E-book collection can grow like Topsy – too much to handle?
By Paul Biba
Since I’ve gotten my Kindle I’ve been exposed to the ability to download books from a variety of sources without the intervention of a computer. I’ve found that this had led to my collecting a veritable cornucopia of books, and you can see them below. The reason I mention this is not to impress anyone with how many books I have, but to show 1) how easy it is to carry all sorts of stuff around with you, and 2) the great variety of books that are available in e-book form. All these are from a number of sources, some from Amazon and infested with DRM, some from Gutenberg and other DRM-free sources, especially Feedbooks. Feedbooks is a great wireless resource of DRM free classics and Creative Commons contemporary books. This list, of course, does not include the books I’ve already read and removed from the machine. Nor does it include the Fictionwise books I have in eReader format on my iPhone. Next time you run into an e-book skeptic point them to this post (you and bookmark it by clicking the Permanent Link url at the bottom of the post) and ask them how many books they have in their pocket or briefcase. Also tell them that the majority of these books were either free or substantially cheaper than the p-book edition.
Anatheum – Stephenson
Behemoth – Watts
Blindsight – Watts
Buried Pyramid – Lindskold
Burmese Days – Orwell
Confusion – Stephenson
Dark Resurrection – Kerr
Day of the Nefilim – Major
Dawnthief – Barclay
Dead Souls – Gogol
Dogland – Shenerly
Down and Out in Paris.. – Orwell
Earth Goddess – Herley
Epic of Kings – trans. Zimmern
Fathers and Sons – Turgenev
Flint Lord – Herley
Golden Age – Wright
Halting State – Stross
Infinite Sea – Carver
Interface – Stephenson
Just After Sunset – King
Life of Gordon – Boulger
Maelstrom – Watts
Mars Girl – Garrity
Meaning of Everything – Winchester
Neptune Crossing – Carver
New Grub Street – Gissing
Of Human Bondage – Maugham
Penal Colony – Herley
Refuge – Herley
Resurrectionist – O’Connell
Rivet in Grandfather’s Neck – Cabell
Roman Traitor – Herbert
Saturns Children – Stross
Secret of the Great Pyramid – Brier
Solomon Scandals – Rothman
Spaceman Blues – Slattery
Spirit House – Moore
Starfish – Watts
Stone Arrow – Herley
Strange Attractors – Carver
System of the World – Stephenson
Takers – Ridley
Opium Monopoly – Motte
Unnatural Inquirer – Green
Ventus – Schroeder
War for the Oaks – Bull
December 12th, 2008 at 4:18 am
Too much? Never.
Like many people, I have several thousand p-books on my shelf. E-books are so much nicer to handle, find, sort, store.
In fact, I want them ALL.
December 12th, 2008 at 1:56 pm
I have 354 ePub books loaded on my iPod right now. Never too much!
Also, I have them somewhat sorted on my computer to keep track of them, much like I do with my physical books on my bookshelves.
Like Joscha said, it’s easier to sort them in e format.
December 26th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
I’m the author of one of the books listed and as I watch the growing numbers of Mars Girl downloads from my own site (marsgirl.us), manybooks, feedbooks, mobileread and others, I wonder how many people are reading the book, or will eventually get around to reading it, and how many download the book but will never read it. I also wonder how many times files of Mars Girl are shared with others. I’m happy to see that the book has been downloaded thousands of times but I wonder if anyone has come up with a ratio of number of downloads per actual times read. I imagine that file sharing data is even harder to determine. Any ideas?
Jeff Garrity
June 15th, 2009 at 2:49 am
Paul – I have a question for you… where did you manage to find your copy of Emma Bull, War for the Oaks?
I know it was (briefly) given away free by Tor at the end of last year but that special offer has long since expired and I only found out about it yesterday. I would love to know where I can get my wife a copy of War for the oaks as it is one of her “desert island” books along with Jack the Giant Killer by De Lint.