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I do almost all of my reading on a Dell Axim. I take a light rail train to/from work so I have lots of time. Most of my books are from Baen's free library (already mentioned), plus many classics from Project Gutenberg and BlackMask (http://www.blackmask.com/).

It is nice to be able to have a whole library on a SD card.

I must admit the books in the Baen library look like complete shit, it's a matter of getting what you're paying for! If you're down with the classics Blackmask Online re-formats Gutenberg texts to Acrobat, Microsoft Reader, and several other popular ebook formats. No real difference for a computer, but I find it better to use with a PDA than the straight .txt or .html formatted texts.

Most FLP books (and trust me, I've got a stack of 'em... they're ALL public domain) say "Peking." I don't know the exact date, but it wasn't until after Nixon/UN normalization that everyone started calling the capital of mainland China "Beijing." Cutoff date seems to be '75, but my library of FLP titles is hardly complete.

As an example, this book originally said "Peking"... but Beijing is better known, so that's how we labelled it...

If you use the Coral CDN Network (add .nyud.net:8090 after the .com and before the /) then you can't track downloads since the file is being fetched through a proxy. I think you can understand why I wouldn't take your word for it.

As a by product, it'll free up bandwidth for whatever else you want to host. (It doesn't work on files over 50MB)

So I'll fix your links for you:
free ebook version
compiled from the one here

Here's a free ebook version in most accesible formats, compiled from the one here. I don't track downloads.

Dos it have to be a print copy?

If not, try this: The Complete Works of H.P. Lovecraft, completely free (and legal!) in HTML. His works are available in a few other places online too, like here (see the copyright information at the bottom of the page-- most or all of Lovecraft's work is in the public domain), here (complete works, mostly in PDFs-- probably your best source), here (PDFs of several works), and here (a 100-page collection in a few different formats, including PDF and HTML).
Since most of Lovecraft's work is in the public domain, you can find other sources around the internet.
If you do want books, please consider buying from Arkham House, which has done a lot to promote Lovecraft's work, encourage and publish studies of it, and keep the genre alive by publishing the works of other authors. You'll find Lovecraft, S.T. Joshi (the leading Lovecraft scholar), and other authors like August Derleth on the authors page. You may notice on the main page that despite Lovecraft's works being available in the public domain, books of his works are three of the top five sellers at Arkham House.
Whether you read Lovecraft in electronic format or in bound books, enjoy!

Had I wrote it for the Gain of the Press, I should have been concern'd at its being Printed again and again, by Pyrates, as they call them, and Paragraph- Men: But would they but do it Justice, and print it True, according to the Copy, they are welcome to sell it for a Penny, if they please.

This is from the introduction to The True-born Englishman by Daniel Defoe, published in 1701.

I refuse to call it piracy

Look, please stop whining about the use of this word.

The use of the word Pirate for Copyright Infringer is over 300 Years Old.

"Had I wrote it for the Gain of the Press, I should have been concern'd at its being Printed again and again, by Pyrates, as they call them, and Paragraph- Men: But would they but do it Justice, and print it True, according to the Copy, they are welcome to sell it for a Penny, if they please."
-- Daniel DeFoe, in the introduction to The True-Born Englishman, 1701.

Actually, it's earlier than that. In the introduction to The True-Born Englishman (1701), Daniel DeFoe calls them Pyrates.

Had I wrote it for the Gain of the Press, I should have been concern'd at its being Printed again and again, by Pyrates, as they call them, and Paragraph- Men: But would they but do it Justice, and print it True, according to the Copy, they are welcome to sell it for a Penny, if they please.

But yeah, complaining about a 300-year old word is kind of childish.

a) As I understand Marx, he was mostly concerned about protecting the proletariat from the bourgeoisie - the Golgafrinchan approach of getting rid of all the productivity drains. I'd class this (no pun intended) as being more of a group-oriented struggle than a fight for individual freedom.

I'm not saying that Communism is intrinsically against personal freedom, just that it's nowhere near being the point of the movement.

b) I'd say that cultural impression is by far the more important factor in the free culture movement. Lessig himself points out that focusing on practical matters rather than theory could have won him the Eldred 1 court case. Equally, even if I didn't think the Nazis were that bad (this is ONLY for the sake of argument), I would not encourage the comparison.

Real hardcore gamers make their keys glow by painting radium on their keyboards.

...but not half as good as the story that episode is based upon. Granted, the FX needed to do Brown's story justice were probably way beyond the 196x state of the art.

By the way, if you want to download the entire 181-book Doc Savage collection (for free even), go here:

http://www.blackmask.com/cgi-bin/newlinks/page.cgi ?g=Pulp_Fiction%2FDoc_Savage%2Findex.html&d=1

Posting anonymously because my boss occasionally reads Slashdot and has this crazy notion that I should be working instead of surfing.

There are many sites which have taken some of the more popular works from Project Gutenberg, and put a more user-friendly directory style front end to them. One of the best is Blackmask.com, which also contains works from non-Gutenberg free book providers. There are 312 works in the 'Science Fiction' section alone.

Indeed, there are many, many sites that do all sorts of wonderful things with Project Gutenberg eBooks. That's the wonderful thing about PG, you can do anything you like with the books.

While personally I prefer the original and the best... hey, whatever floats your boat!

It is very much worth noting that Project Gutenberg would have nowhere near as many eBooks as it does without the help of Distributed Proofreaders. Sign up there, and proof just a page a day to make your contribution to preserving literary history. You can proofread as little or as much as you like, and do something worthwhile! Distributed Proofreaders is a great way to spend some of your time.

Charles Franks
Founder, Distributed Proofreaders

...the Baen bound-into-hardcover CDROMs would make a great addition to any library. Best of all, since they're freely copyable, all it would cost would be a CDROM blank...and they could be easily replaced if anyone broke or lost them.

I've actually taken to putting all five of them (available via BitTorrent at this website), three Blackmask.com public domain book CDROMs, and the free works of Cory Doctorow on a single DVD+ROM and handing it out to folks who have DVD drives.

For about 130 years, begining with the publication of Kingston's Peter the Whaler, books for guys (15-34ish) made up 25% of the publishing industry's revenues. Tastes changed with the times, so the focus shifted from Nautical works to Dime Novels to Pulp Fiction, Westerns and SciFi.

Somewhere, starting in the '70s, this market was just flat-out abandoned, with the exception of SciFi. The focus became books for girls, as boys were too busy with sports/TV/arcades/cars/drugs to merit the publication of quality content (I mean come on, in the '30s guys were playing stickball, leaving school to work at 14 'cause of the Depression, listening to the radio, and still had time for Doc Savage).

You'll have to look long and hard to find new fiction that is intended for guys without being pandering.

Outside of sports (only reason I have cable), kinda expect TV to go the same way. Only difference being, as folks like John Taylor Gatto point out, in schools you're conditioned to watch TV, whereas literacy is discouraged, so it might take a little longer, but the dropoff in numbers is hardly surprising.

For about 130 years, begining with the publication of Kingston's Peter the Whaler, books for guys (15-34ish) made up 25% of the publishing industry's revenues. Tastes changed with the times, so the focus shifted from Nautical works to Dime Novels to Pulp Fiction, Westerns and SciFi.

Somewhere, starting in the '70s, this market was just flat-out abandoned, with the exception of SciFi. The focus became books for girls, as boys were too busy with sports/TV/arcades/cars/drugs to merit the publication of quality content (I mean come on, in the '30s guys were playing stickball, leaving school to work at 14 'cause of the Depression, listening to the radio, and still had time for Doc Savage).

You'll have to look long and hard to find new fiction that is intended for guys without being pandering.

Outside of sports (only reason I have cable), kinda expect TV to go the same way. Only difference being, as folks like John Taylor Gatto point out, in schools you're conditioned to watch TV, whereas literacy is discouraged, so it might take a little longer, but the dropoff in numbers is hardly surprising.

For about 130 years, begining with the publication of Kingston's Peter the Whaler, books for guys (15-34ish) made up 25% of the publishing industry's revenues. Tastes changed with the times, so the focus shifted from Nautical works to Dime Novels to Pulp Fiction, Westerns and SciFi.

Somewhere, starting in the '70s, this market was just flat-out abandoned, with the exception of SciFi. The focus became books for girls, as boys were too busy with sports/TV/arcades/cars/drugs to merit the publication of quality content (I mean come on, in the '30s guys were playing stickball, leaving school to work at 14 'cause of the Depression, listening to the radio, and still had time for Doc Savage).

You'll have to look long and hard to find new fiction that is intended for guys without being pandering.

Outside of sports (only reason I have cable), kinda expect TV to go the same way. Only difference being, as folks like John Taylor Gatto point out, in schools you're conditioned to watch TV, whereas literacy is discouraged, so it might take a little longer, but the dropoff in numbers is hardly surprising.

For about 130 years, begining with the publication of Kingston's Peter the Whaler, books for guys (15-34ish) made up 25% of the publishing industry's revenues. Tastes changed with the times, so the focus shifted from Nautical works to Dime Novels to Pulp Fiction, Westerns and SciFi.

Somewhere, starting in the '70s, this market was just flat-out abandoned, with the exception of SciFi. The focus became books for girls, as boys were too busy with sports/TV/arcades/cars/drugs to merit the publication of quality content (I mean come on, in the '30s guys were playing stickball, leaving school to work at 14 'cause of the Depression, listening to the radio, and still had time for Doc Savage).

You'll have to look long and hard to find new fiction that is intended for guys without being pandering.

Outside of sports (only reason I have cable), kinda expect TV to go the same way. Only difference being, as folks like John Taylor Gatto point out, in schools you're conditioned to watch TV, whereas literacy is discouraged, so it might take a little longer, but the dropoff in numbers is hardly surprising.

For about 130 years, begining with the publication of Kingston's Peter the Whaler, books for guys (15-34ish) made up 25% of the publishing industry's revenues. Tastes changed with the times, so the focus shifted from Nautical works to Dime Novels to Pulp Fiction, Westerns and SciFi.

Somewhere, starting in the '70s, this market was just flat-out abandoned, with the exception of SciFi. The focus became books for girls, as boys were too busy with sports/TV/arcades/cars/drugs to merit the publication of quality content (I mean come on, in the '30s guys were playing stickball, leaving school to work at 14 'cause of the Depression, listening to the radio, and still had time for Doc Savage).

You'll have to look long and hard to find new fiction that is intended for guys without being pandering.

Outside of sports (only reason I have cable), kinda expect TV to go the same way. Only difference being, as folks like John Taylor Gatto point out, in schools you're conditioned to watch TV, whereas literacy is discouraged, so it might take a little longer, but the dropoff in numbers is hardly surprising.

For about 130 years, begining with the publication of Kingston's Peter the Whaler, books for guys (15-34ish) made up 25% of the publishing industry's revenues. Tastes changed with the times, so the focus shifted from Nautical works to Dime Novels to Pulp Fiction, Westerns and SciFi.

Somewhere, starting in the '70s, this market was just flat-out abandoned, with the exception of SciFi. The focus became books for girls, as boys were too busy with sports/TV/arcades/cars/drugs to merit the publication of quality content (I mean come on, in the '30s guys were playing stickball, leaving school to work at 14 'cause of the Depression, listening to the radio, and still had time for Doc Savage).

You'll have to look long and hard to find new fiction that is intended for guys without being pandering.

Outside of sports (only reason I have cable), kinda expect TV to go the same way. Only difference being, as folks like John Taylor Gatto point out, in schools you're conditioned to watch TV, whereas literacy is discouraged, so it might take a little longer, but the dropoff in numbers is hardly surprising.

For about 130 years, begining with the publication of Kingston's Peter the Whaler, books for guys (15-34ish) made up 25% of the publishing industry's revenues. Tastes changed with the times, so the focus shifted from Nautical works to Dime Novels to Pulp Fiction, Westerns and SciFi.

Somewhere, starting in the '70s, this market was just flat-out abandoned, with the exception of SciFi. The focus became books for girls, as boys were too busy with sports/TV/arcades/cars/drugs to merit the publication of quality content (I mean come on, in the '30s guys were playing stickball, leaving school to work at 14 'cause of the Depression, listening to the radio, and still had time for Doc Savage).

You'll have to look long and hard to find new fiction that is intended for guys without being pandering.

Outside of sports (only reason I have cable), kinda expect TV to go the same way. Only difference being, as folks like John Taylor Gatto point out, in schools you're conditioned to watch TV, whereas literacy is discouraged, so it might take a little longer, but the dropoff in numbers is hardly surprising.

A lot of the HTML coding on PG 2 was done by me with the notice change, but that's cool; not so much because Mr. Guagliardo has previously purchased a CD set from me, but rather that I've in the past mailed .zipped HTML disks to Dr. Hart, encouraging him to use them as he sees fit.

What's lost in the discussion is the fact that PG 2 has 48,500 more books than PG 1 (and 45k more than me), and may be a prototype alternative to something like NetLibrary, which used wrapped PG titles as part of their bid to get everyone to sign on--(PG 2 gets bonus points in my opinion for adopting the URL Netlibrary.net on their sign-up page). It's quite possible those 40k+ extra books are worth $8.95 a year.

Project Gutenburg has 11,531 titles as of now, in text format.

No, PG may have 11,531 titles, but they're not all in text format. Like any other library, they have a variety of audio books, movies, and music.

So, they're obviously ripping off PG's trademarked name (unless they have permission, as a couple people have speculated)

It's not speculation. Michael Hart, who owns the PG trademark, has given the World Ebook Library permission to use "Project Gutenberg II" and the projectgutenberg.info domain name as a front.

Many of the other books you see (above the 10+ that are from PG) come from sites like Blackmask.

Actually, most of the PG 2 titles are HTML that I did of PG texts for my own site (that one I also scanned with the distributed proofreaders so it sees more moral), but then PG 2 has another 48K books that aren't on Gutenberg, and might just be worth paying $8.95 a year to access, something the article doesn't make clear.

I've also let it be known that Dr. Hart is welcome to use my HTML as he sees fit, not pushing the issue because there are other volunteer initiatives working on this.

You seriously need some pulp fiction in your education, kid.
I'll bet you've never even heard of Doc Savage.

There is an interesting ebook reader here. I contacted the company and they said it would be available at Amazon in Q2. They offered to sell me one with Chinese manuals for $169(EB660)/$199(EB683). It's not color, but has a unique screen that only uses energy when you change a page. 2 AA batteries are supposed to last for 15000 pages!

Here's an early review. Sounds like many his issues could be resolved witha software update.

Remember, we're discussing the MA homosexuality cases. These could easily be analyzed under the Equal Rights amendments (Indeed, they have been this summer, when the USSC overturned TX's antisodomy law). So your argument is moot - the court would be interpreting the Constitution as expounded by the SC. Duh.

That site didn't have the complete text, which is available here.

Sorta interesting with all its boy inventor stuff...

If you have a Pocket PC, you can get many of the project Gutenberg E-Texts in .lit (MS Reader) format from blackmask. I have found that the ipaq with MS Reader makes for an excellent E-Book reader (not to mention that you can listen to some nice background music at the same time).

Everyone has the right to his own opinion, of course, but it's a shame that you feel that way.

In my experience, I've found that books of whatever form are like...hmm...cartoons or movies. When they play them real slow, you can't help but notice that they're just sheets of celluloid with still images printed on them. But...if you play it fast enough, thanks to persistence of vision, that image starts moving, and you don't see the celluloid anymore, just the motion of the picture.

Books are like that with me, whether paper or electronic. Once the words start flowing and I'm sucked into the fantasy world lurking behind the words, it doesn't matter to me anymore what I'm reading it from...the physical format vanishes (along with the outside world, and whatever sense of time I might have had).

Ebooks let me carry a whole lot more of that fantasy world experience with me: hundreds of books in the amount of space that would be taken up by one Gideon New Testament. For that kind of literary portability, I'll gladly sacrifice some of the reliability of a paper book...I read very fast, and I'd just as soon not run out of reading.

And that doesn't even get into the fact that, thanks to Blackmask, I can electronically read a whole bunch of out-of-copyright stuff that I couldn't even find in paper format. Dozens of Doc Savage pulp novels. Hundreds of The Shadow.

To each his own, I suppose...but I can't help feeling like you're missing out.

many years ago actually: I went to yard sales, flea markets, and public library book sales. $20 USD goes a long ways in those places. I also inherited most of my family's book collection, dating to the 1940's for college textbooks. I also went to places like the Online Books page, Project Gutenberg, and BlackMask Online to round out my collection of world favorites and classics. Librarians love me, btw...

Go to http://www.blackmask.com.

Thousands of *free* ebooks.

Who cares if B&N drops 'em? Blackmask has the good stuff, everything's free, and they're in six (at least) different formats for nearly every device under the sun. Plus no stupid DRM.

You can only put around 25,000 books onto a DVD.
(or, actually, 12,000 books in two formats...)

Some guy proved this

I used to be like you (in fact, still am, largely) I have no cell phone, and no desire to get one. However, since I got my PDA, and have been using it to read ebooks, I'd be hardpressed to give it up.

Yeah, you can buy 100 books for the price of a GBA, but can you carry them all with you at the same time? :)

I still wouldn't watch a movie on a handheld. -- "Is that Gandalf's staff, or is he just happy to see the hobbit?" or "Is that a hobbit, or a normal sized person?"

For a lot of women authors (particularly back in the day when writing fiction was a good way to make money), kids and career went hand in hand.

One of the most famous is the short story writer Kate Chopin, whose husband was a drunk, died, left her broke with six kids, so she started sending stuff off to magazines at age 40, made something of a career of it (and is taught everywhere today after having been "rehabilitated"... her stories are very good; I'm not that impressed with her novels; but ya can read everything by her free here.)

Come to think, a number of women writers (Toni Morrison's another example), had that later start... typically as single parents with one or more kids around.

FWIW.

(Chopin died at 54 when her last novel was considered too threatening for the period... Morrison won a Nobel for Beloved.)

Not every women was like this (Plath was maybe 32 when she committed suicide; O'Connor died right at 40), but it's the same principle.

Perhaps we could tie women's creative success in with estrogen levels peaking?

Yeah, and somebody else mentioned that Senator Brownback's biggest campaign contributors were telecoms like BellSouth, SBC and Verizon.

The best democracy money can buy!

Amy Hsieh writes "A well-known ebook industry expert, Jon Noring, recently wrote an interesting article for eBookWeb, formally calling upon the ebook industry to adopt a single universal ebook distribution format. . . On the other hand, Noring's proposal has also met with some skepticism elsewhere.

BTW, the critics site has lot of texts, many of which can be read to young children in the presence of their grandparents, available for downloading in various formats for free as in beer.

Amy Hsieh writes "A well-known ebook industry expert, Jon Noring, recently wrote an interesting article for eBookWeb, formally calling upon the ebook industry to adopt a single universal ebook distribution format. . . On the other hand, Noring's proposal has also met with some skepticism elsewhere.

BTW, the critics site has lot of texts, many of which can be read to young children in the presence of their grandparents, available for downloading in various formats for free as in beer.

You can actually find quite a few of the Arsene Lupin novels and stories--including a couple that I donated to be scanned for Gutenberg (though they haven't made it to Gutenberg yet for some reason)--at BlackMask.com. Just search on Maurice Leblanc. They're very good.

At blackmask's online store, you can see which is currently the most popular e-book format (bestsellers at the right side of the shop page).

Acrobat's rotten PDF format that's made completely unsuitable for e-book use by its design-time specification of page size still amazes me by reaching the 4th position.

At blackmask's online store, you can see which is currently the most popular e-book format (bestsellers at the right side of the shop page).

Acrobat's rotten PDF format that's made completely unsuitable for e-book use by its design-time specification of page size still amazes me by reaching the 4th position.

Tons.

The best:
- Baen free library
- Blackmask

Noteworthy because they've been busy with this the longest, and also because they have the worst quality (formatting) e-books: Project Gutenberg.

OK, I'm linking to my own site here, cause OMACL seems to be down for the count.

You're absolutely right in your Christian elements--still to be chatted about is Tolkien's use of the Story of the Volsungs -- text that most feel is his primary source.

Then, like Wagner, he also read up on the
Nibelungenlied (though not to the same extent as Wagner) as well as the Elder Edda

If you're not into reading online, I do recommend a Haney translation.

OK, I'm linking to my own site here, cause OMACL seems to be down for the count.

You're absolutely right in your Christian elements--still to be chatted about is Tolkien's use of the Story of the Volsungs -- text that most feel is his primary source.

Then, like Wagner, he also read up on the
Nibelungenlied (though not to the same extent as Wagner) as well as the Elder Edda

If you're not into reading online, I do recommend a Haney translation.

OK, I'm linking to my own site here, cause OMACL seems to be down for the count.

You're absolutely right in your Christian elements--still to be chatted about is Tolkien's use of the Story of the Volsungs -- text that most feel is his primary source.

Then, like Wagner, he also read up on the
Nibelungenlied (though not to the same extent as Wagner) as well as the Elder Edda

If you're not into reading online, I do recommend a Haney translation.

To take notes in class/keep track of important syllabus dates/keep track of professorial contact information (no more rummaging through a folder full of syllabi when I want to find out what my prof's office hours are!) when I was in school.

To keep track of my work schedule, when I was working.

To play games, or read the news (via AvantGo) or ebooks when I'm bored or selling plasma. (Thank God for Blackmask.com!)

To balance my checkbook. (In fact, with the QuickMoney/MicroMoney software I use, it is my checkbook, or at least my check register.)

When I was working as a delivery driver, I had an Excel spreadsheet in DocsToGo which I used to calculate flawlessly how much money I was making in tips and how much I owed at the end of the night.

To keep track of phone numbers/addresses...comes in handy when I'm doing a Christmas card list!

To keep track of important dates--now I remember my parents' birthdays/anniversary!

To scribble down grocery list/notes/reminders that I don't want to forget

To control TV sets/DVD players/VCRs wherever I go. (For this purpose, I bought a universal remote when I was in college--to control the bigscreen sets located in dormitory lounges--but if I'd had the Clie with its built-in universal remote software, I could have foregone that.) Often startles people when I'm able to adjust their sets without ever getting up. :)

I honestly don't know how I got along without this thing.

pdf is not proprietary. Check this post out for more details. You don't need any Adobe program to read pdfs. Adobe does make Acrobat for Linux, but you can use xpdf to display pdfs.