FREE/BARGAIN — Non-Fiction

[GtrsRGr8]

Okay, I'm going to try out what I understand that issybird said that is okay to do on this thread, in a post that she made just an hour or two ago . . . .

There is this outfit called Palantine Press, which seems that it reprints old historical works, after "cleaning them up" to some degree, all of which books perhaps dea especially in some way or another with ancient Rome.

I had a discussion recently with a MobileReader about the relative merits of reprints of books by companies and texts prepared for non-profit organizations that offer free ebooks, especially Gutenberg.org. I will just say here that I don't know one way or another if there are superior copies of these ebooks freely available on the Internet somewhere else. All that I can say is that the following ones are available; you'll need to do the research yourself, if you're so inclined, to determine whether or not any particular one of these books is the better or best copy "out there," if that should be important to you.

At the present time, Palatine Press has 14 free Kindle books (https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_1...qid=1489867401). Again, these all relate in some way to ancient Rome.

I'm going to go ahead and list them:
Mommsen, Theodor - The History of Rome Book 1: The Period Anterior to the Abolition of the Monarchy.
Ferrero, Guglielmo - The Women of the Caesars.
Tenney, Frank - Roman Imperialism.
Dodge, Theodore - Great Captains: Hannibal.
(Flavius) Josephus - Autobiography of Josephus.
Suetonius - Lives of the Grammarians.
Orr, Lyndon - Famous Affinities of History: The Romance of Devotion, All Volumes.
Sismondi, J.C.L. de - History and Fall of the Roman Empire: Volume 1.
Dillaway, Charles - Roman Antiquities and Ancient Mythology.
Plutarch - Parallel Lives: Comparison of Sertorius with Eumenes.
Plutarch - Parallel Lives: Comparison of Aristides and Cato.
Plutarch - Parallel Lives: Comparison of Dion and Brutus.
Plutarch - Parallel Lives: Comparison of Lysander with Sylla.
Bryan, William Jennings - The World's Famous Orations: Volume II, Rome (218 B.C. - 84 A.D.).

I have a strong interest in ancient Roman history, and plan to download all of the above ebooks, myself.

I suspect that the free selection changes from time to time. I'm going to set a bookmark and try to monitor the above webpage for different books that they might offer free in the future.

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

And seems like just an all-around nice guy.

It's good to know the rule on that. I've probably posted more than one ebook in the Less than $3.00 thread because it was printed by a self-pub kind of outfit, although the book itself might have been quite old and gone through a number of editions and/or prior printings by traditional publishers before the self-pub outfit got its hands on it.

Blush,

If the book was published more than fifty years since, I wouldn't worry.

(Self publishing wasn't unknown back then, authors could arrange to print "on commission").

[GtrsRGr8]

Blush?

You're welcome, anyway.

The conversation that I referred to was with bgalbrecht on the Less than $3 thread, about a week or so ago. He's got it nailed down pretty good about the copyrights and public domain books and things like that.

If I might share a little of my ignorance . . . . I wouldn't feel safe (unless it was Open Access with a Creative Commons license, or something like that) if it was a book published in the United States (other countries differ!) from 1923 forward. That's the magical date, at least for the present time; it is conceivable that any book published from 1923 forward is still in copyright. I leave them alone. On the other hand, as far as I know, if the book was published before 1923, it is fair game, full stop.

The alternative would be to research the copyright history and see if, perhaps, a post 1922 book's copyright has expired. If it has, it is fair game. Bgalbrecht has some real good stuff about that.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

<snip>
(Self publishing wasn't unknown back then, authors could arrange to print "on commission").

Yeah, I should have realized that. Just because modern digital, POD book printers didn't exist then doesn't mean that people couldn't have their books printed. I didn't know about the "on commission" scenario. But "vanity publishers" have existed for a long time.

Some people who would send their manuscripts to many established, traditional publishers would do so only to have all of the publishers reject their manuscripts. These people were just sure that they had produced the Great American Novels. So, they would take their manuscripts to the vanity publishers (there is another common word for them, but I've forgotten it). The authors would pay the entire cost of the printing (but get all of the profits, if there were any). The authors had to do their own marketing to the bookstores. Basically all that the vanity publishers seemed to be, were were book printers.

There may have been some of these books that succeeded. I would think that it was because traditional publishers happened to see them, found out that they were hot sellers, and decided to offer the authors a (real) publishing deal. But, I can't think of one which that happened to.

Two of my aunts went the vanity publishing route. The one aunt's book was horrible--I don't own a copy, and have passed up opportunities to get one free. The other aunt wasn't interested in making a national bestseller. After the kids all grew up, and she retired, she just liked writing things and just had somebody print her books when she got through with them. Hers needed some polish, but were not too bad. Libraries all around the area put them in their collections, etc. And she sold quite a few.

[issybird]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

I have a strong interest in ancient Roman history, and plan to download all of the above ebooks, myself.
.

I like classical history also and this looks a handy way to add some of these titles. Thanks for the link.

[bfisher]

On sale at Amazon.ca today
Dereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff by H.R. McMaster for $CDN 3.99
https://www.amazon.ca/Dereliction-Du.../dp/B004HW7834

[Little.Egret]

Charles River Editors, free

Jerusalem and Islam: The History and Legacy of the Holy City's Importance to Muslims

Opus Dei: The History and Legacy of the Catholic Church's Famous Institution


https://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search...ld-title=-kids

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?url=sear...ld-title=-kids

https://www.amazon.ca/s/?url=search-...ld-title=-kids

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by Little.Egret

Charles River Editors, free

Jerusalem and Islam: The History and Legacy of the Holy City's Importance to Muslims

Opus Dei: The History and Legacy of the Catholic Church's Famous Institution


https://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search...ld-title=-kids

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?url=sear...ld-title=-kids

https://www.amazon.ca/s/?url=search-...ld-title=-kids

Add

10 Downing Street: The History and Legacy of the British Prime Minister's Official Residence

[ATDrake]

X-link to the DRM-free thread for two new non-fiction bundles:

Humble Book Bundle History presented by AP features a range of titles on various historical topics (influential figures and events and politics and even some science) from the Associated Press, which collect their news coverage over the past decades, with added commentary placing them in context.

We've previously received a few of their books as freebies in the past, specifically this one on the Boston Marathon bombings which is also in the bundle, in case you want to check out their style before splurging.

The Rogue Souls bundle by StoryBundle contains books about classic video games, video game design, and history. There's a quasi-academic boos containing interviews which were conducted for a documentary, as well as some interesting-looking histories about early video game programming in university computer labs and old-fashioned bug squashing techniques on the limited platforms then available, and the usual cult classic game and platform histories/unofficial companions.

[GtrsRGr8]

Yes, I know that The National Academies (of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine) Press (NAP.edu) offers a lot of free ebooks. There's no news there--I first made a post about it probably 4 years ago now, and several other MobileReaders have, too, since then.

However, I got an email from NAP.edu today stating that "We're very excited to announce that we're now offering eBook downloads for thousands of titles on NAP.edu!" From some reason, they don't mention if they have opened up their catalog to offer far more free ebooks than they had been, or meant something else by that statement. I don't know a very good (and, certainly, quick) way of finding out one way or the other.

Why didn't they address that question? I don't know. I can think of one innocent reason (they forgot to tell us) and one nefarious reason (they wanted us to take up our time searching their website to find out for ourselves). Having a B.S. in Marketing, having spent most of my career in some way connected with the field, blah, blah, blah, I know a little bit about the tricks that advertisers can play, and being cynical (and getting that way more and more every day) I cast my vote for the second reason.

But no matter. There is some truly valuable news that is mentioned--but not trumpeted--in this email message. Free NAP.edu books are now available in mobi and ePub, as well as the PDF format that they have always been offered in!

I know that many of you don't like PDF for various reasons--perhaps the biggest reasons being the fact you do not think that PDFs render well on your portable ebook reader--and that has been one huge drawback to you downloading (more) ebooks from NAP.edu than you have. It hasn't made any difference to me, because 1) I don't currently use a mobile reader--I use my laptop computer to read ebooks, and 2) I'm not smart enough to understand much of what is written in these books (most of the books seem to be written for experts in the respective fields), anyway. So, I don't download many. But for some of you, arrival of mobi and/or ePub may come as welcome news.

NAP.edu gives us this link as a place to start our exploration of the new change(s).

[Fluribus]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Yes, I know that The National Academies (of Sciences, Engineering, Medicine) Press (NAP.edu) offers a lot of free ebooks. There's no news there--I first made a post about it probably 4 years ago now, and several other MobileReaders have, too, since then.

However, I got an email from NAP.edu today stating that "We're very excited to announce that we're now offering eBook downloads for thousands of titles on NAP.edu!" From some reason, they don't mention if they have opened up their catalog to offer far more free ebooks than they had been, or meant something else by that statement. I don't know a very good (and, certainly, quick) way of finding out one way or the other.

Why didn't they address that question? I don't know. I can think of one innocent reason (they forgot to tell us) and one nefarious reason (they wanted us to take up our time searching their website to find out for ourselves). Having a B.S. in Marketing, having spent most of my career in some way connected with the field, blah, blah, blah, I know a little bit about the tricks that advertisers can play, and being cynical (and getting that way more and more every day) I cast my vote for the second reason.

But no matter. There is some truly valuable news that is mentioned--but not trumpeted--in this email message. Free NAP.edu books are now available in mobi and ePub, as well as the PDF format that they have always been offered in!

I know that many of you don't like PDF for various reasons--perhaps the biggest reasons being the fact you do not think that PDFs render well on your portable ebook reader--and that has been one huge drawback to you downloading (more) ebooks from NAP.edu than you have. It hasn't made any difference to me, because 1) I don't currently use a mobile reader--I use my laptop computer to read ebooks, and 2) I'm not smart enough to understand much of what is written in these books (most of the books seem to be written for experts in the respective fields), anyway. So, I don't download many. But for some of you, arrival of mobi and/or ePub may come as welcome news.

NAP.edu gives us this link as a place to start our exploration of the new change(s).

I only looked at a few of these. Most of them did not have the new ebook formats. Of those that did have them, none of them were free. The cost seems to be about $10 less than the physical book.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by Fluribus

I only looked at a few of these. Most of them did not have the new ebook formats. Of those that did have them, none of them were free. The cost seems to be about $10 less than the physical book.

I was pretty much just passing along their announcement . . . didn't have a chance to actually examine. I hope that I can do that, hopefully later today.

Thanks.

[ATDrake]

Bargain @ 99 cents in US & Canada from Amazon's Amazon Publishing imprint for today only (part of Kindle Daily Deals for March 23rd):

Tomorrowland: Our Journey from Science Fiction to Science Fact by entrepreneur and journalist Steven Kotler (Wikipedia), a collection of his essay articles on Exactly What It Says In The Title, which were originally published in various news publications such as The New York Times, according to its Wikipedia entry. The accompanying Whispersync audiobook is $1.99.

New York Times, Wired, Atlantic Monthly, Discover bestselling author Steven Kotler has written extensively about those pivotal moments when science fiction became science fact…and fundamentally reshaped the world. Now he gathers the best of his best, updated and expanded upon, to guide readers on a mind-bending tour of the far frontier, and how these advances are radically transforming our lives. From the ways science and technology are fundamentally altering our bodies and our world (the world’s first bionic soldier, the future of evolution) to those explosive collisions between science and culture (life extension and bioweapons), we’re crossing moral and ethical lines we’ve never faced before.

As Kotler writes, “Life is tricky sport—and that's the emotional core of this story, the real reason we can’t put Pandora back in the box. When you strip everything else away, technology is nothing more than the promise of an easier tomorrow. It’s the promise of hope. And how do you stop hope?”

Join Kotler in this fascinating exploration of our incredible next: a deep dive into those future technologies happening now—and what it means to be a part of this brave new world.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

<snip>
There is this outfit called Palantine Press, which seems that it reprints old historical works, after "cleaning them up" to some degree, all of which books perhaps dea especially in some way or another with ancient Rome.
<snip>
At the present time, Palatine Press has 14 free Kindle books (https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=sr_pg_1...qid=1489867401). Again, these all relate in some way to ancient Rome.

I'm going to go ahead and list them:
Mommsen, Theodor - The History of Rome Book 1: The Period Anterior to the Abolition of the Monarchy.
Ferrero, Guglielmo - The Women of the Caesars.
Tenney, Frank - Roman Imperialism.
Dodge, Theodore - Great Captains: Hannibal.
(Flavius) Josephus - Autobiography of Josephus.
Suetonius - Lives of the Grammarians.
Orr, Lyndon - Famous Affinities of History: The Romance of Devotion, All Volumes.
Sismondi, J.C.L. de - History and Fall of the Roman Empire: Volume 1.
Dillaway, Charles - Roman Antiquities and Ancient Mythology.
Plutarch - Parallel Lives: Comparison of Sertorius with Eumenes.
Plutarch - Parallel Lives: Comparison of Aristides and Cato.
Plutarch - Parallel Lives: Comparison of Dion and Brutus.
Plutarch - Parallel Lives: Comparison of Lysander with Sylla.
Bryan, William Jennings - The World's Famous Orations: Volume II, Rome (218 B.C. - 84 A.D.).
<snip>
I suspect that the free selection changes from time to time. I'm going to set a bookmark and try to monitor the above webpage for different books that they might offer free in the future.

Well, someone that I know very well (yours truly) dragged their feet and missed out on most of the above freebies. That's the bad news.

The good news is that Palatine Press has added a half a dozen or so "new" free Kindle books.

[Little.Egret]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Well, someone that I know very well (yours truly) dragged their feet and missed out on most of the above freebies. That's the bad news.

The good news is that Palatine Press has added a half a dozen or so "new" free Kindle books.

If you missed any, check Gutenberg (and Amazon)

https://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search...sher=palatine*