FREE/BARGAIN — Non-Fiction

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by lumpynose

Before buying things on amazon I look at the number of reviews as well as how many stars it has. If it has 4+ stars and hundreds of reviews then I feel that it's a safe bet. For things that aren't books it can be useful to look and see what the 1 star reviewers are saying; sometimes they say stupid things like it was hard to get out of the packaging or they rush ordered it for their grandson's birthday but it arrived late.

I check the 1 star reviews on ebooks to see whether there are a significant number of recent reviews complaining about bad formatting.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

On sale again for $2.99

I finished it a while back and highly recommend it.

Up to $9.99, for the ebook; still(?) $12.99 for the audio.

Pssst! Mr. Author and/or Amazon:
You could help bring about Utopia in the world if you didn't charge $10 for an ebook, and $13.00 for an audio book (= $23.00!)
Signed, Not a Utopian (but not a Dystopian, either).

(In order to be fair, I will mention that if you buy the above ebook you get a credit for $2.00+ for a _Great on Kindle_ book).

[Ricky D'Angelo]

The War Illustrated Archive pdf files are free at the following location.

https://www.ibiblio.org/pha/TWI/

Wikipedia provides the following info regarding this publication.

The War Illustrated was a British war magazine published in London by William Berry (later Viscount Camrose and owner of The Daily Telegraph). It was first released on 22 August 1914, eighteen days after the United Kingdom declared war on Germany, and regular issues continued throughout the First World War. The magazine was discontinued after the 8 February 1919 issue, but returned 16 September 1939 following the start of the Second World War. 255 issues were published over the course of the Second World War before the magazine permanently ceased production on 11 April 1947.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_War_Illustrated

[ReadingManiac]

Originally Posted by j.p.s

I check the 1 star reviews on ebooks to see whether there are a significant number of recent reviews complaining about bad formatting.

Even then you don't know whether it might have been corrected. Samples are your friend.

[GtrsRGr8]

Happy 50th anniversary of humans landing on the Moon!

It is truly amazing to me what humans accomplished _half a century_ ago!

"Compiled" is not quite the right word--it might leave someone with the impression that it is a _fait accompli_. I'll say that I have "gathered together" the locations of quite a bit of printed material--in digital and dead-tree form--about, and related to, the project to put a couple of humans on the Moon.

Some of these come from NASA, of course. But some come from other U.S. federal agencies, such as the GPO (the Government Printing Office).

Unfortunately, the fact that the situation is one of _federal agencies_ making these available does _not_ necessarily mean that all of the materials are _free_. In fact, some of them are what yours truly considers expensive (but I'm hyper-frugal). It makes me wonder if they are trying to use the proceeds to help fund the mission to _Mars_! But, I digress . . . .

_if_ there seems to be sufficient interest, I will commit myself to gathering together the locations of said material, and commit myself to posting them by the stroke of midnight (PST--to give myself some extra time for my project!)_ today._

And please, don't party too much tonight (it will be a _Saturday_ night, in addition to being the Anniversary date), and remember to use a designated driver!

[itisbomb]

Freakonomics Rev Ed
A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
by Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J Dubner

is $1.99 at U.S. stores.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Freakonomics-...d_i=1000677541

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/fre...of-modern-life

Below is the blurb:

Which is more dangerous, a gun or a swimming pool? What do schoolteachers and sumo wrestlers have in common? Why do drug dealers still live with their moms? How much do parents really matter? How did the legalization of abortion affect the rate of violent crime?

These may not sound like typical questions for an economist to ask. But Steven D. Levitt is not a typical economist. He is a much-heralded scholar who studies the riddles of everyday life—from cheating and crime to sports and child-rearing—and whose conclusions turn conventional wisdom on its head.

Freakonomics is a groundbreaking collaboration between Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, an award-winning author and journalist. They usually begin with a mountain of data and a simple question. Some of these questions concern life-and-death issues; others have an admittedly freakish quality. Thus the new field of study contained in this book: Freakonomics.

Through forceful storytelling and wry insight, Levitt and Dubner show that economics is, at root, the study of incentives—how people get what they want, or need, especially when other people want or need the same thing. In Freakonomics, they explore the hidden side of . . . well, everything. The inner workings of a crack gang. The truth about real-estate agents. The myths of campaign finance. The telltale marks of a cheating schoolteacher. The secrets of the Ku Klux Klan.

What unites all these stories is a belief that the modern world, despite a great deal of complexity and downright deceit, is not impenetrable, is not unknowable, and—if the right questions are asked—is even more intriguing than we think. All it takes is a new way of looking.

Freakonomics establishes this unconventional premise: If morality represents how we would like the world to work, then economics represents how it actually does work. It is true that readers of this book will be armed with enough riddles and stories to last a thousand cocktail parties. But Freakonomics can provide more than that. It will literally redefine the way we view the modern world.

Bonus material added to the revised and expanded 2006 edition

[j.p.s]

Originally Posted by GtrsRGr8

Up to $9.99, for the ebook; still(?) $12.99 for the audio.

Pssst! Mr. Author and/or Amazon:
You could help bring about Utopia in the world if you didn't charge $10 for an ebook, and $13.00 for an audio book (= $23.00!)
Signed, Not a Utopian (but not a Dystopian, either).

(In order to be fair, I will mention that if you buy the above ebook you get a credit for $2.00+ for a _Great on Kindle_ book).

I should have mentioned that the sale was probably for 1 day.

You do or should know that the major publishers control the price of their ebooks and that retailers are forbidden from offering discounts, coupons, or bundles. Special sale prices and durations are set by publishers. Books in the "Great on Kindle" program are put there by the publisher (if the book qualifies). So there is little amazon can do about the price of this book.

I have no idea what the author considers to be a fair price for the book,

[j.p.s]

The Hidden Life of Trees: What They Feel, How They Communicate—Discoveries from a Secret World by Peter Wohlleben is one of the many Kindle Deals of the Day today (so I assume for today only). It's price is $1.99 (I paid $2.98 as a sale price in January, regular price is quite a bit higher).

https://www.amazon.com/Hidden-Life-T...dp/B01C9116AK/

I read it a few months ago and was a bit disappointed, but as the top goodreads review says, Read it for the new and interesting information it contains.

A number of people on goodreads wrote that they have looked high and low for a popular consumption book covering the same material and could not find one. To get an inkling of what trees are up to during their centuries, search for (reseach scientist) Susanne Simard videos on youtube.

Much of the goodreads discussion is regarding "I read so few books that I require an outstanding reading experience each time, I don't have time to read something that is merely OK", but many think it is worth reading anyway because the subject itself is so interesting. I fall into both camps, but for this book, I am glad I read it. It is not a difficult or slow or boring read, it is just easy to get used to expecting much better writing. It's not that the writing is not OK, as there some quirks that put some people off and details of the phenomena could stand a lot of filling out.

[itisbomb]

Enemy at the Gates: the Battle for Stalingrad
by William Craig

is $2.99 at U.S. stores.

Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Enemy-at-Gate...794590&sr=1-13

Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/us/en/ebook/enemy-at-the-gates-1

Below is the blurb:
A New York Times bestseller that brings to life one of the bloodiest battles of World War II—and the beginning of the end of the Third Reich.

On August 5, 1942, giant pillars of dust rose over the Russian steppe, marking the advance of the 6th Army, an elite German combat unit dispatched by Hitler to capture the industrial city of Stalingrad and press on to the oil fields of Azerbaijan. The Germans were supremely confident; in three years, they had not suffered a single defeat.The Luftwaffe had already bombed the city into ruins. German soldiers hoped to complete their mission and be home in time for Christmas.

The siege of Stalingrad lasted five months, one week, and three days. Nearly two million men and women died, and the 6th Army was completely destroyed. Considered by many historians to be the turning point of World War II in Europe, the Soviet Army’s victory foreshadowed Hitler’s downfall and the rise of a communist superpower.

Bestselling author William Craig spent five years researching this epic clash of military titans, traveling to three continents in order to review documents and interview hundreds of survivors. Enemy at the Gates is the enthralling result: the definitive account of one of the most important battles in world history. It became a New York Times bestseller and was also the inspiration for the 2001 film of the same name, starring Joseph Fiennes and Jude Law.

[Fluribus]

All your wishes have been granted. All your wishes were, of course, about getting a biography from Amazon.com for cheap.

Ron Chernow - Grant for $1.99.

[GtrsRGr8]

Originally Posted by Fluribus

All your wishes have been granted. All your wishes were, of course, about getting a biography from Amazon.com for cheap.

Ron Chernow - Grant for $1.99.

Really great find!

There are several books about U.S. Grant, authored Bruce Catton, that are also highly marked down. A lot, if not all of them, have in excess of 1,000 pages, as the one that you posted does.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=grant+bru...f=nb_sb_noss_2.

Well, I just checked again, and all of the marked-down Catton-on-Grant ebooks have been marked back up. Sometimes I wish I had a crystal ball . . . .

[GtrsRGr8]

American Supreme Court justice Antonin Scalia passed away very recently.

In recognition of the event, Regnery Publishers has temporarily dropped the price of their book _Scalia's Court: A Legacy of Landmark Opinions and Dissents_, to a mere _99 cents_. The retail price of the nearly 600-page tome, in paper-based form, is $34.99!

The book is rated 4.6 stars at Amazon, and is currently their #1 best seller in Constitutional Law.

If you were to mosey on over to the webpage of the publisher, given below, you will find links to a whole slew of vendors for the ebook, including Amazon.

http://click1.info.regnery.com/ViewMessage.do.[/URL] ) [I am aware that the link will not take you directly to the "dollar ebook sale," for some reason. I am working on it. G]

[GA Russell]

Here we go for Scalia's Court!

https://www.regnery.com/complete-catalog/s/

https://www.amazon.com/Scalias-Court...dp/B01C9116AA/

[Raphi'Elohim]

Originally Posted by lumpynose

Before buying things on amazon I look at the number of reviews as well as how many stars it has. If it has 4+ stars and hundreds of reviews then I feel that it's a safe bet. For things that aren't books it can be useful to look and see what the 1 star reviewers are saying; sometimes they say stupid things like it was hard to get out of the packaging or they rush ordered it for their grandson's birthday but it arrived late.

This has probably been mentioned before but I can't bother searching all over the forum for it because even with the search function of the forum software it would probably be a PITA to do.

Watch out for good reviews around the time the book was published because they actually pay people to give good reviews but they usually only post around that time.

Also, if you don't know anything about the author do a Wikipedia search on him. Why Wikipedia ? Because the Encyclopedia Britannica is not going to have anything on the author most likely unless it is someone big like Charles Darwin or something.

[Raphi'Elohim]

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (MIT Electrical Engineering and Computer Science)
by Harold Abelson, Gerald Jay Sussman , Julie Sussman

Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs has had a dramatic impact on computer science curricula over the past decade. It is remarkable that the authors and the publisher have made this book freely available at the MIT Press site, licensing it under a Creative Commons license.

https://github.com/tuxu/sicp-epub-svgmath

https://mitpress.mit.edu/sites/defau...icp/index.html