MetaFilter posts tagged with free and books

Almost Perfect

Monday, stony Monday — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 12:38:44 -0800

Almost Perfect (1994) is an account of "the rise and fall of WordPerfect Corporation" from the point of view of former executive vice-president W. E. (Pete) Peterson. [via reddit].

Feel your inadequacy

Monday, stony Monday — Wed, 01 Apr 2009 21:32:54 -0800

If you're like me, you are not a top computer science researcher, and you haven't written a classic book about programming and made it available online for free. Let's review who we're not. We're neither Abelson nor Sussman, and we haven't written Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs (previous proof). We're not part of TeachScheme and we had no hand in the writing of How to Design Programs (not even the second edition, natch). Shriram Krishnamurthi didn't need our help to write Programming Languages: Application and Interpretation. We wish we were Simon Peyton-Jones and had a hand in The Implementation of Functional Programming Languages. And since we're in a depressing mood, let's say Van Roy and Haridi are not us, and we have nothing to do with Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming. (not really online...)

We have books.

serazin — Fri, 27 Feb 2009 15:37:08 -0800

Weee! Book scramble! (Single link Daily Mail article.)

Nietzsche on your Nokia

desjardins — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 12:29:27 -0800

Need a little Tolstoy while you're waiting in line? How about some Mark Twain on the subway? Booksinmyphone puts - surprise! - books in your phone, for free.

free reading, writing and arithmetic resources

nickyskye — Mon, 03 Nov 2008 06:11:10 -0800

EduChoices offers some good free stuff online: 25 Places to Read Free Books Online l 50 Online Writing Websites for New Writers l Ranking of 20 Universities that Offer Free Courses Online (with links to the free courses), as well as information about university courses etc. l Great Reference Sites Other Than Wikipedia l Free Linux Tutorials for Beginners l Useful Online Calculators For Almost Every Educational and Life Need. The 10 Most Politically Active College and University Campuses of All Time l other useful links.

Is Haskell Failing?

Monday, stony Monday — Sat, 18 Oct 2008 11:38:42 -0800

Haskell has a sort of unofficial slogan: avoid success at all costs says one of its inventors, Simon Peyton-Jones. But will the advanced purely functional programming language[, a]n open source product of more than twenty years of cutting edge research remain true to its roots? Things look rather bleak for the obscurity of Haskell. In the wake of Peyton-Jones's own A taste of Haskell, and with the imminent publication of Real World Haskell by O'Reilly and the emergence of the Haskell Platform, comes BONUS's fun, colorfully illustrated Learn You a Haskell for Great Good!. (Somewhat reminiscent of why's (poignant) guide to Ruby [previously], but a little less, er, exhuberant.) If you read Proggit and LtU, you've already seen all this. Also, sorry inverted-pyramid lovers.

Storytime with Neil Gaiman

Artw — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 09:03:07 -0800

Neil Gaiman's latest work, The Graveyard Book, is a kind of undead Jungle Book, with a man-child being raised by various ghosts and ghouls rather than animals. He's been the whole thing a chapter at a time on each stop of his American promotional tour, and posting the videos online (and blogging about it of course), which means that with tonights reading the entire thing will be available online.

Self Made Scholar

Upton O'Good — Sun, 01 Jun 2008 21:01:49 -0800

Self Made Scholar hosts a comprehensive collection of links to online classes in over 80 subjects. They also link to collections of free books and audiobooks.

Self-publishing in an Internet Age, or, Web Comics Without the Pictures.

Caduceus — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 13:17:28 -0800

Pages Unbound is a portal for serialized web novels, similar to web comic portals such as Buzz Comix and Top Web Comics, if not nearly as fancy. It is a new project by Tales of MU author Alexandra Erin. Note: Tales of MU and some of the novels found on Pages Unbound may be NSFW, as they contain explicit material of various sorts. MU, specifically, is concerned with LGBT issues and racism in a fantasy setting.

Trigger Happier

stavrosthewonderchicken — Thu, 22 Nov 2007 01:36:59 -0800

Trigger Happier "Trigger Happy is a book about the aesthetics of videogames — what they share with cinema, the history of painting, or literature; and what makes them different, in terms of form, psychology and semiotics. It’s offered under a CC license, for a limited time only. I’m not sure how limited that time will be, so grab it while it’s hot." [drm-free pdf]

Free books, but not just any free books

StrikeTheViol — Mon, 12 Nov 2007 08:04:22 -0800

Munseys, formerly Blackmask, still my favorite free book site.

They send you a book, you review it.

goodnewsfortheinsane — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 09:58:13 -0800

Blog a Penguin Classic.

The Toymaker: "Make toys! Play more!"

taz — Mon, 24 Jul 2006 02:23:46 -0800

The Toymaker offers over 40 free paper toys and pretties you can print out (PDFs) and make yourself, as well as "Stories to be Told by Firelight" - online versions of author/illustrator Marilyn Scott Waters' children's stories and lots of other fun goodies. For people who have kids, people who know kids, people who are kids, and people who love papercraft, illustration, toys, and tales. [more...]

The first one's free

verb — Fri, 02 Jun 2006 07:26:31 -0800

The Washington Post gives away books. At least, the first chapters. Tucked away in the Arts and Living section of their site is Chapter One, a registration-free page that links to reviews and opening chapters of new releases. Of course, there are always other options if you're looking for a digital literature fix.

Free good science fiction

blahblahblah — Mon, 19 Sep 2005 21:34:46 -0800

Free, good science fiction for download, some you might have seen, some new, all are worth the time. If you have only a few minutes, Michael Swanick's Science Fiction Table of the Elements features 108 short short stories. If you have a little more time, Kelly Link, called by Neil Gaiman "the best short story writer currently out there" has released her much-praised collection Stranger Things Happen. For longer reads, Charlie Stross has made available his cyberpunk novel Accelerando and his Lovecraftish Colder War. The creepier Peter Watts has posted the New York Times Notable Book Starfish, and its sequels as well [previously]. If you haven't had enough, you should check out the Baen Free Library, with books by everyone from Andre Norton to Larry Niven, as well as a large amount of right-of-center combat-oriented stuff by David Weber and friends. Also, the Science Fiction Channel has made available many well-known classic short stories as well as a lot of contemporary Hugo and World Fantasy Award winners [previously]. Finally, you probably already know that Cory Doctorow has four novels available under creative commons. Happy reading!

Free online CliffsNotes

bob sarabia — Mon, 13 Sep 2004 20:09:18 -0800

CliffsNotes is now offering 180 literature guides available for free online viewing.

The Gutenberg Singularity

hairyeyeball — Tue, 15 Apr 2003 14:35:21 -0800

Proof of Life After Copyright : An overexcited e-mail from the Gutenbergers:

April 10, 2002 was the day Project Gutenberg reached 5,000 eBooks. By Moore's Law, October 10, 2003 could be the day for number 10,000. We are just over half way — 7,661 as I write this — 2,339 to go! That will take over 300 eBooks per month; we need you to help us push our average up from 268 per month to get to 10,000 by December, 31st.

God help us if the entire universe fails to obey Moore's Law: the IPO of the singularity could be delayed. So pitch in.

rschram — Thu, 12 Oct 2000 18:00:59 -0800

Docs Online Bulgaria
It seems to make available the full text of many computer books for free -- Is this legal in Bulgaria?