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alandashby
09-13-2003, 05:48 PM
With the announcement from Barns and Noble this week about ebooks I will admit that I was a little disappointed in their decision. Though I can understand business decision and if you are not making money then sometimes you have to do away with some services.

Any way I was think that I don’t really find my self reading a lot of ebooks on my handheld though I have done it a few times. I posted on another board asking for book request and I actually read several of the ones that people had recommended. Anyway I run www.pocketPCinsider.net a site that I use for the Utah Pocket PC User Group and we just started our own discussion forms so I thought that we would add a selection just for ebooks.

So on our boards there is a category for general ebook comments, programs for ebooks, and recommended reading. I am hoping that if we all will refocus ourselves to using the capabilities of the Pocket PC we can help other companies from turning away from ebooks.

I would hope that other sites like www.pocketPCthoughts.com would do the same add a category for recommended ebook readings.

Please :D . Please reply to this topic with the books that you have now decided to read and ones that you would recommend for others.

Alan D. Ashby

You can access our boards at:
http://alandashby.proboards13.com/index.cgi
or you can just go through our main page:
www.pocketPCinsider.net

dh
09-13-2003, 09:32 PM
Since I discovered eBooks, I have read much more than before, probably because I now have my books with me all the time.

I would like to see Jason to add a forum dedicated to reading. I know there has to be a limit to the number of forums, but eBooks seem to be one of the most popular subjects for discussion right now.

Anyway, the books I have fall into a number of general catergories. These include the free MS ones, classics and books I have purchased. I am also starting to build a collection of books that I have in print form that are not officially available in eBook form.

Books I am reading now (I switch around a lot and usually have three or four on the go at any time) or have recently read, that I would recomend are:

Short History - Bill Bryson.
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
History of the Second World War - Churchill. I'm on Volume 3 of 6 at the moment.
The Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck
Anything by Dickens.

I tend to use MS Reader for public domain books and Mobipocket Reader for my DRM books. (ubook reader is good as well).

Crystal Eitle
09-13-2003, 09:41 PM
I too have thought of the idea of having an eBook-specific forum, or maybe a long running thread where people post eBook reviews and recommendations. There is a wealth of good reading out there.

I have to second the recommendation for A Short History of Nearly Everything. It was informative and awe-inspiring.

Another eBook I really enjoyed recently was 1632 and its sequel 1633 by Eric Flint. You can pick up 1632 for free at Baen, and the sequel is available thru Fictionwise. These are alternative history/sci-fi novels set in Europe during the Hundred Years War. Absolutely thrilling.

alandashby
09-13-2003, 09:46 PM
I am glad to see other agree, I just finished A short History of Nearly Everything, I used Aubible for the audio book, also a great media type. I would recomend it to anyone.

dh
09-13-2003, 09:51 PM
I have to second the recommendation for A Short History of Nearly Everything. It was informative and awe-inspiring.
It's funny, when I first moved to the US it was to the same small town as Bill Bryson lives - Hanover, NH. He used to write a column in one of the British Sunday papers about life in the Hanover area so my parents would always mail them to me.

In return I used to buy his travel books and have him sign them for my dad. He always did book signings at the local bookstore when he had something new. He's a nice guy, would chat with everyone he bumped into around town.

I was surprised when he wrote a science based book and my expectations were not too high. Wrong again!! :D One of the best books I have ever read.

Duncan
09-14-2003, 01:47 AM
I was surprised when he wrote a science based book and my expectations were not too high. Wrong again!! One of the best books I have ever read.

He's also written a brilliant book on the history of the English language: 'Mother Tongue'. How he manages to be so funny and yet so informative on so many different topics is beyond me...!

dh
09-14-2003, 05:40 AM
He's also written a brilliant book on the history of the English language: 'Mother Tongue'. How he manages to be so funny and yet so informative on so many different topics is beyond me...!
Hmmm.....
I'll have to track that one down.
Oh, another good work of history is Churchill's History of the English Speaking People. I don't know if they are available in eBook format yet. Churchill wrote a great short history of the American Revolution in one of the volumes. I bought a special edition of the three volumes for about $20.00 from BN.com.

dMores
09-14-2003, 03:16 PM
having been a reading-buff between the age of 6 and 17, i haven't read a single book after that.

somehow, everything must be electronic so that my brain finds it worth paying attention to, and i have started using eBooks.

so now i'm catching up on "The Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy", nearly everyone i know has read this book, but not me.

but since i usually fall asleep in front of my pocketLOOX, progress is slow :)

alandashby
09-15-2003, 02:19 PM
I was glad to see Jason put up a new forum for this, I think that it will be enjoyable for everyone. Dont forget to post reviews, I am always looking for recomendations.

Alan

doogald
09-15-2003, 05:35 PM
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
The Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck


Interesting. Where did you find copies of these e-books?

dh
09-17-2003, 02:00 PM
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
The Grapes of Wrath - Steinbeck


Interesting. Where did you find copies of these e-books?
There are no official versions of these books so far as I know.

The Tolkien books used to be available on the old Sprinklerhead site before it changed. which is where I got mine.

As mentioned by other posters, you can find just about anything if you look around the web. I personally only ever download books that I already have a print version of. If there is a real eBook edition I will be happy to purchase it.