FREE/BARGAIN — Non-Fiction

[GtrsRGr8]

Packt's daily free ebook today is Learning Robotics using Python.

Packt says that it is "one of their most popular robotics books."

Claim this freebie at https://www.packtpub.com/packt/offers/free-learning, but be sure that you get it done before tomorrow at 7 p.m. USA ET, when the choice changes over to something else.

https://www.packtpub.com/packt/offers/free-learning.

[GtrsRGr8]

Packt's free ebook of the day is Learning Robotics Using Python.

Packt states that this is "one of our most popular robotics books."

Claim your freebie at https://www.packtpub.com/packt/offers/free-learning, but be sure to do it before the selection changes over to a different free ebook at 7 p.m. USA ET.

[Little.Egret]

Hourly History shorts, free


Richard Nixon: A Life From Beginning to End

Rosa Parks: The Woman Who Ignited a Movement

See all


https://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search...Hourly+History

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?url=sear...Hourly+History

https://www.amazon.ca/s/?url=search-...Hourly+History

[GtrsRGr8]

Packt is giving away a copy of Learning Python Application Development.

This is one of their daily free ebook giveaways.

The free offer for this ebook ends at 7 p.m. U.S. ET tomorrow, Saturday, May 20.

https://www.packtpub.com/packt/offers/free-learning

[ATDrake]

Bargain @ $1.99 from HarperCollins for today only (May 20th) according to the newsletter, in Canada & US (should be the same price at all the usual retailers):

The Lost Landscape: A Writer's Coming of Age by National Book Award-winning author Joyce Carol Oates (Wikipedia), a memoir of her early life and formative literary experiences.

Written with the raw honesty and poignant insight that were the hallmarks of her acclaimed bestseller A Widow’s Story, an affecting and observant memoir of growing up from one of our finest and most beloved literary masters.

The Lost Landscape is Joyce Carol Oates’ vivid chronicle of her hardscrabble childhood in rural western New York State. From memories of her relatives, to those of a charming bond with a special red hen on her family farm; from her first friendships to her earliest experiences with death, The Lost Landscape is a powerful evocation of the romance of childhood, and its indelible influence on the woman and the writer she would become.

In this exceptionally candid, moving, and richly reflective account, Oates explores the world through the eyes of her younger self, an imaginative girl eager to tell stories about the world and the people she meets. While reading Alice in Wonderland changed a young Joyce forever and inspired her to view life as a series of endless adventures, growing up on a farm taught her harsh lessons about sacrifice, hard work, and loss. With searing detail and an acutely perceptive eye, Oates renders her memories and emotions with exquisite precision, transporting us to a forgotten place and time—the lost landscape of her youth, reminding us of the forgotten landscapes of our own earliest lives.

[GtrsRGr8]

I appreciate Packt's daily free ebook giveaway (look for another one after 7 p.m. ET U.S. today). I hope that there are peeps on MobileRead to whom those books are useful.

Anyway, I just learned that their direct competitor, O'Reilly Media has some 279 free ebooks on various computer and other (such as general business) topics. Do not adjust your set (anyone under about 55 years of age won't understand what I'm talking about. ha)--that's 279.

I've got to send you to a couple of different websites in order for you to see all of them: http://http://www.oreilly.com/free/reports.html and http://www.oreilly.com/programming/f...programming_ac.

Flash! I just ran across 20 more free books from O'Reilly, not directly related to computers, these being on the subject of design: http://www.oreilly.com/design/free/?...free_report_ac.

I think that I saw somewhere that these are in the PDF format. I don't know if any of them would be available in other formats or not. To be honest, I haven't downloaded any of them. None of the subjects are of interest to me, except for perhaps as a drug-free alternative to Sominex, on those nights when I just can't get to sleep . . . .

[GtrsRGr8]

Packt's free ebook of the day, which continues free until 7 p.m. ET U.S. tomorrow, is Practical Machine Learning.

Head to this webpage in order to get the ebook.

If you don't have an account with Packt, I think that you will have to register first. However, once you've registered, you do not have to log in when you visit the webpage (why can't all ebook vendors do this? It probably helps that the folks at Packt are experts at coding . . . .).

Packt maintains a library, at their website, of the books that you have purchased from them. You might wish to visit the thread, "If You Had a Library with WTS Books, It's GONE Now!" in the E-Book General forum, and other relevant threads, in that forum and others, to read about the importance of downloading and backing up ebooks located on the ebook companies' websites.

[LJJohnson]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Anyway, I just learned that their direct competitor, O'Reilly Media has some 279 free ebooks on various computer and other (such as general business) topics. Do not adjust your set (anyone under about 55 years of age won't understand what I'm talking about. ha)--that's 279.

Good reminder. I have gone to their site many times, but probably not in the last year. I was able to find 12 of their Design books for free, and design can be fun, even if you don't actually build the thing (physically or virtually) at the end.

I got 12 of their books, 5 in *.PDF and 7 as *.epub, so it looks like a mixed bag for file types. I hate PDF-only book availability less for technical or photo books, and with some book contest, may actually turn out better in PDF.

[bfisher]

On sale today at Amazon.ca

Mozart's Starling by Lyanda Lynn Haupt for $CDN 2.99
https://www.amazon.ca/Mozarts-Starli.../dp/B01LL8BU7Q
The Amazon blurb:
"On May 27th, 1784, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart met a flirtatious little starling in a Viennese shop who sang an improvised version of the theme from his Piano Concerto no. 17 in G major. Sensing a kindred spirit in the plucky young bird, Mozart bought him and took him home to be a family pet. For three years, the starling lived with Mozart, influencing his work and serving as his companion, distraction, consolation, and muse.

Two centuries later, starlings are reviled by even the most compassionate conservationists. A nonnative, invasive species, they invade sensitive habitats, outcompete local birds for nest sites and food, and decimate crops. A seasoned birder and naturalist, Lyanda Lynn Haupt is well versed in the difficult and often strained relationships these birds have with other species and the environment. But after rescuing a baby starling of her own, Haupt found herself enchanted by the same intelligence and playful spirit that had so charmed her favorite composer.

In Mozart's Starling, Haupt explores the unlikely and remarkable bond between one of history's most cherished composers and one of earth's most common birds. The intertwined stories of Mozart's beloved pet and Haupt's own starling provide an unexpected window into human-animal friendships, music, the secret world of starlings, and the nature of creative inspiration. A blend of natural history, biography, and memoir, Mozart's Starling is a tour de force that awakens a surprising new awareness of our place in the world."

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by LJJohnson

Good reminder. I have gone to their site many times, but probably not in the last year. I was able to find 12 of their Design books for free, and design can be fun, even if you don't actually build the thing (physically or virtually) at the end.

I got 12 of their books, 5 in *.PDF and 7 as *.epub, so it looks like a mixed bag for file types. I hate PDF-only book availability less for technical or photo books, and with some book contest, may actually turn out better in PDF.

Thanks for letting me know of their usefulness to you!

[Little.Egret]

Charles River Editors, free

The Hermitage Museum: The History and Legacy of Russia's Famous Art and Culture Icon

Delphi: The History of the Ancient Greek Sanctuary and Home to the World's Most Famous Oracle


See all

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]

Hourly History shorts, Free

Latest

Queen Elizabeth I: A Life From Beginning to End


https://www.amazon.com/s/?url=search...Hourly+History

https://www.amazon.co.uk/s/?url=sear...Hourly+History

https://www.amazon.ca/s/?url=search-...Hourly+History

[Little.Egret]

Charles River Editors, free

The New Kingdom of Ancient Egypt: The History and Legacy of the Egyptian Empire at the Peak of Its Power

Still free

Ares: The Origins and History of the Greek God of War

Delphi: The History of the Ancient Greek Sanctuary and Home to the World's Most Famous Oracle

The Hermitage Museum: The History and Legacy of Russia's Famous Art and Culture Icon


See all

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

[ATDrake]

Bargain @ $1.99-$2.99 for history/memoir/biography from assorted imprints in Canada & presumably also the US (prices should be the same at most retailers):

@ $1.99 each from Open Road Media (couponable/VIP-eligible @ Kobo):

• Alive: The Story of the Andes Survivors by Piers Paul Reed, the basis of the film (Wikipedia) about the 1972 Uruguayan airplane crash (Wikipedia) where the survivors were forced to cannibalize the dead in order to stay alive long enough for rescue.
• Jack and Rochelle: A Holocaust Story of Love and Resistance by Jack & Rochelle Sutin, edited by their son, author and former professor Lawrence Sutin (Wikipedia), a memoir of the wartime experiences of a pair of Polish youths who joined the Jewish resistance.

@ $1.99 from non-couponable publishers including Crown/Archetype, HarperCollins (tend to rotate at the end of the week, so possibly only good through tomorrow and maybe Monday), Penguin Books, etc.:

• The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut's Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt by Kara Cooney (Wikipedia) an Egyptologist and associate professor at UCLA, who also hosts Discovery Channel programs and publishes her academic work as Kathlyn M. Cooney; her biography of Ancient Egypt's famous female pharoah.
• The Unconquered: In Search of the Amazon's Last Uncontacted Tribes by photojournalist Scott Wallace (Wikipedia), a contributor to National Geographic, a memoir of one of his assignments for them as part of a team on the quest of the story behind the tribe of the “People of the Arrow”.
• The Skies Belong to Us: Love and Terror in the Golden Age of Hijacking by Brendan I. Koerner, the true crime story of the 1970s airplane hijacking of Western Airlines Flight 701 (Wikipedia).
• Can't Buy Me Love: The Beatles, Britain, and America by Jonathan Gould, a joint group biography & cultural history. There's also a WhisperSync tie-in deal on the Amazon version of this, mentioned by GtrsRGr8 in this post in the Audiobooks thread.
• Monty Python Speaks: The Complete Oral History of Monty Python, as Told by the Founding Members and a Few of Their Many Friends and Collaborators by David Morgan, an official history by the founders of the classic British comedy, with rare photos and interviews with friends and colleagues.
• The Underground Is Massive: How Electronic Dance Music Conquered America by music journalist Michaelangelo Matos, a history of how the music style gradually rose to become a hit, full of photos and interviews, etc.
• My First Five Husbands...And the Ones Who Got Away, a memoir by the late actress Rue McClanahan (Wikipedia), co-star on the 1980s hit sitcom The Golden Girls.
• Escape from Camp 14: One Man's Remarkable Odyssey from North Korea to Freedom in the West by journalist Blaine Harden (Wikipedia), the official biography of North Korean defector and human rights activist Shin Dong-hyuk (Wikipedia).
• The Girl with Seven Names: A North Korean Defector’s Story, a memoir by student activist Hyeonseo Lee (Wikipedia)
• On Wings of Eagles: The Inspiring True Story of One Man's Patriotic Spirit--and His Heroic Mission to Save His Countrymen by bestselling historical & thriller novelist Ken Follett (Wikipedia), apparently a straight non-fiction work (not novelized or dramatized, according to the author's word in the Wikipedia entry), about the rescue of several of former U.S. presidential candidate Ross Perot's employees during the 1970s Iranian hostage crisis.
• Call the Midwife: A Memoir of Birth, Joy, and Hard Times by the late Jennifer Worth (Wikipedia), a memoir of her nursing days in 1950s in Britain, and basis of the hit BBC drama series.
• Down the Rabbit Hole: Curious Adventures and Cautionary Tales of a Former Playboy Bunny & The Vegas Diaries: Romance, Rolling the Dice, and the Road to Reinvention by model & television personality Holly Madison (Wikipedia), two memoirs of her early years and her experiences before, during, and after the Playboy Mansion.

@ $2.99 from HarperCollins:

Blitzkrieg: From the Rise of Hitler to the Fall of Dunkirk by master spy novelist and former RAF pilot Len Deighton (Wikipedia), a non-fiction account of Exactly What It Says In The Title. This is a pretty nice edition, with a new (circa 2014) retrospective foreword by the author, and also a foreword by the book designer about creating a unified cover design for the reprints of Deighton's assorted non-fiction titles, if you're into that sort of thing.

[Avice]

A Queer History of the United States by Michael Bronski — $2.99 at US Kindle and Kobo
https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004NNUYCO
https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/a-q...-united-states