Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

O'Reilly Discounts Every eBook By 50% (oreilly.com)

Posted by EditorDavid on from the cyber-Saturday dept.

On Friday, O'Reilly Media announced "Our Cyber Monday sale starts now." An anonymous reader writes: They're offering a 50% discount on every ebook they publish -- over 14,000 titles from O'Reilly, No Starch Press, Pearson, A Book Apart, Make, Packt, and 25 other book publishers. (And they're offering a 60 percent discount on orders over $100.) Just use the code CYBER16 when checking out to claim the discount. The sale continues through Tuesday morning at 5 a.m. PST.

These are all DRM-free ebooks (in multiple formats), and there's even some "early release" editions -- advance copies distributed before their official publication. The discount also applies to new titles like "Head First Python" as well as old-school classics like "Learning Perl". Right now their best-sellers are "Wicked Cool Shell Scripts", "Modern Linux Administration", and "You Don't Know JS: Up and Going" -- but again, the discount applies to any ebook that they sell, and they also still have their selection of free programming texts.
Tim O'Reilly was one of the first people interviewed by Slashdot -- more than 17 years ago.

47 comments

  1. ebooks are free, google it followed by pdf by TechFurryFox · · Score: 3, Informative

    Ebook piracy is rampant, does anyone buy ebooks anymore?

    1. Re:ebooks are free, google it followed by pdf by RandomSurfer314 · · Score: 3, Interesting

      I suppose honest people do.

    2. Re:ebooks are free, google it followed by pdf by future+assassin · · Score: 2

      I support companies that treat their customers good and offer good services and are ethical/progressive, the ones that have showed the be unethical I rape by finding their IP on the internet and using it for free,

      --
      by TheSpoom (715771) Uncaring Linux user here. I have nothing to add to this but please continue. *munches popcorn*
    3. Re:ebooks are free, google it followed by pdf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Yes. I just bought 2. 50% off is a good deal and authors need some kind of incentive to keep writing them. Googling stackoverflow one-liners only gets you so far.

    4. Re:ebooks are free, google it followed by pdf by Gaygirlie · · Score: 1

      I actually do buy ebooks every now and then. Perhaps it's silly, but there are plenty of books out there that do seem worth shelling some money over in the hopes of encouraging more work on them, like e.g. Mastering STM32 on Leanpub ( https://leanpub.com/mastering-... ). I don't feel like I threw my money down the drain when I bought it.

    5. Re:ebooks are free, google it followed by pdf by DivineKnight · · Score: 1

      I do, but the timing of Black Friday / Cyber Monday tends to suck every year -> I get (like many people on salary) paid monthly, and at the end of the month (last day). Some places it's the first of the month, other places it's the second week of the month, etc. Anyway, these *deals* will expire two days before I'd have the cash to really take advantage of them, leaving me to either wait until after Christmas / New Years, or try to get something during a panic sale right before Christmas Eve.

    6. Re:ebooks are free, google it followed by pdf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I would if they were reasonably priced.

      As it is, I'm not an idiot - I know it costs less to make one copy of the ebook than it costs to make a copy of the paperback.

    7. Re:ebooks are free, google it followed by pdf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It costs less than a buck to produce a paper book full of random words without any meaning. Therefore, both ebooks and paper books should have roughly he same price. A $15 CD actually costs 50 cents to produce. Therefore the digital version and physical version of the music should cost the same since the cost of the medium is negligible.

      It's the content that is valuable, not the medium.

    8. Re:ebooks are free, google it followed by pdf by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      one word for you : savings

    9. Re:ebooks are free, google it followed by pdf by RamenJunkie · · Score: 0

      I don't pirate music or ebooks. I have bought a ton of both. I wish movies would follow suit with a simple DRM free system.

  2. APress as well by BenBoy · · Score: 2

    APress does discounts annually for cyber-Monday as well ... 10 bucks per e-book, 12.50 for paper. Makes a fellow all gluttonous ...

    1. Re:APress as well by aliquis · · Score: 1

      You get 16 of the ones from O'reilly for $15 together on https://www.humblebundle.com/b..., the first 5 for just $1 together.

  3. Re:where's the gender checkpoint? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    This is why marijuana should not be legalized.

  4. I buy lots of ebooks - Cheap "unix" books on HB by aliquis · · Score: 3, Informative

    I don't know where to find all of them and if they are fairly priced I may buy them.

    Anyway what I really wanted to point out is the current book bundle over at https://www.humblebundle.com/b...
    It beats 50% off.

    UNIX presented by O'reilly:

    For free:
    * Ten Steps to Linux Survival Excerpt

    $1:
    * Unix in a Nutshell, 4th edition.
    * sed & awk, 2nd edition.
    * lex and yacc, 2nd edition.
    * Learning the Bash shell, 3rd edition.
    * Linux pocket guide, 3rd edition.

    Pay $8 and you'll also get:
    * Bash cookbook.
    * Classic shell Scripting.
    * Learning GNU Emacs, 3rd edition.
    * UNIX power tools.
    * Learning the vi and vim editors, 7th edition.
    * Bash pocket reference, 2nd edition.
    * Learning UNIX for OS X, 2nd edition.

    Pay $15 and you'll also get:
    * Essential system administration, 3rd edition.
    * TCP/IP network administration, 3rd edition.
    * DNS and BIND, 5th edition.
    * Network Troubleshooting Tools.

    All in all 16 books for $15.

    1. Re:I buy lots of ebooks - Cheap "unix" books on HB by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

      Just picked up the $15 pack. Don't know when I'll be using yacc again, but that's such a steal, what do I care. Besides the guy that's taking over my job in IT really is kind of deficient on the Unix front, not to mention not being too great at DNS, so those will be of some use.

      --
      The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
    2. Re:I buy lots of ebooks - Cheap "unix" books on HB by johanw · · Score: 1

      > I don't know where to find all of them

      Try forum.mobilism.org (register to use the search function). Popular SF is there faster than Amazon can ship it. I downloaded Navigators of Dune the day it came available.
      Try Google the title + epub or pdf
      Try the pirate bay

      I wish I had those resourcs when I was a graduate student, carrying all those heavy books would be replaced by just loading them on a tablet.

    3. Re:I buy lots of ebooks - Cheap "unix" books on HB by aliquis · · Score: 1

      Google + pdf most often end up to links to YouTube videos or Google docs or something which looks like a blurred PDF reader which suggest you register for a free (for some time?) account by giving them your credit card data or some usenet page. None of it really gives you the book.

      Sometimes you actually can find the book though.

      Pirate bay doesn't have all the books and comics which are on HB they may have some. The prices are very fair on HB anyway.

      Mobilism I have no idea about. Maybe I should check it out.

    4. Re:I buy lots of ebooks - Cheap "unix" books on HB by pigsycyberbully · · Score: 0

      Ok I purchased the bundle. A long list of books, to download with a one-off payment. Whoops! one-off British chiefly British = done, made, or happening only once.
      The page looked awkward on Opera 12.16. It said for charity a charity donation but my browser could not see what charity. It said choose a charity but there was no option on Opera. Some of the books, I remember from a long time ago they would be dated = old-fashioned.

      I have been typing in another language all day I will eventually get back to writing in a normal manner.. I don't mean to explain everything you understand.
      I was worried about being charged for each individual book when I received the payment link by e-mail.

    5. Re:I buy lots of ebooks - Cheap "unix" books on HB by aliquis · · Score: 1

      I use Opera 41.0.2353.56 right now.

      I don't know how it works for you because they may remember my chosen charity but in my case 50% of the charity part of the money goes to Code for America which is the pre-chosen one and then maybe you have another one which you can change I don't know how it works maybe they always remember the option I've chosen before and always let me use that one. The second one for me is the nature conservancy - I have no idea how good that one is but I guess to privatize nature and then just decide to do nothing with it is the most powerful way to preserve it in a nation where ownership is respected. I don't know if that's how they work but it's likely why I picked it. Supposedly you can pick among thousands of charities but that's the one I picked at some time for .. likely pretty random reason (searched for nature or something?), so you can give it to lots of different charities but I assume if you haven't chosen something then maybe all of the charity part or half of it went to Code for America:
      http://www.codeforamerica.org/

      I would had recommended Vivaldi, Chrome or modern Opera if it wasn't that mine have used around 1 TB of my SSD on three different occasions by swapping around like crazy. I don't really know how to protect against that.

      If you pay at-least $1 you get the first 5 books.
      If you pay at-least $8 you get the first 12 books.
      And if you pay at-least $15 you get all 16 books.

      If you have paid any amount you AFAIK can increase the payment up to a week after the bundle have ended to beat the tier you want and the additional content will unlock. It used to be 30 days and they don't specify for how long any longer but in my experience it's one week and possibly one week and almost 15 minutes. Maybe some bundles work differently but that's my experience.

    6. Re:I buy lots of ebooks - Cheap "unix" books on HB by imadeyoureadpoop · · Score: 1
      I use this bookmarklet as a way of quickly searching for ebooks online when i see something I like. Bookmark this in Chrome and thank me later.

      javascript:(function(){window.open("https://www.google.com/?q=filetype:pdf+OR+filetype:epub+OR+filetype:mobi+"+encodeURIComponent(prompt('Enter the book title/author/ISBN','Start typing now')))})();

      --
      Hanlon's Razor -- Never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity.
    7. Re:I buy lots of ebooks - Cheap "unix" books on HB by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I used to use kickass torrents to find ebooks. It was pretty good, but it's obviously not an option anymore. Pirate Bay sucks, and the other torrent sites also suck. If your book is even a little bit uncommon you'll have a hell of a time finding it. So I looked elsewhere. And I found the answer: Good old fashioned IRC.

      IRC bots on certain servers in certain channels will, at your request and consent, start a DCC with your client and transfer a zip containing the public domain ebook you requested.

      No torrents, no cheesy sites that need a credit card, no signups, no google docs. Just ebooks, in the format you request.

      Search around a bit, you can find instructions easily.

  5. Humble Bundle TOO! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    There's a O'Reilly Humble Book Bundle too (for another 11 days)! Worth taking a look at! Nice to have on your tablet/phone...

  6. Re:where's the gender checkpoint? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    no, the problem is a lot of the the attitude you have right there. I dont know if it's gender based or not, but it drives people away.

  7. Orelly auto parts store sells ebooks? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I need a wiring schematic for a 1909 Hupmobile...

  8. Re:where's the gender checkpoint? by vel-ex-tech · · Score: 0

    You're presuming that there's a solution. There isn't. When women themselves are causing the problem just to complain about it, well, there we have it. Women also voted for Trump just so they could complain about that too. Or maybe they thought he was joking about abortion and missed that episode of Keeping Up With The Cardassians or whatever when Trump revealed that he doesn't buy into feminism's bathroom rapist theory!

    Lovelace and Hopper weren't complainers. All we hear these days are the complainers. So much complaining, so little doing. Why on Earth would there be a different attitude to have?

    You can lead a horse to water.

  9. Re:where's the gender checkpoint? by MightyMartian · · Score: 0

    The Alt-right, populated by adults with the emotional ages of nine year old boys who haven't figured out quite what their penises are for, but sure do know girls are icky!

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  10. Re:where's the gender checkpoint? by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

    The only one complaining here is you. What's wrong, delicate snowflake? Your mom make you clean your room?

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  11. Re:where's the gender checkpoint? by vel-ex-tech · · Score: 1

    Totally. Imagine if I spent all my time getting high instead of shitposting here!

  12. Oh, Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Fiddy percent off?

  13. Are O'Reilly books worth reading anymore? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Years ago O'Reilly and its animal covered tech books helped me a great deal, but things have changed. I haven't read an O'Reilly book (either paper or electronic) in years. A wealth of documentation and instructional material can easily be found online. And it's only getting better while tech books as a whole are getting worse thanks to self publishing and lack of good editing.

    I'd rather have one StackOverflow than a million O'Reillys. And even if O'Reilly books were completely free I still wouldn't want them.

    Anyone else feel the same? What other sources do you use to learn new things in lieu of books?

  14. Re: I buy lots of ebooks - Cheap "unix" books on H by Threni · · Score: 1

    Why are you even thinking about the person replacing you? Anyone replacing me will find comment free code with no history in version control. If they're lucky.

  15. Re: I buy lots of ebooks - Cheap "unix" books on H by MightyMartian · · Score: 1

    I'm his manager now

    --
    The world's burning. Moped Jesus spotted on I50. Details at 11.
  16. Re: I buy lots of ebooks - Cheap "unix" books on H by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Sounds like you're the cuck. Make him buy the books himself you sissy faggot.

  17. Re:where's the gender checkpoint? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Is Brietbart offline?

  18. Re: I buy lots of ebooks - Cheap "unix" books on H by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    6/10 low-energy shitpost.

  19. 50% discount still is 100% expensive by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Same price as paper is 100% expensive for ebooks with almost 0% distribution cost.

  20. Can never be promoted, great idea by raymorris · · Score: 1

    Great idea, you can never be promoted and will get a bad reference. Genius.

    1. Re: Can never be promoted, great idea by Threni · · Score: 1

      No such thing as a bad reference, at least in the UK. You'd just sue them for lying, resulting in an expensive court case which would highlight publicly other failings in the company.

    2. Re: Can never be promoted, great idea by ranton · · Score: 1

      No such thing as a bad reference, at least in the UK. You'd just sue them for lying, resulting in an expensive court case which would highlight publicly other failings in the company.

      The lack of a glowing reference is the equivalent of a bad reference. If someone gives the standard title / date of hire / etc answers, a reference checker just has to ask if giving that answer is a company policy across the board. Since the answer to that is usually no, they will know the lack of information is equivalent to a very bad reference. And completely legal even in the UK.

      --
      -- All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing. -- Edmund Burke
    3. Re: Can never be promoted, great idea by Threni · · Score: 1

      I'm just saying that in the UK you practically never get any sort of reference except one which states your state and end date, position, and sometimes the number of sick days. That's it; it's totally normal and because of this no-one reads anything into it; you'd look naive even asking the company if this were normal.

  21. Stackoverflow, how do do everything completely wro by raymorris · · Score: 1

    The person who originally wrote the code I work on used Stack Overflow often. Occasionally it makes for some good laughs as we completely rewrite everything he did. Mostly, his code copied from SO causes much cussing.

    Stack Overflow can sometimes be useful for comparing different approaches to one very specific problem, if you can look at each answer and understand what's good and bad about each. To learn a new way of doing things, a new language, or different technology, a book by an expert, structured to explain starting from basic principles, is a far better approach. For something new to you, browsing SO may be worse than not knowing anything - you most often end up with something syntactically correct but logically completely wrong.

    I just spent $80 on oreilly (regular price $200). That $80 pays for itself if it eventually saves me 45 minutes of trying things and debugging.

  22. Re: I buy lots of ebooks - Cheap "unix" books on H by MadChicken · · Score: 1

    Fantastic deal. Mind you, you don't get free updates as you would from directly purchasing from O'Reilly. I think you can upgrade for $4.99 per title, so pick the ones you want (or are likely to need upgrades) and do that. Still save a lot.

    Would have been nice to have Apache (or nginx) and Samba books though.

    --
    SYS 64738 NO CARRIER
  23. Good JavaScript books by myid · · Score: 1

    For those of you who like books, I recommend these books on JavaScript:

    1) "The Principles of Object-Oriented JavaScript", by Nicholas C. Zakas. That book is great. And if anyone can tell me what the picture is on the front of the book, I'd appreciate it! (Is it a factory?)

    2) The series of books "You Don't Know JS", by Kyle Simpson.

    1. Re:Good JavaScript books by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I recommend C++: The Good Parts :)

  24. O'Reilly likely doesn't care about Piracy by FeelGood314 · · Score: 1

    I often pirate their books and read the first few chapters. If I like the book I buy the dead tree version. I find I learn from a physical book much better than from reading off a monitor. I would say 75% of my reference books are now O'Reily.

  25. Re:where's the gender checkpoint? by vel-ex-tech · · Score: 1

    Eh, I don't care. Roe v. Wade is getting overturned, that's for sure. I may have a woman suit, but being assigned the male gender at birth, I can still pass as a man... kind of... I think... most people who know me as a man but don't know the rest of the story probably think I'm a F2M type transgender.

    Wait, seriously, why the hell did I care? Women are going to get fucked and they voted for it lol. If they try to control my body again like the last time I lost access to medical care, I can just cut my genitals off and complete the woman suit. Best of both worlds, mate.

    (But really, they can't retaliate against me this time because, after all, I did vote Hillary and this time I have no involuntary ties to women's health organizations.)

    Yeah, I know, you probably believe that nothing bad can happen to an assigned male, especially one with a verifiable female mind and a woman suit--advanced infiltrator class to boot. Fuck you. Wait, is that me being a snowflake again? Eh, this is too much effort. Post!