FREE/BARGAIN - Non-Fiction - 2015

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

I wasn't familiar with this book. From looking it over a little bit, here is my "take" on it. If this is a history, it is a political history. If it is a political history, it appears to be a left-leaning history. As the title says, it is a history of "modern" Britain--it appears that that means the last 50 years or so.

This is a book associated with a very good BBC TV documentary series from a few years back. Andrew Marr is a well-known BBC political analyst. As you rightly say, this is primarily a book about the political history of Britain since WWII. It would only be considered "left-leaning" from an American perspective, I believe. I bought it in an Amazon UK sale a while ago.

[itisbomb]

The Return of George Washington: 1783-1789
by Edward Larson

is $1.99 at

Kobo https://store.kobobooks.com/en-US/eb...rge-washington
Amazon http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00I2P...rge+washington

Below is the blurb:
After commanding the Continental Army to victory in the Revolutionary War, General Washington stunned the world: He retired. Four years later, as he rode from Mount Vernon to lead the Constitutional Convention, he was the one American who could united the rapidly disintegrating country. This is the little-known story of the return of George Washington.

In this groundbreaking new look at our first citizen, Pulitzer Prize–winning historian Edward J. Larson masterfully chronicles how George Washington saved the United States by coming out of retirement four years after the War of Independence to lead a country on the brink of dissolution and secure its future. Though the period between the Revolution and the Presidency has previously been neglected in studies of Washington's life, Larson's striking reassessment shows that Washington's greatness in fact rests on these years—1783 to 1789—and rightfully elevates our foremost Founding Father's "forgotten years" to a central place in the American story.

In December 1783, Washington, the most powerful and popular man in America, stepped down as commander in chief and returned to private life as a farmer and landowner. Yet as Washington found happiness in successfully growing his Virginia estate, the fledgling American experiment foundered under the Articles of Confederation. Sectional bickering paralyzed government; debts went unpaid; the economy stagnated; national security was neglected; the union of states was in peril.

When a Constitutional Convention was called to forge a new government, its chances of success were slim. Benjamin Franklin, James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, and other leaders realized only one American—the retired hero George Washington—could unite the fractious states. After months of anguish, Washington answered the call and left his beloved Mount Vernon in the spring of 1787 to preside over the convention in Philadelphia. Although Washington is overlooked in most accounts, Larson brilliantly uncovers Washington's vital role in shaping the Constitution—and shows, as never before, how it was only with Washington's spirited behind-the-scenes influence that the delegates passed, and the states later ratified, the founding document that has guided our government to this day.

From the moment of General Washington's resignation to his victory in the first federal elections and his triumphant inauguration in New York as our first President, The Return of George Washington is a landmark work that will forever change our understanding and appreciation of America's great founder.

[Little.Egret]

http://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search-...=charles+river

http://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?url=searc...=charles+river
http://www.amazon.ca/s/?url=search-a...=charles+river

Charles River Editors

The Battle of Bosworth Field: The History of the Battle that Ended the Wars of the Roses

The Battle of Baltimore during the War of 1812: The History of the Battle that Inspired the National Anthem

The Battle of Seven Pines: The History of the First Major Battle of the 1862 Peninsula Campaign

The Battle of Fort Donelson: The History of General Ulysses S. Grant's First Major Victory in the Civil War

The Battle of Brandy Station: The History of the Biggest Cavalry Battle of the Civil War

The Franklin-Nashville Campaign: The History of the Civil War Campaign that Destroyed the Confederate Army of Tennessee

The Battle of Yellow Tavern: The History of the Civil War Battle that Ended J.E.B. Stuart's Life

The Last Gasp of Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia: The Siege of Petersburg and the Appomattox Campaign

The SS Eastland Disaster: The History of the Deadliest Shipwreck on the Great Lakes

The Brief but Comprehensive History of the Titanic

[Little.Egret]

More

The Rise of Nazi Germany: The History of the Events that Brought Adolf Hitler to Power

The Munich Agreement of 1938: The History of the Peace Pact that Failed to Prevent World War II

The Start of World War II: The History of the Events that Culminated with Nazi Germany's Invasion of Poland

The End of World War II: The History of the Battles that Ended the Fighting in Europe and the Pacific

The Assassination of Reinhard Heydrich: The Czech Resistance's Killing of the Top Nazi Official during World War II

The Port Chicago Disaster: The History of America's Deadliest Homeland Incident during World War II

History's Greatest Artists: The Life and Legacy of Salvador Dali

Stephen Hawking: The Life of the World's Most Famous Scientist

Black Hawk Down: The History of the Battle of Mogadishu

[GtrsRGr8]

"M/D" means Markdown. The markdown is a big 85% from the regular digital price.

There aren't really enough ratings (2 at Amazon; only 1 at GoodReads) to get an idea about how good this book is. However, the author has great credentials. And, from a cursory look-over on my part, this seems to be a very interesting read, be well-written, and be very nicely illustrated (well, I like the illustrations anyway). Whether or not you ever go on a safari, and use this book for its intended purpose as a travel guide, I think that you will like it, if you like this kind of thing. It's a "must-post."

Savannah Diaries (Bradt Travel Guides). By Brian Jackson. Rated 5.0 stars, but from only 2 reviews. Print list price $16.99; regular digital price $16.14; Kindle price now $2.49. Bradt Travel Guides, publisher. 240 pages. http://www.amazon.com/Savannah-Diari...EM4DA26YC4VTDS.

Book Description
Let Savannah Diaries take you on a safari of discovery though Africa's most beautiful national parks and big game sanctuaries, in the company of its spectacular wildlife and the remarkable characters - scientists, conservationists, wardens and safari guides - who have devoted their lives to protecting its unique heritage for future generations. Written by the preeminent expert on African wildlife, Brian Jackman, Savannah Diaries reveals the staggering size and scale of sub-Saharan Africa in a celebration of the continent's wild places and their abundance of living creatures.

[samosa]

When to Rob a Bank: A Rogue Economist's Guide to the World
by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
£0.00

Only on Amazon.co.uk
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00SSKM6P6/

[ATDrake]

Originally Posted by samosa

When to Rob a Bank: A Rogue Economist's Guide to the World
by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
£0.00

Only on Amazon.co.uk
http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00SSKM6P6/

Actually also free @ B&N UK, iTunes UK, & Kobo UK, and probably also Google Play UK. But not in any other regions, though YMMV.

[samosa]

Originally Posted by ATDrake

Actually also free @ B&N UK, iTunes UK, & Kobo UK, and probably also Google Play UK. But not in any other regions, though YMMV.

Thanks for that! I'm mostly in Canada when I'm on Kobo so I didn't know.

[GtrsRGr8]

That is 2% of the regular digital price!

This is the second edition.

CORRECTION: The figures for the ratings at Goodreads are incorrect. It should read: "rated 5.0 at Goodreads, but from only 1 rating." The figures that I gave were for the book Paradise Lost by John Milton. Doh!

I thought that 84,888 ratings were a lot, but then I thought that the book might be a very popular college textbook or something. Of course, $50 nowadays is not much to pay for a college textbook, unfortunately. ha.

I hope that no one expended the whole 99 cents that it cost for the book, based on the incorrect ratings figures that I gave. ha. G.

Milton: Paradise Lost (Longman Annotated English Poets). By Alastair Fowler. Rated 4.4 stars, but from only 7 reviews at Amazon; rated 3.78, from 84,888 ratings at GoodReads. Print list price $49.95; digital list price $49.95; Kindle price now $0.99. Routledge, publisher. 744 pages. http://www.amazon.com/Milton-Paradis...glish+Poets%29.

Book Description
Milton's Paradise Lost is one of the great works of literature, of any time and in any language. Marked by Milton's characteristic erudition it is a work epic both in scale and, notoriously, in ambition. For nearly 350 years it has held generation upon generation of scholars, students and readers in rapt attention and its profound influence can be seen in almost every corner of Western culture. First published in 1968, with John Carey's Complete Shorter Poems, Alastair Fowler's Paradise Lost is widely acknowledged to be the most authoritative edition of this compelling work.

An unprecedented amount of detailed annotation accompanies the full text of the first (1667) edition, providing a wealth of contextual information to enrich and enhance the reader's experience. Notes on composition and context are combined with a clear explication of the multitude allusions Milton called to the poem's aid. The notes also summarise and illuminate the vast body of critical attention the poem has attracted, synthesizing the ancient and the modern to provide a comprehensive account both of the poem's development and its reception. Meanwhile, Alastair Fowler's invigorating introduction surveys the whole poem and looks in detail at such matters as Milton's theology, metrical structure and, most valuably, his complex and imaginary astronomy. The result is an enduring landmark in the field of Milton scholarship and an invaluable guide for readers of all levels.

[itisbomb]

Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism
by Melanie Joy PhD

is $0.99 at Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005FF...qid=1436028796

Below is the blurb:
In this paperback edition is a foreword by activist and author John Robbins and a readers group study guide. This ground-breaking work, voted one of the top ten books of 2010 by VegNews Magazine, offers an absorbing look at why and how humans can so wholeheartedly devote ourselves to certain animals and then allow others to suffer needlessly, especially those slaughtered for our consumption.Social psychologist Melanie Joy explores the many ways we numb ourselves and disconnect from our natural empathy for farmed animals. She coins the term "carnism" to describe the belief system that has conditioned us to eat certain animals and not others. In Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows Joy investigates factory farming, exposing how cruelly the animals are treated, the hazards that meatpacking workers face, and the environmental impact of raising 10 billion animals for food each year. Controversial and challenging, this book will change the way you think about food forever.

[Little.Egret]

Charles River Editors

Nazi Germany's Conquest of Western Europe: The Negotiations and Campaigns that Let Hitler Conquer the Continent Before and During World War II


http://www.amazon.com/dp/B010U4ECUO/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B010U4ECUO/
http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B010U4ECUO/

[murg]

Originally Posted by itisbomb

Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows: An Introduction to Carnism
by Melanie Joy PhD

is $0.99 at Amazon

http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B005FFTEQQ/ref=tmm_kin_title_0?ie=UTF8&sr=8-1&qid=1436028796

Below is the blurb:
In this paperback edition is a foreword by activist and author John Robbins and a readers group study guide. This ground-breaking work, voted one of the top ten books of 2010 by VegNews Magazine, offers an absorbing look at why and how humans can so wholeheartedly devote ourselves to certain animals and then allow others to suffer needlessly, especially those slaughtered for our consumption.Social psychologist Melanie Joy explores the many ways we numb ourselves and disconnect from our natural empathy for farmed animals. She coins the term "carnism" to describe the belief system that has conditioned us to eat certain animals and not others. In Why We Love Dogs, Eat Pigs, and Wear Cows Joy investigates factory farming, exposing how cruelly the animals are treated, the hazards that meatpacking workers face, and the environmental impact of raising 10 billion animals for food each year. Controversial and challenging, this book will change the way you think about food forever.

Is there a companion book on vegism? Which is the belief system that has conditioned us to eat certain plants and not others. In Why We Love Tulips, Eat Wheat, and Wear Cotton, the Joy investigates factory farming, exposing how cruelly the crops are treated, the hazards that farm workers face, and the environmental impact of raising 10 trillion plants for food each year. Controversial and challenging, this book will change the way you think about food forever

[John K]

Originally Posted by murg

Is there a companion book on vegism? Which is the belief system that has conditioned us to eat certain plants and not others. In Why We Love Tulips, Eat Wheat, and Wear Cotton, the Joy investigates factory farming, exposing how cruelly the crops are treated, the hazards that farm workers face, and the environmental impact of raising 10 trillion plants for food each year. Controversial and challenging, this book will change the way you think about food forever

That would be
Against the Grain: How Agriculture Has Hijacked Civilization

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...n=service_impr

Unfortunately, not on sale at this time.

[Little.Egret]

Free

His Was the Voice: The Life of W.E.B. Du Bois by Emma Gelders Sterne

Teacher, social scientist, historian, poet, prophet-his was the voice that demanded equality, respect and dignity for the black man in a society that denied his humanity.

The memory of Dr. W. E. B. Du Bois is as important to the past and future of this country as any revolutionary figure before or since. Yet for years he was unknown to white America and, as a victim of the McCarthy witch hunts of the fifties, rejected by his countrymen. In this dramatic, candid biography, Emma Gelders Sterne presents W. E. B. Du Bois to a new generation that is entitled to the truth about the black man who cried "Freedom Now!" and "Black Power" when no one was willing to listen.

Drawing from the private papers of Du Bois himself, his publications, and the confidences of those who knew and worked with him, Mrs. Sterne has written an unconventional story that reads like fiction but tells the little-known facts of a fascinating life.


http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00YHKJKRS/

http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B00YHKJKRS/
http://www.amazon.ca/dp/B00YHKJKRS/

[ATDrake]

Bargain @ $1.99-$4.99 from various publishers couponable @ Kobo while your contest codes may or may not still be working (prices valid in Canada & US at least, probably though not necessarily price-matched at other retailers & regions):

Workman Publishing has nearly a dozen sale titles priced from $1.99-$2.99, mostly cookbooks by celebrity grilling chef Steve Raichlen, but they've also put film critic Danny Peary's (Wikipedia) excellent set of "Cult Movies" collections of his retrospective cult classic film essays (Wikipedia) on sale, which I highly recommend, and there's a freebie containing the Science Fiction ones still available right here for you to try before you (maybe) buy. It'll be money well spent if you like insightful and entertaining film writing, IMHO.

Chronicle Books LLC has about a dozen titles on sale from $1.99-$2.99, mainly having to do with food or the outdoors. Most promising of the lot:

• Sightings: Extraordinary Encounters with Ordinary Birds by professor and philosopher Sam Keen (Wikipedia), a collection of bird-watching nature essays

Homesteading/crafting specialty imprint Storey Publishing has about 10 new sale books discounted to the the $2.99 mark, on crocheting, handling livestock for food purposes, making your own ice cream and wine and cheese, building your own cabin, etc. Most interesting of the lot:

• Cooking with Fire: From Roasting on a Spit to Baking in a Tannur, Rediscovered Techniques and Recipes That Capture the Flavors of Wood-Fired Cooking by Paula Marcoux, her guide to Exactly What It Says In The Title

Algonquin Books has about a half-dozen non-fiction titles in their $1.99 sale, including the autobiography of formerly closeted gay classic Hollywood film star Tab Hunter (Wikipedia, now made into a documentary), a memoir of a woman who worked at The New Yorker magazine from the 1950s onward and apparently has a lot of juicy behind-the-scenes stories about the luminaries there, some memoirs about people going on international travel trips to find themselves/their roots, including one about a guy descended from the long-isolated Kurdish Jews of Iraq who still speak Aramaic etc. Personal picks of the lot which I'll be getting if the samples read well enough:

• Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star by Tab Hunter; this is supposed to be pretty interesting, according to people who've seen the documentary, and I'm mildly interested in Old Hollywood too
• Candyfreak: A Journey through the Chocolate Underbelly of America by Steve Almond, undertaking a road trip to various candy factories to learn about how the chocolate industry works while also exploring the social history of our cultural relationship to the sweet stuff. I'm a sucker for these types of books, and I highly recommend Twinkie, Deconstructed: My Journey to Discover How the Ingredients Found in Processed Foods Are Grown, Mined (Yes, Mined), and Manipulated into What America Eats by Steve Ettlinger (not on sale), which I read many years ago from the library and really liked (and turned out to be disturbingly informative about a food I've never eaten in my life and don't intend to)
• Flirting with French: How a Language Charmed Me, Seduced Me, and Nearly Broke My Heart by William Alexander. I'm also a sucker for people-trying-to-learn-languages and looking into the accompanying culture and methodology thereof. For another similar social history of the French language, I highly recommend The Story of French: From Charlemagne to Cirque du Soleil by Canadians Jean-Benoît Nadeau & Julie Barlow (not currently on sale, but couponable and sometimes Sourcebooks drops the price on their reprint of this), which I read many years ago and found excellent enough to pick up the authors' The Story of Spanish when it went on sale in recent months.
• Man With A Pan: Culinary Adventures of Fathers Who Cook For Their Familes edited by John Donohue, an anthology of food-related essays and recipes and reminisces by various celebrities, including author Stephen King and journalist Mark Kurlansky (whose book on the codfish I read and enjoyed in the past), and celebrity chefs Mark Bittman & Mario Batali et al.

Island Press, who've generously given us a number of quality science/nature/environmentalism freebies in the past including the current book on shrimp upthread, have a selection of their titles discounted to $4.99 (regularly much more expensive), apparently to tie-in to Kobo's current US & Canada holiday sales.

A number of other publishers include "Island Press" as part of their imprint names, so there's a bunch of their stuff (including some erotic romance titles with suggestive covers on the early pages, you have been warned) mixed in, but start near the bottom of page 4 here and keep going until page 7 and that should be all their sale titles, some of which you can also see via the Island Press E-ssentials series autosearch. NB: a few of these have been free in the past, so please check your accounts if they look interesting to you. My personal pick of the lot:

• Future Arctic: Field Notes from a World on the Edge by fellow Canadian Edward Struzik, a former Harvard & MIT researcher who was awarded a prestigious journalism prize, according to his Yale Environment 360 blurb, where you can also read some of his columns written for the university's online magazine. I just have this interest in stuff that involves very northern regions (including the Canadian arctic), and the author also goes and talks with our indigenous peoples as well as the usual "experts", so bonus points.

Finally, there's a good lot of quality non-fiction titles (lots of cultural history & politics & science & cookbooks) included in the Kobo Canada Day & US Independence Day sales good through 11:59 PM Eastern Time on July 6th, many of which are not couponable, but on significant discount from their major publishers.

Linkage to the dedicated sale pages: Canada & US (some titles available discounted in both regions and possibly elsewhere, may or may not be price-matched at other retailers). Picks of the lot:

@ $2.99:

• Never Cry Wolf (not couponable) by the late Farley Mowat (Wikipedia), one of the great Canadian classics (Wikipedia) and a fictionalized narrative version of his real-life experiences investigating the decline of Arctic caribou and thereby running into wolves and their conservation issues circa the mid-60s. There's also a Disney-produced film (Wikipedia) which you may or may not have seen. For some reason (probably the Disney tie-in), they filed this under the Kids/YA specials section.

@ $4.99:

• Monkeys, Myths and Molecules: Separating Fact from Fiction in the Science of Everyday Life by Dr. Joe Schwarcz (Wikipedia), a chemist & professor at McGill University in Montréal who specializes in explaining various points of science in a layperson-accessible manner. This is probably another collection of his newspaper columns, which are excellent and recommended. I've read some of his previous books and they were both entertaining and informative, so I'm snapping this one up (these tend to go on sale one at a time during Kobo holiday specials).
• An Astronaut's Guide to Life on Earth (not couponable) by retired former commander of the International Space Station Chris Hadfield (Wikipedia), a memoir of his terrestrial training and time on the station and various other insights into Life, the Universe, and Everything
• Salmon: A Scientific Memoir by Jude Isabella, a science writer for Canadian Geographic magazine. This looks like a promising nature/science/society interaction sort of thing about Exactly What It Says In The Title from a small press that specializes in wildlife/nature exploration/ecology stuff, and I'm a sucker for that sort of thing