Wow. I was going to say something witty and clever, and I got nothin, so: "The new Web-based Sony Library Finder tool can be used to find e-books in the local library that can be checked out, downloaded onto a desktop computer and then loaded onto a Sony Reader device -- all without charge." [Note - Probably USian] [more inside]
posted by ZakDaddy on Aug 26, 2009 - 62 comments

Amazon's Kindle 2 was debuted on Monday at the Morgan Library (as speculated), where Stephen King read (and read) from his kindle-exclusive story. If you couldn't be there, read some live-blogging accounts. The interface and refresh rate is improved, now features text-to-speach (which upse the Author's Guild, who claim this feature is "an audio right, which is derivative under copyright law.") But Kindle isn't the only the only e-book device. Going farther from the more book-shaped e-readers, you can read ebooks on iPhones or iPods (the latter has a DIY option), Gameboy Advances, or even the Mattel's Juice Box.
posted by filthy light thief on Feb 12, 2009 - 87 comments

A 4-star rated book on CSS: The Art & Science of CSS is a FREE DOWNLOAD for 14 days from the folks at Sitepoint. Reader reviews give it 4 stars at Amazon. 208 pages. [more inside]
posted by spock on Nov 19, 2008 - 32 comments

Some are calling it the "Kindle Killer". (Demo launch video at engadget.) Plastic Logic's new e-reader, expected to be out in the first half of 2009, does promise to offer a lot that Kindle and most other other popular e-readers don't, like a larger display, big enough to provide a newspaper or magazine layout; touch-based markup and annotation; the ability to read standard documents and other file types without conversion; (promised) Wi-Fi connectivity (including the ability to transfer documents between readers); and last but not least, a screen display that you can hit with a shoe, and isn't that something we've all been waiting for during these tense times? [more inside]
posted by taz on Sep 13, 2008 - 85 comments

Online Encyclopedia of Mathematics Edited by Michiel Hazewinkel (CWI, Amsterdam), and originaly published in dead tree form in 2002, now free to browse and poke into. [more inside]
posted by Iosephus on Aug 2, 2008 - 7 comments

Gutenberg-e now offers open access to Columbia University Press history ebooks. "These award winning monographs, coordinated with the American Historical Association, afford emerging scholars new possibilities for online publications, weaving traditional narrative with digitized primary sources, including maps, photographs, and oral histories." Found via a link to How Taiwan Became Chinese, one of the books available.
posted by Abiezer on Dec 19, 2007 - 8 comments

Munseys, formerly Blackmask, still my favorite free book site.
posted by StrikeTheViol on Nov 12, 2007 - 7 comments

"Build Your Own Ruby on Rails Web Applications" book is free for 60 days. Reader reviews give it 4-stars at Amazon. Like most first editions, there are a few typos to watch out for. [more inside]
posted by spock on Oct 3, 2007 - 48 comments

Confessions of A Long Distance Sailor - I had been sitting in dark rooms, punching computer keys, for years. I had always wanted to learn SCUBA diving, hike around in the tropics, so I booked a flight to Hawaii. But a month later I was in — are you ready? — a traffic jam on Maui. I understand now, from the moment I touched that sailboat's dock lines, I was doomed to sail.
posted by phrontist on Jun 17, 2007 - 12 comments

The Spy of the Heart - The story of an American's exploration of Islamic spirituality within the turmoil of Afghanistan. Full book (PDF) available free onsite.
posted by Burhanistan on Apr 16, 2007 - 5 comments

Professor Solomon's Japan in a Nutshell By the lost-object-finding author of The Book Of King Solomon, How to Make the Most Of A Flying Saucer Experience, and Coney Island. Share and enjoy!
posted by stavrosthewonderchicken on Jan 11, 2007 - 16 comments

Eighteenth Century E-Texts, a sub-branch of Eighteenth Century Resources, maintained by Jack Lynch, of Rutgers.
posted by mwhybark on Feb 17, 2006 - 17 comments

Anthology Holy Tango of Literature: "The question of what would happen if poets and playwrights wrote works whose titles were anagrams of their names is one that has been insufficiently studied in the past." Francis Heaney has published his book online under a Creative Commons license, along with the Holy Tango Basement Tapes.
posted by mendel on Dec 6, 2005 - 21 comments

Heaven or Hell? It's Your Choice
A new shareware E-Book is out, penned by the likes of Captain Crunch and Matthew Smith, that makes the claims:

Don't bother planning your pension, the world is about to change and we can prove it, please just take 2 minutes out of your life to read this page, it may change your life. Artificial intelligence is coming and it may become smarter than any of us. Smart networks using grid technologies could become a threat to us ALL, this is the real Matrix. From Dot.Net to the X-Box, from M-Theory to the Playstation 3 the future is V.R. / A.I. and Nanotech. If you ever wanted to know what the system is and what it has done to you, then this ebook is for you. You left school, you were standardised, you took an exam, you were graded, they made you believe in money, this is the last great social control mechanism. There's more to this, than you can imagine.

...and there you have it. Or do you?
posted by metameme on Jul 7, 2003 - 24 comments

At Virus Books(mostly German, but it doesn't matter), you can download short visual summaries of books for your PalmOS portable. Even if you don't have a handheld, there are images of the results, so you can have a look, anyway.
posted by Su on Jun 23, 2002 - 2 comments

What a fantastic conspiracy theory. This article basically accuses the Department of Justice of taking Dmitry Sklyarov hostage. It has convinced me, although admittedly that doesn't take a lot.
posted by Atom Heart Mother on Aug 30, 2001 - 7 comments

A Russian security expert has been arrested for showing how easy it is to crack an e-book. All hail the DMCA! Some information is just Too Dangerous to be Revealed! (See also wildly detailed coverage, including the affidavit, from Planet eBook.)
posted by davidchess on Jul 18, 2001 - 6 comments

So how much money is Stephen King throwing away? G. Beato's take on the world's most famous e-publishing experiment makes a great point: King has the clout to drive traffic, and that can worth a hell of a lot more than what he's getting directly from his readers. King's got brand identity and endless content -- why is he bothering with a subscription fee?
posted by gknauss on Oct 2, 2000 - 8 comments

This illustration of the human digestive tube is just one of the many joys of Gray's Anatomy (1918 Edition). "This 1,396-page ebook is divided into nearly 300 sections, with 1,247 illustrations (many in color and unchanged since the first edition of 1859) rendered in three different resolutions, and with an encyclopedic subject index comprising some 13,000 entries hypertext-linked directly to their respective pages in the text." And it's yours for free at bartleby.com. [via researchbuzz (a very cool weblog which deserves more attention)]
posted by grumblebee on Jun 12, 2000 - 1 comment

Something that may finally make e-books palatable is this new display technology that has an incredible resolution of 202 pixels per inch. Imagine a digital display with the same image resolution as a high quality printed magazine.
posted by grant on Nov 11, 1999 - 0 comments