FREE/BARGAIN — Christian Interest

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by ekbell

Well the book in question has a link to the publishers where they've posted "A huge thank you to everyone who donated to our Unglue.it campaign to support the publication of this book: thanks to you, ALL the digital editions are absolutely free!"

Interesting. I don't think that a person or organization illegally copying books would offer links to the publishers!

Individuals donate to unglue.it, and unglue.it actively invites them to. Corporations may chip in, too. The closest that I knew to call the situation was crowdfunding. I suppose that that is basically what it is, although unglue.it's funding of publication of ebooks might not meet the technical definition.

[ekbell]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Thanks.

Open Acess stuff can get very complicated. I'm glad that I don't have to know more about the "ins and outs" of OA than I do. My interest is almost solely in how I can get some _free_ high-quality ebooks in my areas of interest, like religion; I don't have to know the workings of OA very much to do that.

If I was an author having recently completed a book, I would want to know far more about the ins and outs of OA than I do.

One thing that is really hard to understand is why so many authors "sign on" to OA. There are an _enormous_ amount of OA ebooks out there, not even considering academic journals and "papers" that are OA, which are are very sizeable, too. Authors surrender rights; do much of the work that a traditional publisher would be doing if they had gone that route (your quote from unglue.it's FAQ was funny, although I'm sure that the person at unglue.it who wrote it didn't intend for it to be!); never will get any (direct, at least), profits, and have to pay some, if not all, of the publishing costs! OA publishers often have webpages devoted to selling authors on the benefits of going the OA route. The only advantage that I can see to an author (although, admittedly, I never have read completely any of the OA publishers' sales pitches) is publicity for the author.

I think authors agree due to a combination of 'it still counts as a publication for the purpose of academia' and idealism. There may also be a note of 'it's not as if I'd be making money off this book, anyways'.

The last book you posted appears to be very much international academic idealism (particularly for Dr. Janet Hujon of the Khasi community, born in Shillong, Meghalaya educated in England)

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by ekbell

I think authors agree due to a combination of 'it still counts as a publication for the purpose of academia' and idealism. There may also be a note of 'it's not as if I'd be making money off this book, anyways'.

The last book you posted appears to be very much international academic idealism (particularly for Dr. Janet Hujon of the Khasi community, born in Shillong, Meghalaya educated in England)

The second point is funny, but it has the ring of truth, too! The first point that you made really resonates with me.

Having not been in academia, and not having any immediate plans to be so, I had forgotten the mantra, "publish or perish." I'm sure that that is true more of research-oriented colleges than teaching-oriented ones.

The CV (curriculum vitae) is all-important. Looking at it cynically, the longer the list on your CV, the better your prospects of moving ahead in academia. Maybe OA is a way to pad the CV in the shortest amount of time? However, most of the Open Access stuff that I've seen does not seem like it has just been slapped together, but seems to be of high quality.

[GtrsRGr8]

Sorry not to have been able to post this before now--I just now came across the deal. The deal ends today, May 2 (it started only yesterday).

Warren Wiersbe's Be Obedient (Genesis 12-25): Learning the Secret of Living by Faith, one of the volumes, of course, in his lauded "Be" series, is currently free. I know that that is the case at Amazon (mobi) and Christianbook (ePub, DRM Free), so I feel sure that other vendors have the same price.

I checked my library at Amazon, and was surprised to note that I had not yet acquired a copy from Amazon (oddly, I had one from Christianbook (the reverse of how it usually would be)). So, I have taken care of that anomaly, by grabbing one from Amazon.

Here's the webpage at Amazon for the book, and the Christianbook webpage

NOTE: between the time that I started this post, and now, the price at Christianbook increased to $8.99! I am at a loss to know why. I thought that it might be because of my messing around with the URL; however, I checked on my cellphone, which has a different I.P. address of course, and it showed a price of $8.99 at Christianbook also.

If you don't want to buy from Amazon, you might consider checking the prices at such vendors as Google Play, Kobo, B&N/Nook, and/or the other usual suspects.

[TrevorViking]

No joy at Kobo.
https://play.google.com/store/books/...d=UmEYFKU6z3wC

[GtrsRGr8]

Someone at Christianbook may have goofed up.

I checked at Christianbook, again, and Be Obedient is now free, again.

I hope that someone who wanted it from Christianbook (to get the ePub, or whatever), but thought that all hope was lost, can grab it before the deal expires. I know that it expires today at Amazon; and on this kind of deal I get the impression that the expiration date for all of the vendors is the same.

[GtrsRGr8]

Zondervan has a series of books called "Counterpoints." The series deals with issues of interest to those who identify themselves as Christians. The books are in a debate-style format, in which advocates of particular positions on a topic state their cases, those who are opposed to the positions make responses, and finally the initial writer gets to give a rejoinder. A well-known and well-respected Biblical scholar, Stephen N. Gundry, is the series editor.

I haven't seen this particular volume before. That may be because it was published fairly recently (last November); however, it may be because it hasn't been on sale prior to now (I didn't check ereaderiq.co)--I basically ignore any book that isn't marked down from its usual price.

The book is Four Views on Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design. The contributors, who hold four different views (and/or perhaps combinations of views) on the subject, are Ken Ham, Hugh Ross, Deborah B. Haarsma, and Stephen C. Meyer. This volume, and perhaps more, have J.B. Stump as the general editor.

This ebook is currently only $3.99. Ereaderiq.com states (I ended up deciding to check ereaderiq.com, after all) that the retail price is $9.99 (which seems unusually low to me), and that it has not been on sale since its publication.

The present volume is 235 pages long. It is rated 4.7 stars at Amazon, from 12 reviews. The raters at GoodReads give it an average score of 4.18 (that's excellent for them), from 48 reviews.

Here is the description, from Amazon:
Four Views on Creation, Evolution, and Intelligent Design presents the current "state of the conversation" about origins among evangelicals representing four key positions:

Young Earth Creationism - Ken Ham (Answers in Genesis)
Old Earth (Progressive) Creationism - Hugh Ross (Reasons to Believe)
Evolutionary Creation - Deborah B. Haarsma (BioLogos)
Intelligent Design - Stephen C. Meyer (The Discovery Institute)
The contributors offer their best defense of their position addressing questions such as: What is your position on origins - understood broadly to include the physical universe, life, and human beings in particular? What do you take to be the most persuasive arguments in defense of your position? How do you demarcate and correlate evidence about origins from current science and from divine revelation? What hinges on answering these questions correctly?

Here is the book's webpage at Amazon. I noticed that the ebook is on sale for $3.99 at Christianbook (ePub, DRM Protected) also.

[GtrsRGr8]

Based solely upon my favorable opinion listening to J. Warner Wallace's Cold-Case Christianity: A Homicide Detective Investigates the Claims of the Gospels, I pulled the trigger on his Forensic Faith: A Homicide Detective Makes the Case for a More Reasonable, Evidential Christian Faith today.

After a moment's contemplation, I realize that I am wrong about that. I saw the ebook priced at $2.99 at Amazon today. Later, I saw where it dropped to $2.39 there. That helped make my decision, too.

Likely, Amazon matched Christianbook's price of $2.39 that Christianbook had on the ebook (ePub, DRM Free). I went ahead and sprung for the Christianbook version, however, because it is DRM Free, even though accessing it in my Christianbook library is not nearly as easy or straightforward as accessing ebooks in my library at Amazon, IMHO. The downside is that I would prefer to listen to this title; if Amazon/Audible come up with a Whispersync deal for the ebook, I won't be able to take advantage of a reduced-price audio for the book.

Being the powerful publishing industry insider that I am. , I know that Amazon's initial price of $2.99 was scheduled to end May 15. I assume that they will continue to have a special price through that date, even if it is $2.39 some, or all of the way through, that date.

Get the ebook at Amazon here.
Get the ebook at Christianbook here.

[GtrsRGr8]

An Introduction to the New Testament, by D.A. Carson and Douglas J. Moo is now only 99 cents at Amazon.

I truly am embarrassed to tell you that I paid $7.99 for the ebook, in late 2014. At the time, though, I felt like that was a good price; I still do--the digital list price, at least now, is $30.99.

This is the second edition. I have a hunch that there may be a third edition in the works, and that's why Zondervan and/or Amazon are offering this ridiculously low price on the second edition.

Don't be put off to buying this edition, however, even if a third one is in the works. For one, I may be wrong about Zondervan's plans to bring out a third edition. Too, this book was authored by three of the most outstanding evangelical scholars of this generation--D.A. Carson, Douglas J. Moo, and Leon Morris. A third edition may not be up to the standards set by this one (Leon Morris won't be involved, for instance, as he has passed away). Thirdly, "Introductions" do not tend to go out of date as soon as books on such subjects as Biblical archaeology and Bible reference (such as dictionaries).

There are 784 pages to this edition.

"Introduction," as used for books such as this, in case you are not aware, is a technical term. The description at Amazon explains it well:
An Introduction to the New Testament focuses on "special introduction" that is historical questions dealing with authorship, date, sources, purpose, destination, and so forth. This approach stands in contrast to recent texts that concentrate more on literary form, rhetorical criticism, and historical parallels—topics the authors don’t minimize, but instead think are better given extended treatment in exegesis courses. By refocusing on the essentials, An Introduction to the New Testament ensures that the New Testament books will be accurately understood within historical settings. For each New Testament document, the authors also provide a substantial summary of that book’s content, discuss the book’s theological contribution to the overall canon, and give an account of current studies on that book, including recent literary and social-science approaches to interpretation.

I gotta go now. I've put down all of the basics, though, I think.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B000S1LWQM/

[Fluribus]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

I truly am embarrassed to tell you that I paid $7.99 for the ebook, in late 2014.

May your sins and lawless acts be remembered no more.

Fortress Press is having a spring ebook sale on more than 1,600 titles. Sale lasting to May 31. Site contains a link to a PDF listing of available titles and generic links to Amazon and B&N which do not actually take you to the books on sale.

Authors such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, N. T. Wright and a cavalcade of others are available.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by Fluribus

May your sins and lawless acts be remembered no more.

Fortress Press is having a spring ebook sale on more than 1,600 titles. Sale lasting to May 31. Site contains a link to a PDF listing of available titles and generic links to Amazon and B&N which do not actually take you to the books on sale.

Authors such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, N. T. Wright and a cavalcade of others are available.

Thanks.

May I add that not only are there a huge number of Fortress imprints on sale, the ones that I saw were for sale at huge discounts to list prices.

Gr8 find!

etes 'tjwe;tj

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by Fluribus

May your sins and lawless acts be remembered no more.

Fortress Press is having a spring ebook sale on more than 1,600 titles. Sale lasting to May 31. Site contains a link to a PDF listing of available titles and generic links to Amazon and B&N which do not actually take you to the books on sale.

Authors such as Dietrich Bonhoeffer, N. T. Wright and a cavalcade of others are available.

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Thanks.

May I add that not only are there a huge number of Fortress imprints on sale, the ones that I saw were for sale at huge discounts to list prices.

Gr8 find!

I started having a strong sense of deja vu just now.

I started preparing the list of ebooks that I wanted to buy from Fortress during this upcoming sale, but I kept seeing the same prices on the Kindle ebooks as Fortress has on their ebooks (in fact, at least one of them at Amazon was less expensive than the counterpart at Fortress!). Basically, Amazon has matched the prices on their digital books, just as Fortress has on theirs.

I recall now that Fortress Press had a sale like this a couple of years ago, and maybe another one since then. Amazon, participated, too, although I don't remember seeing it mentioned by Amazon then, just as I haven't seen it mentioned by them this time.

Here is a situation, however, where you can save money--big money--buying from Fortress vs Amazon during this sale. Many times Amazon does not have a digital version of a book, where Fortress does, and is in the list of digital books that Fluribus posted. They have a paperback only, or a hardback only, or a paperback and hardback only, but no digital version. In those cases, it will cost you much less, in most situations, to buy the ebook from Fortress, than to buy a dead-tree version from Amazon.

[Fluribus]

For those interested in Eastern Orthodoxy, Ancient Faith Ministries has a sale on the ebooks they publish. $5.25 each. I don't normally see these discounted at places like Amazon.

Sale is good through May 17. All books can be downloaded in mobi, epub, and pdf formats. The sale price will show once the book is added to the cart.

Their Ancient Faith Radio site is a good place to find many podcasts on Eastern Orthodoxy.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

I started having a strong sense of deja vu just now.

I started preparing the list of ebooks that I wanted to buy from Fortress during this upcoming sale, but I kept seeing the same prices on the Kindle ebooks as Fortress has on their ebooks (in fact, at least one of them at Amazon was less expensive than the counterpart at Fortress!). Basically, Amazon has matched the prices on their digital books, just as Fortress has on theirs.

I recall now that Fortress Press had a sale like this a couple of years ago, and maybe another one since then. Amazon, participated, too, although I don't remember seeing it mentioned by Amazon then, just as I haven't seen it mentioned by them this time.

Here is a situation, however, where you can save money--big money--buying from Fortress vs Amazon during this sale. Many times Amazon does not have a digital version of a book, where Fortress does, and is in the list of digital books that Fluribus posted. They have a paperback only, or a hardback only, or a paperback and hardback only, but no digital version. In those cases, it will cost you much less, in most situations, to buy the ebook from Fortress, than to buy a dead-tree version from Amazon.

Basically ignore my whole post above, please.

Reading further, I saw that Fortress is not selling, themselves, the books on the list that Fluribus was kind enough to link to. Ostensibly, you can buy the books at either Amazon or Barnes & Noble for the prices that Fortress put down on the list; in actuality, the prices on the list do not always match the prices at Amazon (I basically ignored B&N). My experience was that sometimes Amazon is higher--on one book they were significantly higher; however, they occasionally are lower, too, although only by a dollar or two.

I was right, in my post, above, about one minor thing. Fortress gives the prices of digital versions; sometimes Amazon, at least, does not have a digital version; in one case where I checked B&N, they didn't have a digital version, either. So, I guess we are out of luck in those situations, unless we want to pony up some big bucks for a dead-tree version, or can find a digital version elsewhere (Kobo, Google Play, wherever) that is following Fortress' sale prices.

I've already picked out 9 books that I want to purchase. All of them at Amazon, except for one, are the same prices as on Fortress' list. That particular book does not have an ebook version, only one or two paper-based versions. I'll probably check around at other vendors and see if they might be honoring Fortress' prices. Maybe I can get that tome that I want, that way, too.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by Fluribus

For those interested in Eastern Orthodoxy, Ancient Faith Ministries has a sale on the ebooks they publish. $5.25 each. I don't normally see these discounted at places like Amazon.

Sale is good through May 17. All books can be downloaded in mobi, epub, and pdf formats. The sale price will show once the book is added to the cart.

Their Ancient Faith Radio site is a good place to find many podcasts on Eastern Orthodoxy.

Drat!

I had forgotten about this sale, and almost missed the opportunity to look over it. Ancient Faith discounts their ebooks to begin with, so $5.25 is a discount on top of a discount. The books seem well-priced to me.

Although not very common, relatively speaking, in the U.S. 48 contiguous states, and Hawaii, worldwide there are a huge number of adherents of the Orthodox Church. They are especially common in the Eastern Hemisphere. Wikipedia states that "it is the second-largest Christian Church, with over 250 million members."

I never thought that I would say this, but there are almost too many sales going on right now. I can hardly keep up with them. But, that's one of what I call "good problems."

Belated thanks for the post, Fluribus.