FREE/BARGAIN — Non-Fiction

[ATDrake]

As part of Kobo US' weekend sale on mysteries from Poisoned Pen Press (which rarely seem to go on sale these days), still good through today (December 18th), several non-fiction titles are available for 3 for 2 at the $6.99 mark pre-discount (eligible for VIP discount, $6.29 after), giving them an amortized price of $4.66/$4.19 each.

• Mysterious Writers: The Many Facets of Mystery Writing compiled and edited by Jean Mead, featuring interviews with authors like thriller author Jeffrey Deaver, award-winning amateur sleuth author Carolyn Hart, and many more.
• The Elements of Mystery Fiction: Writing the Modern Whodunit by the late William G. Tapply (Wikipedia), author of the Brady Coyne legal mysteries.
• The Fiction of Ruth Rendell: Ancient Tragedy and the Modern Family by Barbara Fass Leavy, an analysis of the works of the late British author (Wikipedia) who created Chief Inspector Wexford and also wrote under the pseudonym Barbara Vine.
• The Story of Classic Crime in 100 Books by British true crime writer and mystery novelist Martin Edwards (Wikipedia), also a respected authority on vintage crime fiction.
• Dreams of Justice: Mysteries as Social Documents by Dick Adler, a reviewer for The Chicago Tribune

[GA Russell]

Dear Santa: Children's Christmas Letters and Wish Lists, 1870 - 1920 - free
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B010ERPGD4/

[Little.Egret]

Charles River Editors, free

Inheriting the Ancient Near East after Alexander the Great: The Rise and Fall of the Seleucid Empire and the Ptolemaic Kingdom

Tyre, Byblos, and Sidon: The History of the Three Most Important Ancient Phoenician Cities in the Levant

Bethlehem & Nazareth: The History and Legacy of Jesus Christ’s Birthplace and Hometown

Fighting After the War: A History of the Most Famous American Battles that Took Place after the Wars Had Ended

America’s Greatest Engineering Projects: The Construction History of the Transcontinental Railroad, the Panama Canal, and the Hoover Dam

The Middle East in World War I: The History and Legacy of the Biggest Campaigns in the Great War’s Forgotten Theater

World War II Dogfights: The History and Legacy of Aerial Combat during the Second World War

The Firebombing of Dresden and Tokyo: The History and Legacy of the Allies’ Controversial Bombing Campaigns Near the End of World War II

Black September: The History and Legacy of the Conflict Between the Palestinians and Jordan in 1970

https://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search...+river+editors

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?url=sear...+river+editors

https://www.amazon.ca/s?url=search-a...+river+editors

[ATDrake]

Bargain @ $1.99 in the US only from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's Mariner Books imprint (couponable/VIP-discount eligible @ Kobo; price should otherwise be the same at other retailers):

A Perfect Vacuum by the late Polish science fiction author Stanisław Lem (Wikipedia), a collection of perfectly cromulent literature commentary essays on various topics, reviewing books which just happen not to exist. This was on my wishlist. ETA: It turns out there's an entire Wikipedia entry just for his works in this area.

Ingenious essays from “a Jorge Luis Borges for the Space Age, who plays in earnest with every concept . . . from free will to probability theory” (The New York Times Book Review).

In A Perfect Vacuum, Stanislaw Lem steps outside of his fictional comfort zone to try his hand at reviewing the literature of others. The only catch is this: None of these books have actually been published—or even written—he just made them up.

These sixteen satirical and brilliantly insidious commentaries on non-existent books cover the gamut of unconventional writing techniques: from a Joycean review that doggedly dissects every word to a critique that is written entirely in negatives to an analysis presented in fragments for the reader to assemble as he or she likes. Along the way, Lem presents his trademark examinations on topics ranging from modern art to computer technology to philosophy.

At once a disarming delight and a clever mental exercise, A Perfect Vacuum lends credence to the assertion that Lem is “Harpo Marx and Franz Kafka and Isaac Asimov rolled up into one and down the white rabbit’s hole” (Detroit News).

Also, @ $2.99 in both Canada & the US from HMH, Airman's Odyssey: Wind, Sand and Stars; Night Flight; and Flight to Arras by the late French author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (Wikipedia), a 3-book omnibus of his aviation memoirs + a novel based upon his experiences, some of which also influenced his beloved children's classic Le Petit Prince. This has been cheaper in the US previously but is still a pretty good deal at this price, and is one of the rare HMH books to be offered at a discount in Canada and was also technically on my wishlist and worth getting for 3rd book I hadn't already bought during pricedrops for the individuals.

Three award-winning works of adventure, survival, and the early days of aviation from the celebrated author of The Little Prince, collected in one volume.

Ranging from the northern skies of France to the South American Andes, this volume includes two memoirs and a novel, each informed by the lauded pilot and poet’s experiences as a pioneering aviator during World War II.

HMH also have a few extra US-only $1.99 bargains from the late economist John Kenneth Galbraith (Wikipedia): The Essential Galbraith & The Good Society: The Human Agenda and a collection of essays by somewhat controversial prize-winning travel writer and novelist Paul Theroux (Wikipedia), who has had the distinction of having had a number of his works banned in various countries: Sunrise with Seamonsters

[ATDrake]

X-link to the DRM-free thread for some new Humble Bundles:

Humble Book Bundle Be A Coder presented by No Starch Press repeats a bunch of DIY computer programming books for more obscure languages including Racket and Haskell from their previous Hacking Bundle, and also adds a good selection of new items, including a few titles that were on my wishlist.

Humble Book Bundle Maker Skill Builders presented by Make: has the usual selection of DIY tech craft hobbyist how-to books and magazine issues, again with a bunch of repeats from previous bundles, but also some brand new pre-release exclusives as well.

[Difflugia]

Carl Sagan's classic, The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark is $2.99.

Kobo
B&N
eBooks.com
Amazon

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

Charles River Editors, free

Inheriting the Ancient Near East after Alexander the Great: The Rise and Fall of the Seleucid Empire and the Ptolemaic Kingdom

Tyre, Byblos, and Sidon: The History of the Three Most Important Ancient Phoenician Cities in the Levant

Bethlehem & Nazareth: The History and Legacy of Jesus Christ’s Birthplace and Hometown

Fighting After the War: A History of the Most Famous American Battles that Took Place after the Wars Had Ended

America’s Greatest Engineering Projects: The Construction History of the Transcontinental Railroad, the Panama Canal, and the Hoover Dam

The Middle East in World War I: The History and Legacy of the Biggest Campaigns in the Great War’s Forgotten Theater

World War II Dogfights: The History and Legacy of Aerial Combat during the Second World War

The Firebombing of Dresden and Tokyo: The History and Legacy of the Allies’ Controversial Bombing Campaigns Near the End of World War II

Black September: The History and Legacy of the Conflict Between the Palestinians and Jordan in 1970

https://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search...+river+editors

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?url=sear...+river+editors

https://www.amazon.ca/s?url=search-a...+river+editors

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Angkor Wat: The History and Legacy of the World’s Largest Hindu Temple

[Avice]

Academic publisher Palgrave Macmillan has put a group of its 2017 books on sale for $14.99 each through December 31.

Fill your stocking with the best of 2017

Specially selected print & eBook bestsellers, new releases & editors' recommendations are only 14.99 each through Dec 31, 2017—Happy Holidays from Palgrave!

This special ends December 31, 2017*
Valid for print & eBooks from a specially selected list
Please enter this coupon in your shopping cart: PALHOLIDAY17​​​​​​​

How can I use my discount?
If not applied automatically, please enter this coupon code in the shopping cart: PALHOLIDAY17​​​​​​​

Where can I see how much I will save?
You will see your savings in the shopping cart. The discount is valid for print and eBooks.

Other restrictions are described at the link.

[astrangerhere]

Joan Didion's essay collection The White Album is on sale for $1.99 in the US Kindle store.

From the description:

From a jailhouse visit to Black Panther Party cofounder Huey Newton to witnessing First Lady of California Nancy Reagan pretend to pick flowers for the benefit of news cameras, Didion captures the paranoia and absurdity of the era with her signature blend of irony and insight. She takes readers to the “giddily splendid” Getty Museum in Los Angeles, the cool mountains of Bogotá, and the Jordanian Desert, where Bishop James Pike went to walk in Jesus’s footsteps—and died not far from his rented Ford Cortina. She anatomizes the culture of shopping malls—“toy garden cities in which no one lives but everyone consumes”—and exposes the contradictions and compromises of the women’s movement. In the iconic title essay, she documents her uneasy state of mind during the years leading up to and following the Manson murders—a terrifying crime that, in her memory, surprised no one.

Joan Didion's nonfiction work Miami is also on sale for $1.99.

From the description:

In Miami, the National Book Award–winning author of The Year of Magical Thinking looks beyond postcard images of fluorescent waters, backlit islands, and pastel architecture to explore the murkier waters of a city on the edge.

From Fidel Castro and the Bay of Pigs invasion to Lee Harvey Oswald and the Kennedy assassination to Oliver North and the Iran–Contra affair, Joan Didion uncovers political intrigues and shadowy underworld connections, and documents the US government’s “seduction and betrayal” of the Cuban exile community in Dade County. She writes of hotels that offer “guerrilla discounts,” gun shops that advertise Father’s Day deals, and a real-estate market where “Unusual Security and Ready Access to the Ocean” are perks for wealthy homeowners looking to make a quick escape. With a booming drug trade, staggering racial and class inequities, and skyrocketing murder rates, Miami in the 1980s felt more like a Third World capital than a modern American city. Didion describes the violence, passion, and paranoia of these troubled times in arresting detail and “beautifully evocative prose” (The New York Times Book Review).

[Little.Egret]

Charles River Editors, free

World War I at Sea: The History and Legacy of Naval Tactics and Operations during the Great War

The Kurds: The History of the Middle Eastern Ethnic Group and Their Quest for Kurdistan

Otto von Bismarck: The Life and Legacy of the German Empire’s First Chancellor

The Louvre and the Hermitage: The History and Contents of Europe’s Biggest Art Museums


https://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search...+river+editors

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https://www.amazon.ca/s/?url=search-...+river+editors

[ATDrake]

Bargain @ $1.99 in the US only from Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's Mariner Books imprint (couponable/VIP discount eligible @ Kobo; price should otherwise be the same at other retailers):

One Human Minute by the late Polish science fiction author Stanisław Lem, a collection of his essays.

Essays by the author of Solaris: “Lem’s delightful sense of humor accentuates his essential seriousness about humanity’s possible fate” (Publishers Weekly).

In One Human Minute, Stanislaw Lem takes a hard look at our world and technology—what it means now and what dire implications it could have for the future—in satirical, wise, and biting prose.

With this collection of three essays, Lem targets some of the most pressing issues humanity faces, from our unsettling origins to the cybernetic future of our weaponry. “The Upside-Down Evolution” chronicles the Earth’s military evolution from nuclear stockpiles to deadly, robotic microweapons. “The World as Cataclysm” examines how humankind’s dominance on Earth is the result of the extermination of another species just as qualified to rule the world. And the title essay presents a disturbing and fascinating snapshot of every single thing happening on the planet in a sixty-second span.

Effortlessly blurring the lines between fiction and nonfiction, scientific essay and fantastical short story, cynical reproach and wry humor, Lem’s One Human Minute combines the best elements of the renowned science fiction author and Kafka Prize winner’s writing into one irreverent and intellectually stimulating package.

[Little.Egret]

Charles River Editors, free

Amphibious Warfare in World War II: The History and Legacy of the War’s Most Important Landing Operations

The Cult of the Apis Bull: The History and Legacy of Ancient Egypt’s Most Famous Sacred Animal


https://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search...+river+editors

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?url=sear...+river+editors

https://www.amazon.ca/s/?url=search-...+river+editors

[bfisher]

On sale today at Amazon.ca for $CDN 2.99
The Signal and the Noise: Why So Many Predictions Fail-but Some Don't by Nate Silver
https://www.amazon.ca/Signal-Noise-M.../dp/B007V65R54

The price was set by Penguin Group USA, so probably on sale elsewhere as well.

The Amazon blurb:
Nate Silver built an innovative system for predicting baseball performance, predicted the 2008 election within a hair’s breadth, and became a national sensation as a blogger—all by the time he was thirty. He solidified his standing as the nation's foremost political forecaster with his near perfect prediction of the 2012 election. Silver is the founder and editor in chief of FiveThirtyEight.com.

Drawing on his own groundbreaking work, Silver examines the world of prediction, investigating how we can distinguish a true signal from a universe of noisy data. Most predictions fail, often at great cost to society, because most of us have a poor understanding of probability and uncertainty. Both experts and laypeople mistake more confident predictions for more accurate ones. But overconfidence is often the reason for failure. If our appreciation of uncertainty improves, our predictions can get better too. This is the “prediction paradox”: The more humility we have about our ability to make predictions, the more successful we can be in planning for the future.

In keeping with his own aim to seek truth from data, Silver visits the most successful forecasters in a range of areas, from hurricanes to baseball, from the poker table to the stock market, from Capitol Hill to the NBA. He explains and evaluates how these forecasters think and what bonds they share. What lies behind their success? Are they good—or just lucky? What patterns have they unraveled? And are their forecasts really right? He explores unanticipated commonalities and exposes unexpected juxtapositions. And sometimes, it is not so much how good a prediction is in an absolute sense that matters but how good it is relative to the competition. In other cases, prediction is still a very rudimentary—and dangerous—science.

Silver observes that the most accurate forecasters tend to have a superior command of probability, and they tend to be both humble and hardworking. They distinguish the predictable from the unpredictable, and they notice a thousand little details that lead them closer to the truth. Because of their appreciation of probability, they can distinguish the signal from the noise.

With everything from the health of the global economy to our ability to fight terrorism dependent on the quality of our predictions, Nate Silver’s insights are an essential read.

[ReadingManiac]

If you're into the occult and specifically chaos magic, The Chaonomicon is going half price both in paperback and on Kindle.

Paperback
http://www.lulu.com/shop/jaq-d-hawki...-23235917.html

Kindle
https://www.amazon.com/Chaonomicon-Q.../dp/B071WHP733

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

Charles River Editors, free

Amphibious Warfare in World War II: The History and Legacy of the War’s Most Important Landing Operations

The Cult of the Apis Bull: The History and Legacy of Ancient Egypt’s Most Famous Sacred Animal


https://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search...+river+editors

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?url=sear...+river+editors

https://www.amazon.ca/s/?url=search-...+river+editors

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The Controversial History of North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons and the Islamic Republic of Iran’s Nuclear Program