PG, but they gather titles from PD (or mostly PD) authors and put them in single-author collections, making it easy if you want to get all, or sometimes nearly all, of the works of a particular author. (The downside of this, is, of course, large file size, although they have recently introduced a way to buy partial collections, which might help.) And they add some interesting extras sometimes, like info on the author.

I'm not in any way connected to Delphi Classics - I've just been happy with what I've bought from them.

www.delphiclassics.com

added later: Delphi did have one problem a while back (2012?) when they somehow lost the records of all of their customers' accounts, and so past purchases weren't available to download anymore. I had downloaded all of mine, so it didn't affect me, and they have been fine since then, but I remember a few folks were upset at the time.

I bought 3 titles in the Delphi Poets series recently - all good quality and excellent value. I did buy them through Amazon, not directly from Delphi.

[GtrsRGr8]

The amount of writings on the U.S.-Mexican War never has been very great, comparatively speaking, for some reason.

If you are to obtain only one book for your library on the U.S. war with Mexico, maybe this should be it and now should be the time to get it. Why? Because of the heft (436 pages) of this one, its very high ratings (4.5/5.0 stars), who authored it (one of the most highly regarded military historians of the 20th century in the U.S. (Ike's brigadier-general son, John)), and the huge markdown that you can get it for at the present moment (83% of digital list). Just my opinion.

This tome, published in 2014, was originally published in 1989. Note: this edition does not include photographs.

So Far from God: The U.S. War With Mexico, 1846-1848. By John S.D. Eisenhower. Rated 4.5 stars, from 64 reviews at the present moment. Print list price $24.95; digital list price $11.99; Kindle price right now $1.99. Random House, publisher. 436 pages. http://www.amazon.com/So-Far-God-Mex...ar+With+Mexico.

Book Description
The Mexican-American War of the 1840s, precipitated by border disputes and the U.S. annexation of Texas, ended with the military occupation of Mexico City by General Winfield Scott. In the subsequent treaty, the United States gained territory that would become California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado. In this highly readable account, John S. D. Eisenhower provides a comprehensive survey of this frequently overlooked war.

[itisbomb]

Chaos: Making a New Science
by James Gleick

is $2.99 at

Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/Chaos-Making-S...+a+new+science

Kobo: https://store.kobobooks.com/en-us/eb...-a-new-science

Below is the blurb:
The blockbuster modern science classic that introduced the butterfly effect to the world—even more relevant two decades after it became an international sensation

For centuries, scientific thought was focused on bringing order to the natural world. But even as relativity and quantum mechanics undermined that rigid certainty in the first half of the twentieth century, the scientific community clung to the idea that any system, no matter how complex, could be reduced to a simple pattern. In the 1960s, a small group of radical thinkers began to take that notion apart, placing new importance on the tiny experimental irregularities that scientists had long learned to ignore. Miniscule differences in data, they said, would eventually produce massive ones—and complex systems like the weather, economics, and human behavior suddenly became clearer and more beautiful than they had ever been before.

In this seminal work of scientific writing, James Gleick lays out a cutting edge field of science with enough grace and precision that any reader will be able to grasp the science behind the beautiful complexity of the world around us.

[Little.Egret]

IN WHAT WAYS DO GENDER STEREOTYPES INFORM THE THOUGHTS AND ACTIONS OF CCTV CONTROL ROOM OPERATORS? by Heather Morgan

From her PhD thesis, University of Aberdeen Scotland 2013


http://www.amazon.com/dp/B0172YH2W0/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0172YH2W0/
http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B0172YH2W0/
http://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B0172YH2W0/

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

The amount of writings on the U.S.-Mexican War never has been very great, comparatively speaking, for some reason.

If you are to obtain only one book for your library on the U.S. war with Mexico, maybe this should be it and now should be the time to get it. Why? Because of the heft (436 pages) of this one, its very high ratings (4.5/5.0 stars), who authored it (one of the most highly regarded military historians of the 20th century in the U.S. (Ike's brigadier-general son, John)), and the huge markdown that you can get it for at the present moment (83% of digital list). Just my opinion.

This tome, published in 2014, was originally published in 1989. Note: this edition does not include photographs.

So Far from God: The U.S. War With Mexico, 1846-1848. By John S.D. Eisenhower. Rated 4.5 stars, from 64 reviews at the present moment. Print list price $24.95; digital list price $11.99; Kindle price right now $1.99. Random House, publisher. 436 pages. http://www.amazon.com/So-Far-God-Mex...ar+With+Mexico.

Book Description
The Mexican-American War of the 1840s, precipitated by border disputes and the U.S. annexation of Texas, ended with the military occupation of Mexico City by General Winfield Scott. In the subsequent treaty, the United States gained territory that would become California, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, Utah, and parts of Wyoming and Colorado. In this highly readable account, John S. D. Eisenhower provides a comprehensive survey of this frequently overlooked war.

Picked it up because of an uncle occupying Mexico City.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Picked it up because of an uncle occupying Mexico City.

Oh, so he's in the Occupy Mexico City movement? haha

In all seriousness, is your uncle attached to a U.S. Miltary or Para-Military (like DEA) unit?

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Oh, so he's in the Occupy Mexico City movement? haha

In all seriousness, is your uncle attached to a U.S. Miltary or Para-Military (like DEA) unit?

Neither now, but he was back in the 1840s.

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by Cinisajoy

Neither now, but he was back in the 1840s.

Your uncle - your mother or father's brother - was in Mexico City in the 1840s? Forgive me if I find that a little improbable.

[Cinisajoy]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Your uncle - your mother or father's brother - was in Mexico City in the 1840s? Forgive me if I find that a little improbable.

Ok so put a few greats before that uncle. And it was on mom's side of the family. 5 or 6 to be exact.

[Little.Egret]

Civil War Journal of a Union Soldier: Written by Harmon Camburn Presented by P.C. Zick

Harmon Camburn signed up for duty as a Union soldier two weeks after the first shots were fired in the Civil War. He served for the next three years, fighting in both Battles of Bull Run and other skirmishes of the War Between the States. His tour of duty ended with a shot through his lung and capture by Confederate soldiers. Fortunately, he survived his wounds and wrote about his time in the Union army. His great granddaughter, P.C. Zick, presents this journal along with additional annotations about the war in general. The journal weaves a tragic and compelling tapestry of war from the view at its center. Mr. Camburn's sardonic and realistic view of war is worth remembering.

P.C. Zick's career as a writer began in 1998 with the publication of her first column in a local paper. Her novels are A Victorian Justice, Trails in the Sand, A Lethal Legacy, Tortoise Stew, and Live from the Road. Her nonfiction works include Old Timers Remember – Ichetucknee Springs, Two Moons in Africa: Barbara and Brent Swan's Story of Terrorism, and From Seed to Table: Growing, Harvesting, Cooking and Preserving Food.


http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00FPS04M6/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00FPS04M6/
http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00FPS04M6/