FREE/BARGAIN - Non-Fiction - 2016

[Difflugia]

This month's free English ebook from Aarhus University Press is Making and Breaking the Gods: Christian Responses to Pagan Sculpture in Late Antiquity by Troels Myrup Kristensen. It's a DRM-free PDF.

The book demonstrates how Christian responses to pagan sculpture rhetorically continued an old tradition of discussing visual practices and the materiality of divine representations. Focusing in particular on the Egypt and the Near East, it furthermore argues that Christian responses encompass much more than mindless violence and need to be contextualised against other social and political developments, as well as local traditions of representation.

The free Danish ebook is Kunst & religion: fra Byzans til Per Kirkeby by Hans Jørgen Frederiksen. I don't know any Danish, but that looks German enough for me to say that it means "Art & Religion". It's also a DRM-free PDF.

I Kunst og religion fra Byzans til Per Kirkeby nyfortolker lektor i kunsthistorie Hans Jørgen Frederiksen billedets historie fra de byzantinske ikoner til det 20. århundredes avantgarde og billedsammenbrud. Mens han med den ene hånd udfolder et filosofisk billedsyn med inddragelse af bl.a. Biblen, Luther, Heidegger og Greenberg, leverer han med den anden detaljerede analyser af næsten 100 velkendte kunstværker - og fejer med overraskende fortolkninger vanetænkning om god og dårlig kunst af bordet.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by Difflugia

This month's free English ebook from Aarhus University Press is Making and Breaking the Gods: Christian Responses to Pagan Sculpture in Late Antiquity by Troels Myrup Kristensen. It's a DRM-free PDF.
<snip>

Great find. Thanks.

Amazon sells it. Your find is valuable--the lowest price for it there is $41.99 (used--"Like New"). There apparently isn't a digital version available there.

[bfisher]

On sale at Amazon Canada for $CDN 3.99 (list $CDN 27.89)

Mastering the West: Rome and Carthage at War by Dexter Hoyos

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00QKBZ7Z6

[bfisher]

On sale at Amazon Canada for $CDN 3.82

Clausewitz: His Life and Work by Donald Stoker

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00MGW37DM

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by bfisher

On sale at Amazon Canada for $CDN 3.99 (list $CDN 27.89)

Mastering the West: Rome and Carthage at War by Dexter Hoyos

http://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B00QKBZ7Z6

Great find.

For us Yanks,http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00QKBZ7Z6 is a direct link to get you to the Amazon U.S. product page.

Ratings . . . . 4.4 stars (10 reviews) at Amazon; 3.44 (9 ratings) at GoodReads. Not many to go on. But the book is published by Oxford University Press, that's a sign of quality in my mind.

[Fluribus]

The book on Clausewitz is also available for $3.82 at the US site.

[GtrsRGr8]

This behemoth comes courtesy of author Reisman's website, Capitalism.net.

Title: Capitalism: A Treatise on Economics.
Format: Pdf.
Author(s): George Reisman.
Publisher: TJS Books.
Pages: 1046+.
Ebook Rating/Number of Reviews (Amazon): 4.6 (56).
Price: $0.00.
Lowest Price at Amazon if available there: $9.99 (Kindle mobi).
Book Description (Amazon):
Aimed at both the intelligent layman and the professional economist, this book is the most comprehensive and intellectually powerful explanation of the nature and value of laissez-faire capitalism that has ever been written. It represents a twofold major integration of truths previously discovered by other writers, combined with numerous original contributions made by the author himself. Within economic theory, it integrates leading ideas of the Austrian school with needlessly abandoned doctrines of the British classical school. It further integrates such reconstituted economic theory with essential elements of Ayn Rand's philosophy of Objectivism.

On the foundation of these integrations, Dr. Reisman is able to develop the numerous major original contributions that the book presents on the subjects of profits, wages, saving, capital accumulation, aggregate economic accounting, monopoly, and natural resources, among other vital subjects. Based on the same foundation, the book presents the most powerful critiques of Marx, Keynes, the pure-and-perfect competition doctrine, and environmentalism to be found anywhere.

A leading part of its trenchant economic analysis is a consistent demonstration of the natural harmony of the rational self-interests of all men under capitalism--of businessmen and wage earners, of consumers and producers, of men of all races and nationalities, including immigrants and the native born, and of competitors of all levels of ability--consonances most will find astonishing, given the prevailing misunderstandings of capitalism.

The book's importance and appeal to a general audience are evident in its description of prevailing attitudes toward capitalism and its challenge to learn why they are all completely wrong and the cause of self-destructive political behavior on a massive scale. For those with the intellectual courage to accept a challenge of having many of their firmest and most cherished beliefs reduced by unanswerable logic to the status of Dark-Age superstitions, here are some of the beliefs that Reisman's book demolishes: The profit motive is the cause of starvation wages, exhausting hours, sweatshops, and child labor; of monopolies, inflation, depressions, wars, imperialism, and racism. Saving is hoarding. Competition is the law of the jungle. Economic inequality is unjust and the legitimate basis for class warfare. Economic progress is a ravaging of the planet and, in the form of improvements in efficiency, a cause of unemployment and depressions. War and destruction or additional peacetime government spending are necessary to prevent unemployment under capitalism. Economic activity other than manual labor is parasitical. Businessmen and capitalists are recipients of "unearned income" and are "exploiters." The stock and commodity markets are "gambling casinos"; retailers and wholesalers are "middlemen," having no function but that of adding "markups" to the prices charged by farmers and manufacturers; advertisers are inherently guilty of fraud--the fraud of attempting to induce people to desire the goods that capitalism showers on them, but that they allegedly have no natural or legitimate basis for desiring.

Reisman's book flies in the face of all such anticapitalistic ideas and demands. Its thesis is that never have so many people been so ignorant and confused about a subject so important, as most people now are about economics and capitalism. It argues that in its logically consistent form of laissez-faire capitalism--that is, with the powers of government limited to those of national defense and the administration of justice--capitalism is a system of economic progress and prosperity for all, and is a precondition of world peace. Following an exhaustive economic analysis of virtually every aspect of capitalism, the book's concluding chapter is devoted to the presentation of a long-range political-economic program for the achievement of a fully capitalist society.
Comments:
URL: http://www.capitalism.net/Capitalism...M_Internet.pdf (direct).

[GtrsRGr8]

Title: The Enlightenment and Religion: The Myths of Modernity.
Format: Pdf.
Author(s): S.J. Barnett.
Publisher: Manchester University Press.
Pages: 244.
Ebook Rating/Number of Reviews (Amazon): 4.0 (1) at Amazon; 3.75 (4) at GoodReads.
Price: $0.00.
Lowest Price at Amazon if available there: $10.91 (used--"good").
Book Description (Amazon):
This title offers a critical survey of religious change and its causes in eighteenth-century Europe, and constitutes a radical challenge to the accepted views in traditional Enlightenment studies. Focusing on Enlightenment Italy, France and England, it illustrates how the canonical view of eighteenth-century religious change has in reality been constructed upon scant evidence and assumption, in particular the idea that the thought of the enlightened led to modernity. For despite a lack of evidence, one of the fundamental assumptions of Enlightenment studies has been the assertion that there was a vibrant Deist movement that formed the "intellectual solvent" of the eighteenth century. The central claim of this book is that the immense ideological appeal of the traditional birth-of-modernity myth has meant that the actual lack of Deists has been glossed over, and a quite misleading historical view has become entrenched.
Comments: Free through Creative Commons license. Read more about it here.
URL: http://oapen.org/download?type=document&docid=341381 (direct).

[GtrsRGr8]

This book is an anthology of articles from the business magazine strategy+business (an awesome business magazine, in my opinion, by the way).

To get the free pdf, you'll need to answer a few questions first, at the URL given below.

Title: Reinventing Service: New Approaches to Meet New Demands.
Format: Pdf.
Author(s): Amy Bernstein; Booz & Co.
Publisher: Booz & Co. (formerly Booz Allen & Hamilton).
Pages: 189 (physical book).
Ebook Rating/Number of Reviews (Amazon): Not rated at Amazon or GoodReads.
Price: $0.00.
Lowest Price at Amazon if available there: $48.00 (physical--"new").
Book Description (Amazon):
It’s generally held that to succeed, a company must serve its customers. But that simple ambition can quickly become complex and costly in today’s environment, where consumers expect the highest quality service, tailored to their needs, delivered immediately. In this anthology, we explore the major forces shaping the execution and quality of effective service operations. We offer insight into the key challenges facing service businesses, including how to build a service strategy to support your growth objectives, satisfy customers efficiently and effectively, and manage complexity.
Comments:
URL: http://www.strategy-business.com/svcreader/svcreader-su.

[Dngrsone]

The Hittites: The Lost Empire of the Ancient World for $0.99 at Amazon, for those who are interested. It says 59 pages, so I can't see how it can be as comprehensive as the blurb claims, but then, maybe that's all we actually know...

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by Dngrsone

The Hittites: The Lost Empire of the Ancient World for $0.99 at Amazon, for those who are interested. It says 59 pages, so I can't see how it can be as comprehensive as the blurb claims, but then, maybe that's all we actually know...

Ha! Yeah, I concur with you. In fact, I would say that it can't possibly be comprehensive.

Reminds me of the plethora of ebooks, almost all of them self-published, which trumpet that they are the "ultimate" guide to this-or-that, but obviously aren't. Not by a wild stretch of the imagination. One that I saw yesterday (I've forgotten what the subject was) had only 25 pages or so!

Concerning the Hittites . . . . we don't know as much about them as most other major ancient Western civilizations and empires. For one thing, they were discovered/rediscovered late compared to the others. They had just about been forgotten before their capital in modern-day Turkey was discovered and excavations began fairly recently (recently by the standards that such things are reckoned).

Maybe something that you or someone else will find interesting . . . . "Hittites" are mentioned numerous times in the Old Testament. I once read that Biblical skeptics years ago denied the inspiration of the Bible because of references to this nation/group of people. They said that they never existed (I suppose because of the fact that external evidence of them (see the paragraph above) had not been found). But, there is a question about whether or not the "Hittites" of the Bible were the same as the other Hittites.

Thanks for your post.

[GtrsRGr8]

I haven't "bought" this ebook, but I'm sure that you'll have to set up an account with the retailer offering the freebie, Oxbow Books. There appears to be no direct link to the ebook.

Title: The Invisible Diggers: A Study of British Commercial Archaeology.
Format: EPub, pdf.
Author(s): Paul Everill
Publisher: Heritage Publications.
Pages: 227 (physical book).
Ebook Rating/Number of Reviews (Amazon): No ratings at Amazon or GoodReads.
Price: $0.00.
Lowest Price at Amazon if available there: $13.66 (Used--"Very Good").
Book Description (Amazon):
Since the increasing reliance on developers to fund archaeological work through the 1980s, and the implementation of Planning Policy Guidance Note 16 (PPG16) in 1990, British 'commercial' archaeologists have become increasingly distanced from their academic colleagues. This monograph examines the situation within contemporary 'commercial' archaeology and considers the challenges faced by those employed within that sector, including the impact of commercial working practices on pay and conditions of employment and the process of excavation and knowledge production. This monograph provides a fascinating insight into the working environment of commercial archaeologists and demonstrates how camaraderie and love of their job is often just enough to outweigh the adversity they face in the form of low wages, poor employment conditions and career prospects.
Comments: This is Volume 1 of the "HMP Research Series."
URLs: EPub: http://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/eboo...e-diggers.html
Pdf: http://www.oxbowbooks.com/oxbow/eboo...ers-39377.html (product pages, not direct links).

[GtrsRGr8]

I have mentioned before, in one or more posts, that the National Academies Press (NAP) offers a large number of their books free. These books are all digital, and all in the pdf format I think. But I don't think that it would hurt for me to mention particular free ebooks from time to time. This is one of them.

I am putting my 2 cents' worth, about the premise and conclusions of this book, at the end of this post.*

Title: Science, Evolution, and Creationism.
Format: Pdf.
Author(s): National Academy of Sciences, Institute of Medicine.
Publisher: National Academies Press.
Pages: 88
Ebook Rating/Number of Reviews (Amazon): 3.9/42 (see "comments").
Price: $0.00.
Lowest Price at Amazon if available there: $7.99.
Book Description (Amazon):
How did life evolve on Earth? The answer to this question can help us understand our past and prepare for our future. Although evolution provides credible and reliable answers, polls show that many people turn away from science, seeking other explanations with which they are more comfortable.

In the book Science, Evolution, and Creationism, a group of experts assembled by the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine explain the fundamental methods of science, document the overwhelming evidence in support of biological evolution, and evaluate the alternative perspectives offered by advocates of various kinds of creationism, including "intelligent design." The book explores the many fascinating inquiries being pursued that put the science of evolution to work in preventing and treating human disease, developing new agricultural products, and fostering industrial innovations. The book also presents the scientific and legal reasons for not teaching creationist ideas in public school science classes.

Mindful of school board battles and recent court decisions, Science, Evolution, and Creationism shows that science and religion should be viewed as different ways of understanding the world rather than as frameworks that are in conflict with each other and that the evidence for evolution can be fully compatible with religious faith. For educators, students, teachers, community leaders, legislators, policy makers, and parents who seek to understand the basis of evolutionary science, this publication will be an essential resource.
Comments: The rating for this book is not very high, relatively speaking. There are a disproportionate number of 1-star ratings. Please look over or read the corresponding customer reviews for these.
URL: http://www.nap.edu/catalog/11876/science-evolution-and-creationism.

* The theme of this book is very controversial and is the subject of many heated debates. Coming from the NAP as it does, it is no mystery what position that this book takes on the subject.

Gtrs believes in posting books on this website and this forum which take positions that he even does not agree with. He believes that in people who are open-minded and who study the evidence enough the truth will always win out. People who are seeking the truth can read and consider arguments from books like this that they may not have thought of. So, books like this present one can help people arrive at the truth.

Gtrs has a very strong conviction about the subject matter of this book. However, with very few exceptions he has refrained from expressing his opinion on books that he or others have posted. He will not express his opinion now.

[GtrsRGr8]

Here are a couple of Charles River Editors titles, newly free.

Is it just me or have Charles River Editor freebies become fewer and farther-between lately?

The CSS Hunley: The History and Mystery of the Civil War's Most Famous Submarine.

Big Ben and the Elizabeth Tower: The History of the Famous English Landmark.

[Cinisajoy]

You are correct.