FREE/BARGAIN — Non-Fiction

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Tarana

Sharpe’s Revenge By Bernard Cornwell $1.99 Amazon, Kobo and B&N
Historical fiction; I noticed that a new ebook for this series comes out in November.

I’ve been looking forward to the new Sharpe, as I’m done with the series to date. However, I wonder who’ll narrate it? Patrick Tull was the best; Frederick Davidson did the most and he’s one of my favorites, but his Sharpe wasn’t as good as Tull’s and his Sergeant Harper was absurd. He sounded like the Lucky Charms leprechaun. Still, the most recent narration was by Steven Crossley and was lacking in comparison to both Tull and Davidson.

OK, I typed this and realized I could find out and the new Sharpe is narrated by Rupert Farley, with whom I’m not familiar. I note that the pre-order price at Audible US is $9.93, much less than the standard credit price, which is tempting.

[ekbell]

Originally Posted by sufue

A timely book, part of today's Kindle Daily Deal in the US at $2.99, matched at Kobo US. Originally published pre-Covid-19, so not one of those books written quickly to try to make money off the current pandemic. And has 4.6 stars on more than 8,000 ratings at Kindle.

The Great Influenza: The Story of the Deadliest Pandemic in History, by John M. Barry
Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000OCXFWE/
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/dp/B000OCXFWE/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the...mic-in-history

I acquired it during a pre-covid sale and found it quite enjoyable (if occasionally more thorough then expected). The aspect I found most interesting was the look at how medicine and public health had been developing before the discovery of antibiotics.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by issybird

I’ve been looking forward to the new Sharpe, as I’m done with the series to date. However, I wonder who’ll narrate it? Patrick Tull was the best; Frederick Davidson did the most and he’s one of my favorites, but his Sharpe wasn’t as good as Tull’s and his Sergeant Harper was absurd. He sounded like the Lucky Charms leprechaun. Still, the most recent narration was by Steven Crossley and was lacking in comparison to both Tull and Davidson.

OK, I typed this and realized I could find out and the new Sharpe is narrated by Rupert Farley, with whom I’m not familiar. I note that the pre-order price at Audible US is $9.93, much less than the standard credit price, which is tempting.

The audiobook is out September 30, 2021 in the US and UK. The ebook will also be released on September 30, 2021 in the UK. The ebook will not be released until December 7, 2021 in the US. I will be shopping across the pond for the ebook.
Apache

[issybird]

Originally Posted by Apache

The audiobook is out September 30, 2021 in the US and UK. The ebook will also be released on September 30, 2021 in the UK. The ebook will not be released until December 7, 2021 in the US. I will be shopping across the pond for the ebook.
Apache

I’m stingy; I’ll be waiting on the ebook at OverDrive. However, I do like the Sharpe novels as audio, so I may spring for that. Cheaper here than there as a prebuy, at least for now. But the narrator has a limited and rather odd audiography, so I’m not positive. Smacks of something done on the cheap instead of going with someone with some star power.

[Apache]

Originally Posted by issybird

I’m stingy; I’ll be waiting on the ebook at OverDrive. However, I do like the Sharpe novels as audio, so I may spring for that. Cheaper here than there as a prebuy, at least for now. But the narrator has a limited and rather odd audiography, so I’m not positive. Smacks of something done on the cheap instead of going with someone with some star power.

I agree. I would like the audiobook too and I hate when they change from a good author to an unknown in a series.
Apache

[badgoodDeb]

Find another book that new narrator has done, and listen to the sample? It doesn't show as much as a whole book, but it might be helpful.

[sufue]

The fortieth anniversary edition of David Attenborough's Life on Earth is on sale for £0.99 as part of today's Kindle UK Daily Deal. Note this is the e-book on sale, not the video series.

There's a really nice review of this edition in The Guardian (including an amazing intro picture), which indicates it has been seriously updated, not just had a bit of shine added on, as is the case with some anniversary editions: https://www.theguardian.com/books/20...borough-review

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07DLKHNJP/
Kindle UK/Smile: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B07DLKHNJP/

Spoiler:

A new, beautifully illustrated edition of David Attenborough’s groundbreaking Life on Earth.

David Attenborough’s unforgettable meeting with gorillas became an iconic moment for millions of television viewers. Life on Earth, the series and accompanying book, fundamentally changed the way we view and interact with the natural world setting a new benchmark of quality, influencing a generation of nature lovers.

Told through an examination of animal and plant life, this is an astonishing celebration of the evolution of life on earth, with a cast of characters drawn from the whole range of organisms that have ever lived on this planet. Attenborough’s perceptive, dynamic approach to the evolution of millions of species of living organisms takes the reader on an unforgettable journey of discovery from the very first spark of life to the blue and green wonder we know today.

Now, to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the book’s first publication, David Attenborough has revisited Life on Earth, completely updating and adding to the original text, taking account of modern scientific discoveries from around the globe. He has chosen beautiful, completely new photography, helping to illustrate the book in a much greater way than was possible forty years ago.

This special anniversary edition provides a fitting tribute to an enduring wildlife classic, destined to enthral the generation who saw it when first published and bring it alive for a whole new generation.

[Critteranne]

Originally Posted by sufue

The fortieth anniversary edition of David Attenborough's Life on Earth is on sale for £0.99 as part of today's Kindle UK Daily Deal. Note this is the e-book on sale, not the video series.

It’s also on sale I the U.S. for $1.99.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07DLKHNJP...v_ov_lig_dp_it

I had this in hardback back in the day…

[sufue]

A year later, back down to £0.99, as part of today's UK Kindle Daily Deal. The link is still good.

Originally Posted by sufue

Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck has dropped to £0.99 at Kindle UK. Steinbeck is one of my favorite authors, whether he's writing non-fiction or fiction.

These Penguin Modern Classics price drops don't usually last very long in the UK, so grab it if you want it. OTOH, they are really really rare (or never) in the US, so occasional and short is better than not at all .

link: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002RI9PO0

[sufue]

I've been mildly interested in Toussaint L'Ouverture ever since reading about him in the Haiti chapter of James Michener's Caribbean, with its short historical notes at the end. But never interested enough to actually do anything about it until Black Spartacus: The Epic Life of Toussaint Louverture, by Sudhir Hazareesingh, popped up on the UK Kindle Daily Deal today. This looked intriguing, but I like to know a bit about the authors of non-fiction books before I buy them, so I checked Hazareesingh at Wikipedia, and discovered that he's a fellow and Tutor in Politics at Balliol College, Oxford (alma mater of Peter Wimsey, for those as mystery-novel obsessed as I am). And I further discovered that Black Spartacus won or was short-listed for a bunch of awards, was a BBC Radio 4 Book of the Week, and was described by The Guardian as "a tour de force: by far the most complete, authoritative and persuasive biography of Toussaint that we are likely to have for a long time". And all for £0.99 today. Now I just have to get it to the top of my TBR list, although it's going to enter pretty near the top.

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0812YCBDQ/
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0812YCBDQ/

Spoiler:

The definitive modern biography of the great slave leader, military genius and revolutionary hero Toussaint Louverture

The Haitian Revolution began in the French Caribbean colony of Saint-Domingue with a slave revolt in August 1791, and culminated a dozen years later in the proclamation of the world's first independent black state. After the abolition of slavery in 1793, Toussaint Louverture, himself a former slave, became the leader of the colony's black population, the commander of its republican army and eventually its governor. During the course of his extraordinary life he confronted some of the dominant forces of his age - slavery, settler colonialism, imperialism and racial hierarchy. Treacherously seized by Napoleon's invading army in 1802, this charismatic figure ended his days, in Wordsworth's phrase, 'the most unhappy man of men', imprisoned in a fortress in France.

Black Spartacus draws on a wealth of archival material, much of it overlooked by previous biographers, to follow every step of Louverture's singular journey, from his triumphs against French, Spanish and British troops to his skilful regional diplomacy, his Machiavellian dealings with successive French colonial administrators and his bold promulgation of an autonomous Constitution. Sudhir Hazareesingh shows that Louverture developed his unique vision and leadership not solely in response to imported Enlightenment ideals and revolutionary events in Europe and the Americas, but through a hybrid heritage of fraternal slave organisations, Caribbean mysticism and African political traditions. Above all, Hazareesingh retrieves Louverture's rousing voice and force of personality, making this the most engaging, as well as the most complete, biography to date.

After his death in the French fortress, Louverture became a figure of legend, a beacon for slaves across the Atlantic and for generations of European republicans and progressive figures in the Americas. He inspired the anti-slavery campaigner Frederick Douglass, the most eminent nineteenth-century African-American; his emancipatory struggle was hailed by those who defied imperial and colonial rule well into the twentieth. In the modern era, his life informed the French poet Aimé Césaire's seminal idea of négritude and has been celebrated in a remarkable range of plays, songs, novels and statues. Here, in all its drama, is the epic story of the world's first black superhero.

[sufue]

For some reason, Nala’s World: One Man, His Rescue Cat, and a Bike Ride around the Globe by Dean Nicholson popped up in my recommendation feed at Kindle US a few weeks ago. I have no idea why, since this is pretty far from anything I normally read. Somehow, though, both the cover and the concept caught my fancy, enough that I tried the sample and liked it. So I bought it – after all, it was on sale at the time, so I figured I wasn’t risking much. But then I surprised myself by racing through it in two evenings, staying up far too late both nights. And now I'm hoping for a second installment...

Although it's been lower at times, Nala's World is on sale again right now at Kindle and Kobo US for $3.99.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B083J18VVH/
Kindle US/Smile: https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B083J18VVH/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/nala-s-world

Spoiler:

Instagram phenomenon @1bike1world Dean Nicholson reveals the full story of his life-changing friendship with rescue cat Nala and their inspiring adventures together on a bike journey around the world.

When 30-year-old Dean Nicholson set off from Scotland to cycle around the world, his aim was to learn as much as he could about our troubled planet. But he hadn't bargained on the lessons he'd learn from his unlikely companion.

Three months after leaving home, on a remote road in the mountains between Montenegro and Bosnia, he came across an abandoned kitten. Something about the piercing eyes and plaintive meowing of the bedraggled little cat proved irresistible. He couldn't leave her to her fate, so he put her on his bike and then, with the help of local vets, nursed her back to health.

Soon on his travels with the cat he named Nala, they forged an unbreakable bond - both curious, independent, resilient and adventurous. The video of how they met has had 20 million views and their Instagram has grown to almost 750k followers - and still counting!

Experiencing the kindness of strangers, visiting refugee camps, rescuing animals through Europe and Asia, Dean and Nala have already learned that the unexpected can be pretty amazing. Together with Garry Jenkins, writer with James Bowen of the bestselling A Street Cat Named Bob, Dean shares the extraordinary tale of his and Nala's inspiring and heart-warming adventure together.

(If you want to read my full review of Nala's World, the link to my blog is in my signature...)

[sufue]

More years ago than I care to remember, I was assigned Joseph Campbell's The Hero with a Thousand Faces for a humanities class. Sadly I was majoring in engineering, and study time was tight, and I didn't give Hero the attention it deserved. But I still remember I liked it.

Now Campbell's The Power of Myth, which appears to be an edited transcript of the many hours of interviews he did with Bill Moyers for the PBS series of the same name, is on sale for $1.99 in the US (Kindle and Kobo) and £1.49 in the UK. (At least through the length of the sample, it's a transcript.) I would expect this to be pretty interesting too, at least the sample is, although I'm not sure I've ever read something this long in this kind of format before.

Kindle US: https://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B004QZACH6/
Kobo US: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/the-power-of-myth
Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004QZACH6/

Spoiler:

The Power of Myth launched an extraordinary resurgence of interest in Joseph Campbell and his work. A preeminent scholar, writer, and teacher, he has had a profound influence on millions of people--including Star Wars creator George Lucas. To Campbell, mythology was the “song of the universe, the music of the spheres.” With Bill Moyers, one of America’s most prominent journalists, as his thoughtful and engaging interviewer, The Power of Myth touches on subjects from modern marriage to virgin births, from Jesus to John Lennon, offering a brilliant combination of intelligence and wit.

This extraordinary book reveals how the themes and symbols of ancient narratives continue to bring meaning to birth, death, love, and war. From stories of the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece and Rome to traditions of Buddhism, Hinduism and Christianity, a broad array of themes are considered that together identify the universality of human experience across time and culture. An impeccable match of interviewer and subject, a timeless distillation of Campbell’s work, The Power of Myth continues to exert a profound influence on our culture.

[salty-horse]

Humble Pi: When Math Goes Wrong in the Real World by Matt Parker is $1.99 on Amazon.com
Matt is behind the great Stand-up Maths YouTube channel.

Here's one of his lecture that includes material from the book: The Greatest Maths Mistakes

Our whole world is built on math, from the code running a website to the equations enabling the design of skyscrapers and bridges. Most of the time this math works quietly behind the scenes . . . until it doesn’t. All sorts of seemingly innocuous mathematical mistakes can have significant consequences.

Math is easy to ignore until a misplaced decimal point upends the stock market, a unit conversion error causes a plane to crash, or someone divides by zero and stalls a battleship in the middle of the ocean.

Exploring and explaining a litany of glitches, near misses, and mathematical mishaps involving the internet, big data, elections, street signs, lotteries, the Roman Empire, and an Olympic team, Matt Parker uncovers the bizarre ways math trips us up, and what this reveals about its essential place in our world. Getting it wrong has never been more fun.

[WillAdams]

Jerry Kaplan's _StartUp: A Silicon Valley Adventure Kindle Edition_

is $2.99 for the Amazon Kindle:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00L0M749M/

It's a book which anyone interested in the marketing of computer technology will find interesting, and which anyone who is interested in pen computing should read.

[sufue]

I read and enjoyed John Julius Norwich's A Short History of Byzantium in DTB several years ago, in the run-up to a combination work/vacation trip to Istanbul. I really enjoyed it, but at around 500 pages, it wasn't particularly short (!!!), nor was it very convenient to carry around.

So I'm really happy to see the e-book on sale in the UK today for only £0.99. That's a great price for a fiction e-book, much less for a non-fiction e-book. I bought it before I did this post, just because I didn't want the price to go away! Now hopefully, someday I'll have another work trip to Turkey, and can re-read this with ease!

Kindle UK: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002VNFNXS/
Kindle UK/Smile: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/dp/B002VNFNXS/

Spoiler:

Constantine the Great moved the seat of Roman power to Constantinople in AD 330 and for eleven brutal, bloody centuries, the Byzantine Empire became a beacon of grand magnificence and depraved decadence . . .

Here then are the centuries dominated by ferocious arguments over the nature of Christ and his Church. By knowledge, where scholars and scribes preserved the heritage of the ancient world. By emperors like Justinian the Great and Basil the Bulgar-Slayer - men pious, heroic or monstrous. By creativity, as art and architecture soared to new heights. In this abridgement of his celebrated trilogy, John Julius Norwich provides the definitive introduction to the savage, scintillating world of Byzantium.

'Norwich has the gift of historical perspective, as well as clarity and wit. Few can tell a good story better than he' Spectator

'A real-life epic of love and war, accessible to anyone' Independent on Sunday

'Norwich tells a remarkable story with boundless zest. He offers character sketches of the appalling personages who infest his narrative . . . with the assurance of a Macauley or a Gibbon' Daily Telegraph

John Julius Norwich was born in 1929. He was educated at Upper Canada College, Toronto, at Eton, at the University of Strasbourg and, after a spell of National Service in the Navy, at New College, Oxford, where he took a degree in French and Russian. In 1952 he joined the Foreign Service, where he remained for twelve years, serving at the embassies in Belgrade and Beirut. In 1964 he resigned from the service to write. He is the author of histories of Norman Sicily, the Republic of Venice and the Byzantine Empire. He has written and presented some thirty historical documentaries on television, and is a regular lecturer on Venice and numerous other subjects.