Half-price Ebooks for Day Against DRM(nostarch.com)
nostarch.com
Half-price Ebooks for Day Against DRM
https://www.nostarch.com/
63 comments
The Linux Programming Interface by Kerrisk is probably the best book of its kind. Even better than Stevens' Advanced Programming in the Unix Environment, although obviously linux specific.
https://www.nostarch.com/tlpi
https://www.nostarch.com/tlpi
Yes, it's wonderful. But personally I'd recommend getting the paper version.
I have both. It's worth mentioning that, unlike a lot of technical ebooks from other publishers, the No Starch ePub version seems to be well-formatted and totally usable on a e-ink reading device (Kobo Aura One in my case).
It's sad that O'Reilly books are no longer available without DRM or subscription.
You can buy them on Ebooks.com http://about.ebooks.com/drm-free-oreilly-ebooks-available-eb...
O'Reilly had the serious flaw that you could just claim you own a book by adding its IBAN to your account's library and thus being able to "upgrade" it and obtain the ebook version for $5. I wonder why that worked as long as it did.
I think they discontinued the upgrade program already.
Because enough people would still buy them at full price, and if you were willing to scam your way into a $5 ebook, at least you're paying something for it instead of just pirating it.
I always saw it as a way to turn pirates into paying customers, and the would-be pirates still felt like they were getting a good deal. It's a win-win.
I always saw it as a way to turn pirates into paying customers, and the would-be pirates still felt like they were getting a good deal. It's a win-win.
You can still buy O'Reilly books without DRM through Google.
As discussed previously, the Google ones are like converted EPUB's, they don't match the original/real formatting of an O'Reilly DRM-free PDF.
Rant time! Some time ago, I bought a Tolino, an e-reader by Deutsche Telekom that is sold in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Belgium, Italy and the Netherlands. Huge mistake! At first, I loved not having to lug around printed books. Then the screen broke, I got the device replaced. Then the updates started. It looks like the device is running Android. Instead of a sweet half hour of light reading in the evening it was a sweaty two hours of searching my two passwords (one for the device and the Thalia bookstore, and one for the Adobe DRM, which I need to enter everytime I want to read in a book I fu*king paid for, and don't get me started on the keyboard and the slow screen refresh rate) before the unskippable update finished. The update broke my account, so I had to physically go to a bookstore to have them restore my account, which is the exact opposite of what I had in mind when purchasing this piece of utter garbage. Then I started realizing that books on Amazon are like 50% cheaper than in the Tolino store, and there is no way to buy books on Amazon and read them on Tolino. Oh, and they don't have a lot of books either, especially if they're not in German! What a horrible experience, I will never again buy anything made by Tolino, Thalia or Deutsche Telekom.
Am I dense? When does this "day" start?
Browsing with Safari 10.1.1 I see a standard website with standard pricing. I would think that if this were something being promoted there would be a very prominent statement. But I don't see anything?
I tried adding a few books to my cart, but they also seem to have regular pricing.
The only thing that says "half-price" is the HN title???
Browsing with Safari 10.1.1 I see a standard website with standard pricing. I would think that if this were something being promoted there would be a very prominent statement. But I don't see anything?
I tried adding a few books to my cart, but they also seem to have regular pricing.
The only thing that says "half-price" is the HN title???
Apparently you needed a coupon code, which was given elsewhere, and the promotion ended a few minutes ago.
The coupon code was buried in the comments, but it is still working: RIGHT2READ
No im getting this also...might have ended not sure tbh.
In case anyone is looking the coupon is RIGHT2READ
And here's why...
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.en.html
https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.en.html
The SparkFun Guide to Processing and Book of Inkscape both look very promising.
The No Starch folks have assembled a really interesting catalog of books.
The No Starch folks have assembled a really interesting catalog of books.
Anyone read PoC||GTFO? Looks like it'd be interesting.
You can read them online for free
https://www.alchemistowl.org/pocorgtfo/
But the bible must be a better format :-)
But the bible must be a better format :-)
Also, they're AMAZING
And if you like them, you may like https://www.xorpd.net/pages/xchg_rax/snip_00.html, a book of x64 poems (full disclosure: I was a reviewer)
And if you like them, you may like https://www.xorpd.net/pages/xchg_rax/snip_00.html, a book of x64 poems (full disclosure: I was a reviewer)
I know some assembly, but I'm having a hard time appreciating the poems. Can you give me some tips on what to notice or consider about them?
They're very much like koans in the sense that there's something to be learned from each one, they encode some deep gem of knowledge that a master low level programmer or reverse engineer will probably recognize.
Some are very self explanatory, like 0x00, which I consider a sort of tutorial on how to read the book. Others require careful thought and a few glances at the instruction set manual to figure out. Some, like 0x04, are so hard to figure out that either you ran into the solution once in your career and you know it, or you didn't. Try asking colleagues if it rings a bell. My personal favorite is 0x13, because how rewarding it was to figure out what's going on.
Some are very self explanatory, like 0x00, which I consider a sort of tutorial on how to read the book. Others require careful thought and a few glances at the instruction set manual to figure out. Some, like 0x04, are so hard to figure out that either you ran into the solution once in your career and you know it, or you didn't. Try asking colleagues if it rings a bell. My personal favorite is 0x13, because how rewarding it was to figure out what's going on.
Oh, thanks. Somehow I was imagining "poems" in a very different sense. The way that you've described it makes sense, and I look forward to taking a look at them with this understanding.
They are poems in both senses, I think. As in, they are designed as works of exceptional beauty under strict linguistic limitations. They also usually encode a gem of knowledge.
Thanks! I'll take a look through and may buy the bible later :p
Packet Publishing has 50% off as well:
https://www.packtpub.com/
https://www.packtpub.com/
The few books I've dug into from them on python are good and recommended by the 6.00 series of MIT MOOC on python. Also, free book of theirs is offered everyday on their website. I'm not sure how long that is going to keep happening cause I can't imagine them having enough books to keep doing that with forever.
I think you misunderestimate the spam cannon that is Packt Publishing. They'll publish pretty much anything, and seek out authors that don't necessarily know anything about the topic. They've currently got enough titles to do a free book per day for something like 10 years, without taking into account new releases.
Some of their books in specific topic areas are actually good, but in general, beware.
Some of their books in specific topic areas are actually good, but in general, beware.
Are any of these good? A lot of them look interesting
Also, Al Sweigart makes available many of his books for free on his website, including "Automate the Boring Stuff with Python", which also has a lot of good reviews on Amazon.
http://inventwithpython.com/index.html
http://inventwithpython.com/index.html
These two have a lot of good reviews on Amazon
https://www.nostarch.com/tlcl
https://www.nostarch.com/howlinuxworks2
https://www.nostarch.com/tlcl
https://www.nostarch.com/howlinuxworks2
I just bought https://www.nostarch.com/Rust and https://www.nostarch.com/seriouscrypto Both are early-release, but look good from the sample chapters provided.
Serious Cryptography by JP Aumasson is the one I picked up first (it is still early access but you will get the finished version when done.)
https://www.nostarch.com/seriouscrypto
https://www.nostarch.com/seriouscrypto
I just finished Hardware Hacker by Andrew “bunnie” Huang, and I'd highly recommend it. Completely changed my perspective on hardware production, and China's role in relation to it. And for fun he delves a bit into biohacking and how it's related to computers. I think the HN crowd would be into it.
https://www.nostarch.com/hardwarehacker
https://www.nostarch.com/hardwarehacker
"The Art of R Programming" is very good.
https://www.nostarch.com/artofr.htm
https://www.nostarch.com/artofr.htm
I liked Learn You A Haskell For Great Good, but it's available free from the author online.
The biggest issue I have with publisher websites is the lack of a strong review ecosystem. I've started looking at Amazon or industry blogs for reviews and recommendations, but that gets frustrating and is slow.
Just wonder if the publisher could arrange to get rights to it's books' reviews across seller sites and aggregate the results. The truth is, apart from occasional sales like this, the publisher sites are rarely in price competition with any other sellers.
But as far as Amazon goes, I'll buy the books in paper (or pay more for DRM-free) to avoid the Kindle DRM and being locked into one ecosystem. It almost feels like a luxury to be able to loan out or give away paper books. Kindle books just feel more like renting a book than owning it. Which is, legally, probably a closer metaphor for the transaction.
Just wonder if the publisher could arrange to get rights to it's books' reviews across seller sites and aggregate the results. The truth is, apart from occasional sales like this, the publisher sites are rarely in price competition with any other sellers.
But as far as Amazon goes, I'll buy the books in paper (or pay more for DRM-free) to avoid the Kindle DRM and being locked into one ecosystem. It almost feels like a luxury to be able to loan out or give away paper books. Kindle books just feel more like renting a book than owning it. Which is, legally, probably a closer metaphor for the transaction.
I'm pretty sure if you buy a book from No Starch and have serious complaints, Bill would probably refund you. They are really one of the most community friendly publishers out there.
I used to worry about that, then I realized that I've book 3 copies of some physical books I like - I read them enough times that I wore 2 copies out. Now I realize that it doesn't actually matter that I can loan paper books as I rarely do.
Cheap paperbacks wear out quick, I wish hardcover was available after books come on paperback because the books I like in paperback I go back to look for hardcover but by then hardcover is out of print. Though often I can find a library edition which is starting to become my default for paper books.
Cheap paperbacks wear out quick, I wish hardcover was available after books come on paperback because the books I like in paperback I go back to look for hardcover but by then hardcover is out of print. Though often I can find a library edition which is starting to become my default for paper books.
For technical books, I can't replicate the experience of writing notes in the margins (with a pencil of course) of a paper book versus anything ebook readers offer. Yes, I can't grep or query a paper book but the learning process seems more fluid as the book becomes my own reference source.
You might not like it but many ebook readers have annotation support. Usually you can highlight text and add notes. In the case of Kindle, you can later find all your highlights and notes on:
Personally, I don't use the online notes page. I am more than happy with the device showing me my own notes. There are also options for showing popular notes and highlights.
I agree that it is not frictionless like pen and paper, which I also love, but for those like me that live in far away countries where up to date books are expensive and hard to find, being able to use ebooks from abroad and use the notes features is a blessing.
https://kindle.amazon.com/your_highlights
Personally, I don't use the online notes page. I am more than happy with the device showing me my own notes. There are also options for showing popular notes and highlights.
I agree that it is not frictionless like pen and paper, which I also love, but for those like me that live in far away countries where up to date books are expensive and hard to find, being able to use ebooks from abroad and use the notes features is a blessing.
Thank you for linking to that export utility!
I use Kindle Highlights very heavily while doing research, I then export them for use while writing. That extension will save me a bunch of time.
I use Kindle Highlights very heavily while doing research, I then export them for use while writing. That extension will save me a bunch of time.
Do you think an iPad Pro would work for you? I just bought one and the ability to mark-up PDFs has turned out to work great. It does a good job of recognizing my handwriting and so when I search for some term, it also finds matches in my handwriting.
There are a bunch of different apps for this and none of them are expensive.
There are a bunch of different apps for this and none of them are expensive.
I don't have a problem with reading reviews on Amazon and then buying direct from the publisher.
"The truth is, apart from occasional sales like this, the publisher sites are rarely in price competition with any other sellers."
Is this really true? I usually by ebook/pbook combo and I find that I get a better deal directly on the publisher's website. Amazon is a non starter for me because I don't buy into their ebook format. "ebook" to me means epub and pdf.
Is this really true? I usually by ebook/pbook combo and I find that I get a better deal directly on the publisher's website. Amazon is a non starter for me because I don't buy into their ebook format. "ebook" to me means epub and pdf.
> Is this really true? I usually by ebook/pbook combo and I find that I get a better deal directly on the publisher's website. Amazon is a non starter for me because I don't buy into their ebook format. "ebook" to me means epub and pdf.
OK, well, it's not true if you discount the biggest and cheapest competitor out of hand.
OK, well, it's not true if you discount the biggest and cheapest competitor out of hand.
Kindle versions of most of the tech books would be $21-23 all the time (in the US), vs $39 for the DRM free format. You give up freedom for that $20 but also gain some convenience (frictionless buying process, library management). It is an interesting revealed preference when both are offered which sells at what price.
It would be a no brainer to check a box and get DRM-free vs DRM for the same price. I'd probably pay some premium once I get something (Calibre?) to manage other formats as well as I can manage kindle today, especially since stripping DRM from the latest Amazon format is more challenging than before. But as someone who reads 100+ books/year, it would be hard to justify paying 2x the price for the subset of books I only read once.
It would be a no brainer to check a box and get DRM-free vs DRM for the same price. I'd probably pay some premium once I get something (Calibre?) to manage other formats as well as I can manage kindle today, especially since stripping DRM from the latest Amazon format is more challenging than before. But as someone who reads 100+ books/year, it would be hard to justify paying 2x the price for the subset of books I only read once.
Good point! I guess I'm thinking in terms of dividing the market into 3 types of products: paper copy, locked-down DRM copy, DRM-free ebook. In 2/3 of those, Amazon and publishers don't compete. And on paper copies, publishers usually sell at list price with Amazon priced sometimes significantly less.
There's also a 4th type which is the used paper copy, where publishers kind of by definition don't compete.
Regardless, that's my admittedly naive rationale for why Amazon or other retailers shouldn't mind sharing review data with the publisher for use on its site.
There's also a 4th type which is the used paper copy, where publishers kind of by definition don't compete.
Regardless, that's my admittedly naive rationale for why Amazon or other retailers shouldn't mind sharing review data with the publisher for use on its site.
I am involved with ebook production for an academic publisher. I sometimes joke that I am going to have "that doesn't work on the Kindle" engraved on my tombstone.
A post listing some of these things (things that doesn't work on the kindle, not tomb stones) would be very interesting
For instance, if a book has an embedded jpeg, you can tap it and enlarge it to fill the screen. But if it is SVG art (as we often use for line art like charts and maps), it will not scale. Why not? I don't know. There is no support for MathML, or for scripting of any kind. Support for embedded video is poor. Page lists are suppressed in favor of Amazon's own proprietary system. Note that epub readers like Calibre and Apple iBooks can manage these things. It is intrusive about formatting: it may decide that your lists need to be bulleted whether you want them or not. It always underlines links, which is a pain with note callouts. These behaviors may be inconsistent across devices.
Adobe Digital Editions supposedly supports most of the epub standard, but is a buggy mess, esp. the Windows version.
Adobe Digital Editions supposedly supports most of the epub standard, but is a buggy mess, esp. the Windows version.
> These behaviors may be inconsistent across devices.
The image handling inconsistencies are very annoying. Here is what I've seen with several books.
1. When read on an eInk Kindle, images are small. (I can tap them to bring up the option to zoom, and zooming does work, but it is kind of ugly). For example, I've seen chess books where the diagrams are about twice postage stamp size, whereas in the physical book they are about 3 or 4 times as big in each dimension.
2. When read on the Kindle desktop application on Mac, the images are bigger. As far as I can tell when I've been able to compare to the physical book, they are the correct size.
3. When read on the Kindle desktop application for Windows, the images are small like they are on Kindle eInk readers.
4. When read in the Kindle cloud reader, they are the right size like on the Mac desktop application.
5. When read on iPhone with the iOS Kindle app, the images are small.
The main places I've noticed these are with chess books, where the position diagrams are the victims, and math books, where diagrams are the victims, and often also equations if the equations are done as images.
The image handling inconsistencies are very annoying. Here is what I've seen with several books.
1. When read on an eInk Kindle, images are small. (I can tap them to bring up the option to zoom, and zooming does work, but it is kind of ugly). For example, I've seen chess books where the diagrams are about twice postage stamp size, whereas in the physical book they are about 3 or 4 times as big in each dimension.
2. When read on the Kindle desktop application on Mac, the images are bigger. As far as I can tell when I've been able to compare to the physical book, they are the correct size.
3. When read on the Kindle desktop application for Windows, the images are small like they are on Kindle eInk readers.
4. When read in the Kindle cloud reader, they are the right size like on the Mac desktop application.
5. When read on iPhone with the iOS Kindle app, the images are small.
The main places I've noticed these are with chess books, where the position diagrams are the victims, and math books, where diagrams are the victims, and often also equations if the equations are done as images.
Image sizing is a tricky issue. When ebooks started to become a more mainstream thing, image size in the file was limited by the vendors, and also we sometimes had third-party licensing restrictions. Over time, of course, devices got more memory and higher-resolution screen, so larger file sizes are allowed, or even desirable. However, consistent behavior is still elusive. And that's even assuming optimal coding on the part of the publisher or whoever is doing their conversions; they may be using files that are not adequate for the higer-res screens.
It is weird how Amazon works - 50% off from the publisher is within a dollar or two of the regular Kindle price. No DRM and multiple formats is a huge improvement, but if you have a lot of Kindle books already, being able to manage everything through the Kindle system is also a benefit.
(For fiction or single-read, I would still probably go with Amazon. For a tech book which I'd want to keep reading and potentially view on platforms which don't have Kindle and where defeating the DRM could be a challenge, publisher direct.)
(For fiction or single-read, I would still probably go with Amazon. For a tech book which I'd want to keep reading and potentially view on platforms which don't have Kindle and where defeating the DRM could be a challenge, publisher direct.)
https://media.pragprog.com/newsletters/2017-07-10.html