As of today, Google Book Search affords you the opportunity to read or even download the complete text of many out-of-copyright books, including Hamlet, Aesop’s Fables, the Inferno, and many more. Here’s the news on Google’s own blog. If you’re looking for a current book, and you also don’t want to pay a penny, you might consider Book Mooch. And if you’re wondering where to start with a new author, living or dead, you might check into Debbie’s Idea. I’m sure a lot of you who read this blog have other good information about online literature, so feel free to share in the comments. (For the discussion of related issues on this blog, see here.)
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FREAK Shots:
About Freakonomics
Stephen J. Dubner is an author and journalist who lives in New York City.
Steven D. Levitt is a professor of economics at the University of Chicago.
Their book Freakonomics has sold 3 million copies worldwide. This blog, begun in 2005, is meant to keep the conversation going. Recurring guest bloggers include Ian Ayres, Jessica Hagy, Daniel Hamermesh, Sudhir Venkatesh, and Justin Wolfers.
Annika Mengisen is the site editor.
Comment of the Moment
Naked Self-Promotion
Freakonomics is bolstering book sales at airports because it’s sexy, reports TheBookseller.com -- with or without its Turkish cover.
Freakonomics: A Rogue Economist Explores the Hidden Side of Everything
Archive
Recent Posts
November 18
(18 comments)
Would a Market for Organs Punish the Poor More Than They Are Already Punished?
Below is a fascinating statement issued by Physicians for a National Health Program, “a membership organization of over 15,000 physicians [which] supports a single-payer national health insurance program.”
You should read the whole thing but, in a nutshell: The people who receive donated organs in the U.S. nearly always have health insurance, while a significant fraction [...]
November 18
(22 comments)
Larry Summers for Treasury Secretary
Larry Summers
There is a lot of speculation about whether President-elect Barack Obama will choose Larry Summers to be his Treasury Secretary. But some people are openly opposing Summers’s appointment, in part because of controversial comments he made about women in science.
It’s a close question, but I’m hoping that Obama appoints Summers. I have three reasons:
First, [...]
November 18
(8 comments)
Boston Legal Way Classier Than Beauty and the Geek?
Thanks to all the readers who wrote in last week with news that Freakonomics was mentioned on the TV show Boston Legal.
It happened at the end, when the William Shatner character and the James Spader character were having their ritual end-of-the-episode scotch, musing about law and the world.
Alan Shore (Spader): Well, it’s possible [...]
November 18
(20 comments)
Is France Due for Riots?
Photo: cicilief
In my last post, I offered several reasons why the urban riot has gone out of style in the U.S.
However, France will not be spared the sword. I predict that the world will watch French cities light up in youth unrest in 2009, 2010 at the latest … 2011 for sure.
I have been [...]
November 18
(118 comments)
A Beet Paradox
Photo: Darwin Bell
Beets are the new broccoli. Or at least they will be after Obama takes office on January 20, as the president-elect recently revealed his distaste for this vitamin-laden root vegetable. And Obama is not alone: Even as beet salads have become popular in trendy eateries, most American kids I know also reject the [...]
Stuff We Weren't Paid to Endorse
1. Go to Hulu.com. 2. Choose Arrested Development. 3. Start with Season 1 and then watch every episode of all three seasons. 4. You can thank me later. (SJD)
I can scarcely tell a scarlet tanager from Scarlett O’Hara, but The Life of the Skies had me transfixed from the first page. Jonathan Rosen -- who happens to be a friend of mine -- writes with astounding insight, wit, and compassion. The story he tells here is the best kind of odyssey, an outward journey that ends up highlighting the beauty and daring that live inside of us. Here's a Times review of the book, and here's an earlier blog post about the book and the power of suggestion. (SJD)
Even if you don’t have a son fighting in Iraq, even if you don’t read poetry, even if you think you are immune to the power of a mother’s lament – pick up The Warrior and read it right away. Fran Richey has written some of the most powerful stories I’ve ever encountered. It is obvious that her life was changed by living these poems; yours may well be changed by reading them. (SJD)
From the Opinion Blogs
Necessary Steps
Inching Along the Edge of the World
In his last walk of the series, the author manages to avoid stepping out into thin air.
Abstract City
New York Cheat Sheets
All New Yorkers develop tricks that allow them to stay ahead of the pack in daily life. Here I offer some of mine in a couple of handy charts.
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19 Comments
Like most people, I need/want to save money. But I always feel uneasy about getting literature for free. The authors (unless they’re dead) are cheated out of their book sales. It’s true, I do borrow books from the library occasionally and sometimes from friends. But I try to buy books whenever I can. (Not that I don’t think Google books isn’t very intriguing.)
— RheaThanks for the link to Debbie’s Idea. I always have trouble figuring out which book to start with when I want to read a new author I haven’t read before.
BTW, Freakonomics is recommended to start with for books by Stephen J. Dubner. But Turbulent Souls is a close second.
— fallenpostersProject Gutenberg has been offering free out-of-copyright ebooks for years.
http://www.gutenberg.org
Not a free lunch for me as paper and toner ink add up…
— nphebelI have been going here for years. They seem to abide by all copyright laws so they don’t have any works by authors who haven’t been dead for 50 years, but they obviously have many classics.
— carty64Has anyone noticed there are almost no public domain literature from the 20th century? The current copyright laws are ridiculously long. Of course there is big money behind them but the public good is not being served, IMO.
— jroaneCheck out LibraryThing as well.
Freakonomics on LibraryThing
— turbosaabjroane,
Copyright laws protect authors like a patent protects a researcher’s idea. If the author did not have that guarentee that his/her book would not be copied, then they might not have written the book in the first place.
That said, 50 years after the author’s death does seem a bit steep. But if that’s the sort of incentive Levitt and Dubner need to write a sequel to Freakonomics, who’s complaining?
— BlandyBook Crossing (www.bookcrossing.com) also has an interesting “catch and release” model of sharing books.
- jim
— jim_carsonI hadn’t heard of Book Mooch, but http://www.frugalreader.com, http://www.paperbackswap.com, and http://www.titletrader.com are similar, popular sites (I belong to the first two and can vouch for them).
— tesslouiseA great service from Google - even though, as pointed by nphebel, you spend on ink and paper - should you think of printing tehse out. But then don’t we all spend at least something searching for, downloading and installing free stuff from the web?
— moonlighterAt least for now, the real benefit of this service would be for free book lovers (complete download perhaps) as well as for rare book lovers (limited view) - who could buy the book from Noble / Amazon, etc.
I am not keen on reading books on my computer. However, I would expect that are devices available which simulate the book reading experience that you can download these books to. Can anyone recommend something state-of-the-art for this Christmas?
— etreslanAs a public librarian I am compelled to point out the obvious: Check out what is available at your local tax-supported institution! My own is located in a relatively small city and we have a relatively small budget (not that any public library has an enormous budget). However, we subscribe to and offer Web resources for readers and geneaologists, as well as databases containing full-text magazines, newspapers, and downloadable audiobooks. This is all available 24/7 through our Web site; you simply need to log in with your library card number for free access. Don’t overlook what your local public library has to offer.
You can also stop in the building some time and ask a real-live librarian for reading suggestions (no, not the clerk behind the Check Out Desk; ask for the Librarian, a trained professional) or just check out a book (the clerk at the Check Out Desk can help you with that).
— renprelowI know this is kind of besides the point, but along the lines of Debbie’s Idea, I’ve always wanted a resource that would tell me which version or translation of a specific book was the best. Anybody know of anything along those lines?
— drellare.: drella
The New Lifetime Reading Plan by Fadiman and Major should be at your local library. For the books they recommend, they recommend specific editions/translations (in the appendix).
— tesslouiseIn terms of developing countries, a new idea which is being floated around is using the wiki-approach to create text books for developing countries. More info at the below links:
http://www.newscientisttech.com/article.ns?id=dn9906&feedId=online-news_rss20
http://www.scidev.net/news/index.cfm?fuseaction=readnews&itemid=3077&language=1&utm_source=feed-1&utm_medium=rss
http://pienso.typepad.com/pienso/2006/09/free_wiki_textb.html
— PiensoLuegoExistoU Penn also makes a catolog of free online books available:
http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/
And here are some online econ and business text books:
http://www.businessbookmall.com/Free%20Business%20Books.htm
— PiensoLuegoExistothanks for the recommendation, tesslouise - I’ll be sure to check it out.
— drellaI did a quick search in google with 3 key words ( pdf freakonomics free) and got this link.. really freaked me out.
http://bsx.ru/~gong/freak/Steven.D.Levitt-and-Stephen.J.Dubner-Freakonomics.pdf
— Baleshi really love this books. the funniest part was about the two brothers named winner and loser.
— Sabrina