Ben Bova Star Conquerors PDF problem

jethro10 · 03-05-2009, 10:18 AM

Hi,
My first post.
I started hitting this issue with Calibre but it's gone further but honestly dont know where else to put this post.

Ben Bova's first ever book is very rare and expensive.
He put it as a PDF for free on his site a while ago and I got it but was never going to read a PDF on my PC.
So I've now got a cybook and the conversion to mobi with Calibre was awful. 1000% worse than any other PDF. (I appreciate PDF conversion issues).

Right letters but terribly spaced and parts of words on wrong lines giving lines interleaved and carridge returns and new lines all random in wrong places.

I went to his site to get a new copy just in case but he's deleted it, it would seem.
I've found someone with Abbyy reader 8 and though of re OCR ing it, but it's exactly the same.

Looks like it's either damaged or obfuscated on purpose?
anyhow it looks fine as the original PDF but i'm stuck.

Mobi creator (only used it this once) was even worse!!

Any thoughts at all?
Anyone with more experience willing to have a go?

Thanks
Jeff

Nate the great · 03-05-2009, 11:19 AM

Is it a scanned PDF? If it is, then you're going to have some trouble.

Elfwreck · 03-05-2009, 11:25 AM

I love doing PDF conversions. (In both directions.) If you have a reasonable belief he pulled it for lack of interest in hosting, rather than "I don't want more digital copies to be available," I'd be willing to give it a try. (I don't mind doing OCR corrections.) You can email me at elfwreck at gmail dot com.

jethro10 · 03-05-2009, 11:48 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

I love doing PDF conversions. (In both directions.) If you have a reasonable belief he pulled it for lack of interest in hosting, rather than "I don't want more digital copies to be available," I'd be willing to give it a try. (I don't mind doing OCR corrections.) You can email me at elfwreck at gmail dot com.

no idea what it was.

I've had an offer and sent it to him.
Maybe I'll learn something.
If that falls through I'll send it to you and when complete I gather I can post it in the freebies?

Jeff

jethro10 · 03-05-2009, 11:49 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nate the great

Is it a scanned PDF? If it is, then you're going to have some trouble.

I dont think it's just effectivley pictures of pages encapsulated in a PDF, it definatley seems like text but just all messed up when you convert.

J

Elfwreck · 03-05-2009, 01:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jethro10

I dont think it's just effectivley pictures of pages encapsulated in a PDF, it definatley seems like text but just all messed up when you convert.

J

Depending on what program it was created in, that can happen. Especially if it's an older program, and converted with an older version of Acrobat. It's one of the reasons people complain that PDFs aren't "real ebooks"--because they're not designed to convert from, or even to read on a computer screen--their primary purpose is as a ready-to-print format.

jethro10 · 03-06-2009, 03:55 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Elfwreck

Depending on what program it was created in, that can happen. Especially if it's an older program, and converted with an older version of Acrobat. It's one of the reasons people complain that PDFs aren't "real ebooks"--because they're not designed to convert from, or even to read on a computer screen--their primary purpose is as a ready-to-print format.

Yeah, I know PDF if a mess that way, I don't know why Mr Bova would have used it, but it's the only choice I have

Book sent.

jethro10 · 03-06-2009, 04:01 AM

EDIT: Forget it, I'm stuck,
but there is a kind soul now, helping...

J

MonaLS · 03-14-2009, 10:06 PM

Wayback Machine anyone? LINK REMOVED

sirbruce · 03-21-2009, 08:49 AM

I'm sorry I never saw this thread. The first thing I did when I got my Kindle was go after this book.

The Star Conquerors was a favorite of mine growing up. I searched for it for years at sci-fi conventions without any luck. Finally I found a dealer who knew about it and gave me the terrible news: It was Ben Bova's first book, and he did not like it or was not satisfied with the arrangement he had with Winston, and has refused to reprint it ever since.

Some time later, when I was flush with money, I bought a rare copy for several hundred dollars.

When I found out that the book had briefly been available online in PDF format, I was ecstatic. But the PDF had already been taken down. However, I too was smart enough to check wayback months ago and downloaded a copy.

I now have a fairly reasonable conversion of the book in MOBI format, with cover, and a working table of contents, and formatting problems corrected as well as some typos. Personally, I believe since it was online before, it is fair game to offer the converted MOBI file. But I understand why it may not be kosher to post it here.

kevindorsey · 03-27-2009, 06:58 PM

Is there a version of this book available in some other formats that can be converted back to Mobi?

HarryT · 03-28-2009, 04:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by sirbruce

I now have a fairly reasonable conversion of the book in MOBI format, with cover, and a working table of contents, and formatting problems corrected as well as some typos. Personally, I believe since it was online before, it is fair game to offer the converted MOBI file.

No, it is not.

"Downloadable" does not mean "repostable". Unless you are specifically granted permission to redistribute a copyrighted book, then you have no right to do so. That is what "copyright" means - the right to control how it is copied.

bookmanpc · 05-10-2011, 11:34 PM

Hi folks. I know that many people remember STAR CONQUERORS with great fondness, in fact it is just about the most referred book of Ben's over 120 books that we get asked about.

That said there are issues with making it available, one of those issues was people stealing it and reposting it illegally on boards and sites. This is neither legal nor ethical.

HarryT is absolutely correct.

See I paid several hundred dollars for the copy that was destroyed to use to harvest the text.
Ben STILL holds legal and valid copyright and intellectual proprty rights to the work as well. People were simply stealing it, passing it around after agreeing not to, and it came down because of that.

The rather childish attitude that say 'well it was once there so it's OK' is neither legal or ethical. I suspect the people promoting that know that quite well.

We are negotiating with GOOGLE BOOKS, (if they ever get their act together) to make a limited by purchase at a reasonable price version available.

Any modification, sharing, pilfering or other unauthorized distribution of the book is both illegal and unethical.

Hang in there a little longer and you can have a legal copy for a reasonable price.

Fair enough?

Lloyd McDaniel
Bova webmaster.
[ebook fan since the original Rocket Ebook from RCA. Owner of a Ebookman, netbook that I prefer to the Kindle Nook, and other devices but I AM looking at a Linux tablet. ]

DISCLAIMER: DR. BOVA HAS NOT AUTHORIZED THIS MESSAGE. THE OPINIONS ABOVE, WHILE FACTUALLY ACCURATE ARE MY OWN.

03-05-2009, 10:18 AM	#1
jethro10 Enthusiast Posts: 45 Karma: 187144 Join Date: Dec 2008 Device: cybook	Ben Bova Star Conquerors PDF problem Hi, My first post. I started hitting this issue with Calibre but it's gone further but honestly dont know where else to put this post. Ben Bova's first ever book is very rare and expensive. He put it as a PDF for free on his site a while ago and I got it but was never going to read a PDF on my PC. So I've now got a cybook and the conversion to mobi with Calibre was awful. 1000% worse than any other PDF. (I appreciate PDF conversion issues). Right letters but terribly spaced and parts of words on wrong lines giving lines interleaved and carridge returns and new lines all random in wrong places. I went to his site to get a new copy just in case but he's deleted it, it would seem. I've found someone with Abbyy reader 8 and though of re OCR ing it, but it's exactly the same. Looks like it's either damaged or obfuscated on purpose? anyhow it looks fine as the original PDF but i'm stuck. Mobi creator (only used it this once) was even worse!! Any thoughts at all? Anyone with more experience willing to have a go? Thanks Jeff Last edited by jethro10; 03-05-2009 at 10:20 AM.

03-06-2009, 04:01 AM	#8
jethro10 Enthusiast Posts: 45 Karma: 187144 Join Date: Dec 2008 Device: cybook	EDIT: Forget it, I'm stuck, but there is a kind soul now, helping... J Last edited by jethro10; 03-06-2009 at 01:39 PM.

05-10-2011, 11:34 PM	#13
bookmanpc Junior Member Posts: 1 Karma: 10 Join Date: May 2011 Device: netbook	Bova webmaster replies. Hi folks. I know that many people remember STAR CONQUERORS with great fondness, in fact it is just about the most referred book of Ben's over 120 books that we get asked about. That said there are issues with making it available, one of those issues was people stealing it and reposting it illegally on boards and sites. This is neither legal nor ethical. HarryT is absolutely correct. See I paid several hundred dollars for the copy that was destroyed to use to harvest the text. Ben STILL holds legal and valid copyright and intellectual proprty rights to the work as well. People were simply stealing it, passing it around after agreeing not to, and it came down because of that. The rather childish attitude that say 'well it was once there so it's OK' is neither legal or ethical. I suspect the people promoting that know that quite well. We are negotiating with GOOGLE BOOKS, (if they ever get their act together) to make a limited by purchase at a reasonable price version available. Any modification, sharing, pilfering or other unauthorized distribution of the book is both illegal and unethical. Hang in there a little longer and you can have a legal copy for a reasonable price. Fair enough? Lloyd McDaniel Bova webmaster. [ebook fan since the original Rocket Ebook from RCA. Owner of a Ebookman, netbook that I prefer to the Kindle Nook, and other devices but I AM looking at a Linux tablet. ] DISCLAIMER: DR. BOVA HAS NOT AUTHORIZED THIS MESSAGE. THE OPINIONS ABOVE, WHILE FACTUALLY ACCURATE ARE MY OWN.

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03-05-2009, 11:19 AM	#2
Nate the great Sir Penguin of Edinburgh Posts: 12,375 Karma: 23555235 Join Date: Apr 2007 Location: DC Metro area Device: Shake a stick plus 1	Is it a scanned PDF? If it is, then you're going to have some trouble.

03-05-2009, 11:25 AM	#3
Elfwreck Grand Sorcerer Posts: 5,185 Karma: 25133758 Join Date: Nov 2008 Location: SF Bay Area, California, USA Device: Pocketbook Touch HD3 (Past: Kobo Mini, PEZ, PRS-505, Clié)	I love doing PDF conversions. (In both directions.) If you have a reasonable belief he pulled it for lack of interest in hosting, rather than "I don't want more digital copies to be available," I'd be willing to give it a try. (I don't mind doing OCR corrections.) You can email me at elfwreck at gmail dot com.

03-14-2009, 10:06 PM	#9
MonaLS Groupie Posts: 180 Karma: 34 Join Date: Aug 2008 Device: Kindle (Gen 1), Kindle DX, Kindle Fire, LG Enact	Wayback Machine anyone? LINK REMOVED

03-21-2009, 08:49 AM	#10
sirbruce Provocateur Posts: 1,859 Karma: 505847 Join Date: Feb 2009 Location: Columbus, OH Device: Kindle Touch, Kindle 2, Kindle DX, iPhone 3GS	I'm sorry I never saw this thread. The first thing I did when I got my Kindle was go after this book. The Star Conquerors was a favorite of mine growing up. I searched for it for years at sci-fi conventions without any luck. Finally I found a dealer who knew about it and gave me the terrible news: It was Ben Bova's first book, and he did not like it or was not satisfied with the arrangement he had with Winston, and has refused to reprint it ever since. Some time later, when I was flush with money, I bought a rare copy for several hundred dollars. When I found out that the book had briefly been available online in PDF format, I was ecstatic. But the PDF had already been taken down. However, I too was smart enough to check wayback months ago and downloaded a copy. I now have a fairly reasonable conversion of the book in MOBI format, with cover, and a working table of contents, and formatting problems corrected as well as some typos. Personally, I believe since it was online before, it is fair game to offer the converted MOBI file. But I understand why it may not be kosher to post it here.

03-27-2009, 06:58 PM	#11
kevindorsey Evangelist Posts: 488 Karma: 258 Join Date: Mar 2009 Device: kindle	Is there a version of this book available in some other formats that can be converted back to Mobi?

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