FREE/BARGAIN — Non-Fiction

[Fluribus]

What is the sound of one finger typing? If a tree falls in a lonely forest, can it still be made into paper? Have by letting go. Be by buzzing. Learn it all in this zen classic.

Takuan Soho (as translated by William Scott Wilson) The Unfettered Mind: Writings from a Zen Master to a Master Swordsman for $1.99 at Amazon.com.

[GtrsRGr8]

I haven't "seen" ATDrake recently. I do hope that he is well and will return to this forum before long.

I think that we usually depended on ATDrake to post the free book of the month from the University of Chicago Press. Since he hasn't been around lately--at least in this forum--I'll go ahead and post it this time, at least. But, you do have the whole month of April in which to download it.

It's Palace of Books, by Roger Grenier. Here's the blurb:
Why read? Why write? Our free e-book for April is a tour through some of the books in Roger Grenier’s well-stocked library, a conversation about some of the grand topics of literature: love, memory, death, and always, writing. Wearing his erudition lightly, Grenier intersperses passages from his favorite writers: Chekhov, Baudelaire, Proust, James, Kafka, Mansfield, and many others. Grenier’s elegant prose and wry humor are exquisitely rendered by translator Alice Kaplan.

Getting the monthly freebie from the University of Chicago Press is easy peasy. Just go to this webpage, put in your email address, and they'll send a link for the ebook right back to you. You'll have a choice of reading it online or downloading it. There are a plethora of readers to which they give you the option to download. if you want to download to your PC or Mac, it will be an .acsm file, that can be opened with Adobe Digital Editions.

[sufue]

It was actually this little bit that made me interested in the Spanish Civil War, because I ran into this while reading a book about Gibraltar during WW II, and the idea that if Spain had pitched in with the Axis, Gibraltar would have been vulnerable from across the bay, and wouldn't have been able to play a major role in keeping the Straits of Gibraltar open for the Allies. But, as you said, Franco didn't return the favor...

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

I hope that you don't mind me making a plug for the book, via relating a little bit of history.

{edit}

Interestingly, while the Nazis gave invaluable help to Franco (fascist) so that he could take over Spain, Franco didn't return the favor--somehow he managed to stay neutral throughout World War II.

{edit}

[MickeyC]

Woe is I by Patricia T. O’Conner is now available for $1.99 at Kobo, Amazon and Apple.

Description:

The Grammarphobe's Guide to Better English in Plain English(Third Edition)

by Patricia T. O'Conner
Synopsis

"Former New York Times Book Review editor and linguistic expert O'Conner...updates her bestselling guide to grammar, an invigorating and entertaining dissection of our ever-evolving language." - Publishers Weekly
In this new edition of Woe Is I, Patricia T. O’Conner unties the knottiest grammar tangles and displays the same lively humor that has charmed and enlightened grateful readers for years. With new chapters on spelling and punctuation, and fresh insights into the rights, wrongs, and maybes of English grammar and usage, Woe Is I offers down-to-earth explanations and plain-English solutions to the language mysteries that bedevil all of us.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by sufue

It was actually this little bit that made me interested in the Spanish Civil War, because I ran into this while reading a book about Gibraltar during WW II, and the idea that if Spain had pitched in with the Axis, Gibraltar would have been vulnerable from across the bay, and wouldn't have been able to play a major role in keeping the Straits of Gibraltar open for the Allies. But, as you said, Franco didn't return the favor...

If anyone likes to ponder "what if" scenarios about WWII, a great website to bookmark is quora.com. You also can sign up for a daily "feed" (I think that that's what it is called). They are in a Q&A format. WWII is not the only thing that people ask about--another popular topic is commercial airliners. The experts chosen to respond to different questions share some really fascinating stuff. But in the end, the scenarios didn't happen, so it's all speculation.

Yeah, I had forgotten about the Gibralter issue. Thanks. As it turned out, having Gibralter was a major advantage for the Allies. And, I think that Morocco, on the other side of the Straits, was friendly to the Allies. Neither Germany nor Italy, could get "capital" ships in or out of the Mediterraean Sea; they basically could get only submarines in and out. The Brits could blow any surface ship that they wanted to, of any appreciable size, trying to traverse the Straits, clean out out of the water, using the guns that they had on Gibralter. (Side Note: the Suez Canal was another inlet/outlet to the Mediterraen, but was unusable to anyone during the War, for a variety of reasons).

If the book that you posted covers any of this aspect, I might enjoy reading that part, at least. Or maybe I would be satisfied just reading the _Wikipedia_ article(s) . . . .

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

I hope that you don't mind me making a plug for the book, via relating a little bit of history.

Interestingly, while the Nazis gave invaluable help to Franco (fascist) so that he could take over Spain, Franco didn't return the favor--somehow he managed to stay neutral throughout World War II.


. One of the courses was a history of World War II. I am impressed by the

The teacher began with the Spanish Civil War.

Actually Franco played both ends against the middle.

A division of fascist volunteers fought for the Nazis.

Various strategic metals were sold to the Allies.

A Coal to liquid fuel (German design) plant was built and some of its output sold to Germany.

By the way, the Chinese date the start of WW2 to the Japanese attack on Nanking in 1937.

[Little.Egret]

More from Charles River Editors, Free.

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The Harlem Renaissance: The History and Legacy of Early 20th Century America’s Most Influential Cultural Movement

The Dogfights of the World Wars: The Evolution and History of the Fight in the Skies during World War I and World War II


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[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

Actually Franco played both ends against the middle.

A division of fascist volunteers fought for the Nazis.

Various strategic metals were sold to the Allies.

A Coal to liquid fuel (German design) plant was built and some of its output sold to Germany.

By the way, the Chinese date the start of WW2 to the Japanese attack on Nanking in 1937.

Genuine thanks for the additional information and the corrections.

There were probably several countries that made a pretense of neutrality, but were not neutral to one degree or another. There is one specific country that I have in mind that seems to have been a more egregious violator of their "neutral" status than the rest, but in case I'm wrong, and in order to keep from appearing political, I'll withhold the name of the country. The information's out there to be found, in books and the Internet. There is one country, that I have in mind, that seemed to maintain a very strict neutrality during the entirety of WWII.

My sincerest apologies to any MobileReaders in China! WWII was a world war, but I completely forgot about the Eastern Hemisphere. I am familiar with the "Rape of Nanking." Frankly, I don't know if that event preceded the beginning of the Nazi involvement in the Spanish Civil War or not. I am fairly sure that the Spanish Civil War was 1936-1939, but I have no idea how soon after its beginning that Nazi participation in it began. As I implied in my initial reply, a case could be made that WWII started with that participation.

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

More from Charles River Editors, Free.

Saqqara: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Egyptian Necropolis near Memphis

The Kassites: The History and Legacy of the Ancient Civilization that Ruled the Babylonian Empire after Hammurabi and the First Babylonian Dynasty

Hong Kong: The History and Legacy of Asia’s Leading Financial Center

The Harlem Renaissance: The History and Legacy of Early 20th Century America’s Most Influential Cultural Movement

The Dogfights of the World Wars: The Evolution and History of the Fight in the Skies during World War I and World War II


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Add

Louis Pasteur: The Life and Legacy of the Legendary French Scientist Recognized as the Father of Microbiology

The Neanderthals: The History of the Extinct Humans Who Were Contemporaries of Homo Sapiens in Europe

[maddz]

Stephen Hawking A Brief History of Time is £1.99 on today's Kindle Daily Deal on Amazon.co.uk:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brief-Histo...3059592&sr=1-1

[Fluribus]

Have you ever pondered how language alters cognition? How society constructs knowledge? Neither have I, but we can pretend.

Peter L. Berger and Thomas Luckmann The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge for $2.99 at Amazon.com.

Umberto Eco Kant and the Platypus: Essays on Language and Cognition for $2.99 at Amazon.com.

Lastly. But not leastly. Maybe leastly. Who knows?

Hannah Arendt The Life of the Mind: The Groundbreaking Investigation on How We Think is, I think, $1.99 at Amazon.com.

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by maddz

Stephen Hawking A Brief History of Time is £1.99 on today's Kindle Daily Deal on Amazon.co.uk:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Brief-Histo...3059592&sr=1-1

Grabbed that! I had it on my ereaderiq list.

[Little.Egret]

Endeavour, free

Lillian Hellman: The life and legend of America's most controversial playwright by Carl Rollyson

First published in 1988 by St Martin’s Press.

Rollyson explores the sources and backgrounds of her best-selling memoirs, the development of her politics, her successful screenwriting career, and her famous appearance before the House Committee on Un-American Activities.


Carl Rollyson's biographies include Beautiful Exile: The Life of Martha Gellhorn and Marie Curie: Honesty in Science.


https://www.amazon.com/Lillian-Hellm...dp/B076DLPFTY/

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Lillian-Hel...dp/B076DLPFTY/

https://www.amazon.ca/Lillian-Hellma...dp/B076DLPFTY/

[GtrsRGr8]

This isn't a special, in the sense of having a special price, or being an ebok available for a limited time (as far as I know). I just ran across it some time ago, really liked it, and thought that anyone who is interested in Classical History, as I am, might really like it, too.

I mentioned quite a while back that the J. Paul Getty Museum has a number of free ebooks of very high quality. This is one of them. It is Ancient Terracottas from South Italy and Sicily, with a byline of Maria Lucia Ferruzza. The images are in (gorgeous) full-color. There also is quite a bit of text in this 253-page book, mainly, it seems, to tell us all about the images that we are looking at.

Now, the initiated (such as was, until I looked it up in the dictionary a few minutes ago. ha) may not know exactly what terracotta is. It is a decorative or artistic piece made of un-glazed, un-fired clay (artists among us may want to tweak that definition a little bit).

You can get the complete catalogue in PDF, ePub, and/or mobi, free (or, if you prefer, you can get a paperback copy for $70. Ack!). It isn't very obvious about how to go about it, however. Here's how: first, navigate to http://www.getty.edu/publications/terracottas/. Click on the menu in the top right corner. Click on "downloads." That will take you to a webpage where a drop-down menu under "downloads" will present you with the options.

Enjoy.

[Little.Egret]

Charles River Editors, free

The History and Legacy of the British Empire's Most Famous Trading Companies across the World

Pierre Curie: The Life and Legacy of the Legendary Scientist


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