FREE/BARGAIN — Non-Fiction

[AnemicOak]

Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization by Richard Miles -- $1.99
Amazon US | Kobo | Google | B&N | BAM | eBooks.com | Christian Book | Amazon CA

Drawing on a wealth of new research, archaeologist, historian, and master storyteller Richard Miles resurrects the civilization that ancient Rome struggled so mightily to expunge. This monumental work charts the entirety of Carthage's history, from its origins among the Phoenician settlements of Lebanon to its apotheosis as a Mediterranean empire whose epic land-and-sea clash with Rome made a legend of Hannibal and shaped the course of Western history. Carthage Must Be Destroyed reintroduces readers to the ancient glory of a lost people and their generations-long struggle against an implacable enemy.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by MickeyC

Warped Passages
Unraveling the Mysteries of the Universe's Hidden Dimensions

by Lisa Randall

Available for $2.99 from Amazon, Kobo and Apple Books


Synopsis

The universe has many secrets. It may hide additional dimensions of space other than the familier three we recognize. There might even be another universe adjacent to ours, invisible and unattainable . . . for now.
Warped Passages is a brilliantly readable and altogether exhilarating journey that tracks the arc of discovery from early twentieth-century physics to the razor's edge of modern scientific theory. One of the world's leading theoretical physicists, Lisa Randall provides astonishing scientific possibilities that, until recently, were restricted to the realm of science fiction. Unraveling the twisted threads of the most current debates on relativity, quantum mechanics, and gravity, she explores some of the most fundamental questions posed by Nature—taking us into the warped, hidden dimensions underpinning the universe we live in, demystifying the science of the myriad worlds that may exist just beyond our own.

At Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Warped-Passag...dp/B002TS77Y8/.

Good ratings at both Amazon and GoodReads.

Huge book--512 pages.

This is one book that I'd love to have as an audiobook. One is available, but there is no Whispersync deal to help soften the blow of the cost of the audio.

I encourage anyone buying this book to read it at warp speed (yes, pun intended). It looks like it was published in 2009--ten years ago. Information in cosmology changes so very fast . . . .

Thanks for the post!

[bfisher]

Originally Posted by AnemicOak

Carthage Must Be Destroyed: The Rise and Fall of an Ancient Civilization by Richard Miles -- $1.99
Amazon US | Kobo | Google | B&N | BAM | eBooks.com | Christian Book | Amazon CA

Thanks. This looks very promising; there are many positive reviews on Goodreads.
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...t-be-destroyed

I've read Nigel Bagnall's The Punic Wars, which was excellent, but it doesn't get into the rise of Carthage. I have good hopes for this book.

[sufue]

The First World War: A Complete History by Martin Gilbert is a US Kindle Daily Deal at $1.99, not matched, at least so far, at Kobo US. This gets fairly decent reviews - 4.2 stars on more than 200 reviews.

link: https://www.amazon.com/First-World-W...dp/B07H18BPHC/

Spoiler:

“A stunning achievement of research and storytelling” that weaves together all the major fronts of the Great War (Publishers Weekly).

It was to be the war to end all wars, and it began at 11:15 on the morning of June 28, 1914, in an outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire called Sarajevo. It would end officially almost five years later. Unofficially, it has never ended: the horrors we live with today were born in the First World War.

The Great War left millions of civilians and soldiers maimed or dead. It also left behind new technologies of death: tanks, planes, and submarines; reliable rapid-fire machine guns and field artillery; poison gas and chemical warfare. It introduced U-boat packs and strategic bombing, unrestricted war on civilians and mistreatment of prisoners. Most of all, the war changed our world.

In its wake, empires toppled, monarchies fell, whole populations lost their national identities as political systems and geographic boundaries were realigned. Instabilities were institutionalized, enmities enshrined. And the social order shifted seismically. Manners, mores, codes of behavior; literature and the arts; education and class distinctions-all underwent a vast sea change. And in all these ways, the twentieth century can be said to have been born on the morning of June 28, 1914.

“One of the first books that anyone should read in beginning to try to understand this war and this century.” —The New York Times Book Review

[Fluribus]

Amazon.com will sell you a Nobel Prize ... winning author's book for $2.99. Svetlana Alexievich - Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets. An oral history of the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of Russia.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by Fluribus

Amazon.com will sell you a Nobel Prize ... winning author's book for $2.99. Svetlana Alexievich - Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets. An oral history of the fall of the Soviet Union and the rise of Russia.

You can get an actual Nobel Prize medal, too. I bought one (the seller had several) just the other day, at the flea market across town. And I only paid $50 for it!

Funny thing, though, the gold metal coating is starting to wear off already! They don't make those medals as well as I thought.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by sufue

The First World War: A Complete History by Martin Gilbert is a US Kindle Daily Deal at $1.99, not matched, at least so far, at Kobo US. This gets fairly decent reviews - 4.2 stars on more than 200 reviews.

link: https://www.amazon.com/First-World-W...dp/B07H18BPHC/

Terrible, terrible war. Called the "war to end all wars," and "The Great War," in part because people couldn't imagine a war ever happening again that could be worse than that one . . . .

It seemed like just a short time ago that there was a commemoration of the beginning of World War I. Now there is a commemoration of the end of it. I bet that it didn't seem like a short time for the few who participated in it from beginning to end.


Storm of Steel: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition), by Ernst Junger. Neil Gower, illustrator.

This is another book about World War I, that's currently marked down to only $1.99, also.

Very highly rated, lots of pages.

Description
The memoir widely viewed as the best account ever written of fighting in WW1

A memoir of astonishing power, savagery, and ashen lyricism, Storm of Steel illuminates not only the horrors but also the fascination of total war, seen through the eyes of an ordinary German soldier. Young, tough, patriotic, but also disturbingly self-aware, Jünger exulted in the Great War, which he saw not just as a great national conflict but—more importantly—as a unique personal struggle. Leading raiding parties, defending trenches against murderous British incursions, simply enduring as shells tore his comrades apart, Jünger kept testing himself, braced for the death that will mark his failure. Published shortly after the war’s end, Storm of Steel was a worldwide bestseller and can now be rediscovered through Michael Hofmann’s brilliant new translation.


This is the Penguin Classics, Deluxe edition, published in 2016. The book was written shortly after the War ended, so the original book (and translation) is in the public domain. I read parts of what I think was the original translated edition, on the Internet Archive, and the translation seemed fine to me. Penguin may have a slightly better translation (or not), maybe some helpful annotations, whatever. But if you want to save $2, you might just want to download one of the editions available at the Internet Archive.

This webpage at the Internet Archive looks as good as any, as a source for the books..

[GtrsRGr8]

You can read and download, free, 9,526 high-quality ebooks. Most of the books are the in the STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics ) subjects (i.e. the "hard" sciences).

These are high-quality books, published, at least for the most part it seems, by the National Academies of Science (nap.edu).

The free books from NAP are all, as far as I can tell, in the PDF format. Note that NAP also sells most, at least, of same titles, in both dead-tree (hardcopy) form, and in non-PDF ebook formats.

The free ebooks are comprised of titles 1) released in the last 30 days, 2) titles that are probably comparable to "backlist" titles of traditional publishers, and 3) a very interesting grouping that the NAP calls "archive" titles.

I, and probably others, have posted information in the past about the freebies available from NAP. However, some of us may have forgotten about them; too, there are no doubt quite a number of people who have signed up for MobileRead since the last time that this treasure-trove was mentioned.

The NAP website is better explored, than being something for someone to tell you about, in my opinion. So, I'll leave the information with you . . . .

[bfisher]

American Caesar : Douglas MacArthur 1880 - 1964 by William Manchester is on sale this month at amazon.ca for $CDN 1.99
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B000SEP9OK

The Goodreads page:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...merican_Caesar

[AnemicOak]

Originally Posted by bfisher

American Caesar : Douglas MacArthur 1880 - 1964 by William Manchester is on sale this month at amazon.ca for $CDN 1.99
https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B000SEP9OK

The Goodreads page:
https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/...merican_Caesar

Also on sale again in the US...

Amazon | Kobo | Google | B&N | BAM | eBooks.com

[AnemicOak]

A good one, on sale again...


An Army at Dawn: The War in North Africa, 1942-1943 by Rick Atkinson -- $2.99
Volume One of the Liberation Trilogy

Amazon | Kobo | Google | B&N | eBooks.com | Amazon CA | Also at Amazon UK for £3.99

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE AND NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER

In the first volume of his monumental trilogy about the liberation of Europe in WW II, Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Atkinson tells the riveting story of the war in North Africa

The liberation of Europe and the destruction of the Third Reich is a story of courage and enduring triumph, of calamity and miscalculation. In this first volume of the Liberation Trilogy, Rick Atkinson shows why no modern reader can understand the ultimate victory of the Allied powers without a grasp of the great drama that unfolded in North Africa in 1942 and 1943. That first year of the Allied war was a pivotal point in American history, the moment when the United States began to act like a great power.

Beginning with the daring amphibious invasion in November 1942, An Army at Dawn follows the American and British armies as they fight the French in Morocco and Algeria, and then take on the Germans and Italians in Tunisia. Battle by battle, an inexperienced and sometimes poorly led army gradually becomes a superb fighting force. Central to the tale are the extraordinary but fallible commanders who come to dominate the battlefield: Eisenhower, Patton, Bradley, Montgomery, and Rommel.

Brilliantly researched, rich with new material and vivid insights, Atkinson's narrative provides the definitive history of the war in North Africa.

[AlanE]

Whilst doing my weekly check of the price of the forthcoming title Gulls (still showing as £39.99!) in the Collins New Naturalist series, I realised that many of the titles in the series have been reduced in price.

Many titles are now £5.49 (e.g. Fungi, Lichens, Moths), £6.49 (e.g. Plant Galls, Dragonflies, Bird Migration), or £6.99 (e.g. Bats, Northumberland, The New Forest) rather than the usual £19.99. This applies to both Amazon UK and Kobo UK. I don't imagine these reduced prices will last for long.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by AlanE

Whilst doing my weekly check of the price of the forthcoming title Gulls (still showing as £39.99!) in the Collins New Naturalist series, I realised that many of the titles in the series have been reduced in price.

Many titles are now £5.49 (e.g. Fungi, Lichens, Moths), £6.49 (e.g. Plant Galls, Dragonflies, Bird Migration), or £6.99 (e.g. Bats, Northumberland, The New Forest) rather than the usual £19.99. This applies to both Amazon UK and Kobo UK. I don't imagine these reduced prices will last for long.

I think that I would like all of the books, if the illustrations are good. Animals and plants indigenous to here across the Pond (the _North_ American part) have started to get boring to me. The possible problem is, of course, that we in the U.S. cannot purchase those books--I'll check as soon as I can get off of this smartphone, and get on a real computer.

[sufue]

Marcus Agrippa: Right-hand Man of Caesar Augustus is a biography of...you can probably guess ...by Lindsay Powell, published by UK specialty publisher Pen & Sword. It has recommendations by profs at some pretty respected universities: University of Texas, Cornell, and University of Buckingham. It has dropped to $1.30 as part of today's US Kindle Daily Deal. My son loves Roman history, and although not quite as enthusiastic as he is, I like it too. And it's nice sometimes to read about the really important, but not-quite-headliners, of history. So, I'm probably going to bite on this one.

I did scan through the first couple handfuls of reviews of the Kindle edition, looking for comments about the maps/figures issues that have been mentioned for some other Pen & Sword books, but didn't see any. Doesn't mean they aren't a problem - just that the reviews I looked at don't mention them. And in the sample there is a family tree figure that looks okay too - not great, but definitely okay.

Anyway...

link: https://www.amazon.com/Marcus-Agripp.../dp/B00TOXQLDY

Spoiler:

Marcus Agrippa personified the term 'right-hand man'. As Emperor Augustus' deputy, he waged wars, pacified provinces, beautified Rome, and played a crucial role in laying the foundations of the Pax Romana for the next two hundred years – but he served always in the knowledge he would never rule in his own name. Why he did so, and never grasped power exclusively for himself, has perplexed historians for centuries.

In his teens he formed a life-long friendship with Julius Caesar's great nephew, Caius Octavius, which would change world history. Following Caesar's assassination on the Ides of March 44 BC, Agrippa was instrumental in asserting his friend's rights as the dictator's heir. He established a reputation as a bold admiral, defeating Sextus Pompeius at Mylae and Naulochus (36 BC), culminating in the epoch-making Battle of Actium (31 BC), which eliminated Marcus Antonius and Queen Cleopatra as rivals. He proved his genius for military command on land by ending bloody rebellions in the Cimmerian Bosporus, Gaul, Hispania and Illyricum.

In Gaul Agrippa established the vital road network that helped turn Julius Caesar's conquests into viable provinces. As a diplomat, he befriended Herod the Great of Judaea and stabilised the East. As minister of works he overhauled Rome's drains and aqueducts, transformed public bathing in the city, created public parks with great artworks and built the original Pantheon.

Agrippa became co-ruler of the Roman Empire with Augustus and married his daughter Julia. His three sons were adopted by his friend as potential heirs to the throne. Agrippa's unexpected death in 12 BC left Augustus bereft, but his bloodline lived on in the imperial family, through Agrippina the Elder to his grandson Caligula and great grandson Nero.

MARCUS AGRIPPA is lucidly written by the author of the acclaimed biographies Eager for Glory and Germanicus. Illustrated with colour plates, figures and high quality maps, Lindsay Powell presents a penetrating new assessment of the life and achievements of the multifaceted man who put service to friend and country before himself.

“A gripping, thoroughly researched and hugely impressive biography of a key player in the transition from the Roman Republic to Augustus's Empire'.
– Saul David, University of Buckingham, author of WAR: From Ancient Egypt to Iraq.

“Augustus' ascent and reign are unthinkable without Marcus Agrippa. Surprisingly, there has been no biography of Agrippa in English for some eighty years. Powell's book admirably fills this gap and will be indispensable for anyone with a serious interest in this crucial historical period.”
– Karl Galinsky, University of Texas at Austin, author of Augustus: Introduction to the Life of an Emperor.

“Marcus Agrippa was one of history's most intriguing right-hand men. Few played a greater role in the emperor Augustus' success. In vigorous prose, and with a fingertip feel for Roman politics and war, Lindsay Powell brings Agrippa to life.”
– Barry Strauss, Cornell University, author of Masters of Command: Alexander, Hannibal, Caesar and the Genius of Leadership.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by AlanE

Whilst doing my weekly check of the price of the forthcoming title Gulls (still showing as £39.99!) in the Collins New Naturalist series, I realised that many of the titles in the series have been reduced in price.

Many titles are now £5.49 (e.g. Fungi, Lichens, Moths), £6.49 (e.g. Plant Galls, Dragonflies, Bird Migration), or £6.99 (e.g. Bats, Northumberland, The New Forest) rather than the usual £19.99. This applies to both Amazon UK and Kobo UK. I don't imagine these reduced prices will last for long.

After doing a quick check, I found that there is at least one ebook in the HarperCollins Naturalist series that sells in the U.S. It is Collins Mushroom Miscellany, by Patrick Harding. The price is $3.99. That might not be a sale price.

HarperCollins has a good reputation, of course. I viewed part of the sample for this ebook, and was a little disappointed in the quality of the images, however. The images that I saw were obviously taken out of some(an) old, out-of-copyright book(s). I simply have not read enough of the sample of the book to comment on the accuracy, style, etc. of the text.

Despite my misgivings about the book, the GoodReads crowd bestows a 4.30 average rating, from 23 ratings, on it! That average is an excellent one at GoodReads.

A couple of items from HarperCollins which may potentially sweeten the deal . . . . A big ad will appear when you go, at least for the first time, to the Mushroom Miscellany hits webpage (whose link I have given below, also). The ad offers 20% off of (an) order from a new customer; I don't know if ebooks on sale qualify. Also, you might want to look for a line of text in one or more of the webpages, offering a free ebook from BookPerk (at this writing there are four choices). All that I know for sure about BookPerk is that 1) it is a HarperCollins company, and 2) you can get a daily list of specials from them (and, surprise, surprise: all of the ebooks appear to be from HarperCollins or from HarperCollins imprints).

Gotcha' your starting link right here. Turn off all of the filters to find the entirety(?) of HarperCollins' publications, at least their so-called sale books.

Now, would someone be willing to take the baton from me, and do further research into books in The HarperCollins Naturalist series that are sold in the U.S.?

I've got to say that I'm really into mushrooms, now--I think that they are cool. If it was the late 1960's and early 1970's in the U.S., not so much; today, yes.


ADDENDUM: The $3.99 price is considered a sale price. There is a group of HarperCollins webpages showing items on sale by HarperCollins. These include everything from paper-based books to ebooks to digital audiobooks. Finding the collection of webpages is a little tricky for now--navigate to the Mushroom Medley webapge; then clear all filters. Bada Bing, Bada Boom!--you've get the group of HarperCollins webpages showing items considered to be "on sale" by HarperCoIlins. There must be a more straightforward method, but at this writing, I don't know what it is. I am thrilled to find this set of webpages; I don't think that I've run across them before!