The books and reading thread

[sandman67]

Homer you have set yourself up against Sheldon H.Harris - Emeritus Professor of History, California State, University, Northridge. That is an arrogance only indulged in the USA...a country whose 1st Ammendment and attitude that all opinions are valid and deserve equal voice is unique. Elsewhere in the rational world we wieght opinion by qualification....and so in this argument you opinion is worthless. He did the research and reporting, you didnt. He is a widely respected historian, you aint.

Sheldon Harris is a highly respected man in the field of genocide research and 20thC history, you are a shmo yank who doesnt like the idea of tarring the good name of the US....what Ed Shultz calls a flag wrapped patriot.

Homer vs Harris = you loose.

End of argument.

Back to the thread....

Im big on history books and have stacks of them in e-book format. Mostly it is stuff on ancient cultures (mainly Persian/Hellenic/Roman/Egyptian) and WW1/WW2.

I also have the full Set of Shelby Footes narrative history of The US Civil War, and the Band of Brothers memoirs/Eugene Sledge/Robert Leckie books that led to Band of Brothers and Pacific series. I have Once A WArrior King and Chickenhawk memoirs from Vietnam era, the transcripts of the My Lai trials, and Mangold & Penycate - The Tunnels of Cu Chi. They are all essential war memoir reads. The "Tunnels" book is a history of the Tunnel Rats....makes your skin crawl what they went through down there.

Ive also got the full set of Spike Milligans war memoir books which make me laugh and cry...they get sadder the further in you get.

Ive got a good selection of books on the US culture wars and politics, 50 or so on atheism and rationalist philosophy, some biographies, most books by Christopher Hitchens, some stuff on the early US history like Jefferson and Lewis and Clarke, and some reference coffee table type books on astronomy, geology, navigation, atlases and encyclopedias.

Novel wise its a large and eclectic collection of all sorts of stuff. From Kipling and Sherlock Holmes to full sets of Discworld and David Gemmell. Mostly fantasy, crime novels like Elmore, and historical novels on the crusades and such.

Like I said if theres a book or series you want and cant find ask me and I will look on the closed membership book boards I hang out on. Anything from novels to technical manuals and research books.

Mostly these are in PDF and EPUB formats although I can convert them for you as well to whatever format you need.

Ask and Ill post them to my 4shared account as earlier as its free and easy as pie for you to drop em as a download.

If you like books I really recc you get a e-reader like the Sony PRS600....its a great toy and though I still prefer paper i cant carry 1000 books round in my pocket on paper but can with teh Sony

[dtaai-maai]

Ive also got the full set of Spike Milligans war memoir books which make me laugh and cry...they get sadder the further in you get.

OMG, I'd quite forgotten about those. Must be nearly 30 years since I read them.

Like I said if theres a book or series you want and cant find ask me and I will look on the closed membership book boards I hang out on. Anything from novels to technical manuals and research books.
Mostly these are in PDF and EPUB formats although I can convert them for you as well to whatever format you need.
Ask and Ill post them to my 4shared account as earlier as its free and easy as pie for you to drop em as a download.
If you like books I really recc you get a e-reader like the Sony PRS600....its a great toy and though I still prefer paper i cant carry 1000 books round in my pocket on paper but can with teh Sony

Interesting, especially here, where new reading material is so hard to come by. I've always been a bit snooty about e-books. I simply can't imagine reading from a computer screen for pleasure (I spend enough time doing that for work, and I'm sure it's doing my eyes no good!). And much of my reading time is in bed or in the toilet/reading room.

But I often end up reading something that is second rate simply because there's nothing better available, so perhaps it's time to bite the bullet?

How much are these e-readers, how big are the screens? How small is the print? (or do you have to read a sentence at a time? )

[pharvey]

Would love to get my hands (or my Kindle) on a copy of Spike Milligans war memoir books...... what deal can we make SM??

What software are you using to convert files by the way - and can they be converted to azw and/or mbp (for kindle basically)?

[sandman67]

right then....I'll upload the Milligan 5 book set to 4shared later and post the links here. I will pre-convert them to Kindle format first and post two zip files - one of PDF versions and one of AZW versions.

E-Readers.....they come in many shapes and sizes but mine is a Sony PRS600. The screen is what they call e-paper so it looks like paper, and isnt backlit so you need to read in light conditions. Font sizes are fully scalable so you can increase the font size. The "page" screen is the same size as a paperback novel.

The Sony set me back around £200 with a 14gigabyte add on memory card. Its the best 200 nicker Ive ever spent. I store currently over 900 books and 300 audio files (radio plays, audio-books, etc) on there and theres still stacks of room left.

Its also one of the easiest gadgets to use I own.

Definitely recommended in Thailand as books here cost a packet and the selection is dross.

The converters I use are all freeware I drop from the net and are format dependant. I mainly use two software suites called SIGIL and CALIBRE. Both can be a pig to work out how to work properly.

Ill find you a good one for Kindle formats and post a link here. E-books tend to be posted in PDF and EPUB or MOBI formats. One of the selling points of Sony Readers is they handle just about every file format.

Back later with Milligan and a converter.

[dtaai-maai]

Thanks for that, Sandman. I've just treated myself to a new pc (I had the old one 5 years and it was grinding to a halt), so I'll have to start saving up again. It's Mrs D-M's birthday soon, perhaps I can get myself one then?

While we're on the subject, can you tell me about your Kindle please ph?

[sandman67]

OK Milligan fans...here you go

Milligans Memoirs in EPUB format - readable on any PC or reader other than Kindle

http://www.4shared.com/file/0h9si3xP/Milligan_Epub.html

Milligans Memoirs in Kindle friendly MOBI format (specially for pharvey)

http://www.4shared.com/file/wHyL3Dmv/Milligan_Mobi.html

PH - MOBI format should work - the AZW format is an Amazon closed format - even CALIBRE doesnt handle it. Let me know if these dont work...I can probably source you the Amazon format files from a board I scan.

These are zip folders so download and unpack.

You should then have copies of

Spike Milligan - Adolf Hitler, My Part in His Downfall
Spike Milligan - Monty, His Part in my Victory
Spike Milligan - Rommel, Gunner Who
Spike Milligan - Mussolini, His Part In My Downfall
Spike Milligan - Where Have All The Bullets Gone

If anyone needs them in PDF format let me know and Ill do a conversion and post a zip of PDFs

enjoy HHF chums, and feel free to ask if there are any other books you cant find.

My full 4shared folder can be found at

http://www.4shared.com/folder/W9phUCql/_online.html ...its two pages long so make sure to check the page tabs on the bottom.

Theres a zip folder of all JRR Tolkiens works in there, and one named "TP Novels" that is a full collection of Terry Pratchetts books. Theres also the full uncensored Rammstein PUSSY music vid and a stack of other e-books. Help yourself and wipe your feet on the way out

[pharvey]

SM Sir, you are a gentleman and a scholar - I shall gladly purchase several pints of your choice beverage upon my next visit to Hua Hin.

[Homer]

Well, I'm not (very) ashamed to confess I'm reading something by Dean Koontz...

His novel 'Intensity' is one of the best thrillers I've ever read.

[Homer]

Homer you have set yourself up against Sheldon H.Harris - Emeritus Professor of History, California State, University, Northridge.
...
Homer vs Harris = you loose.

Dr. Harris earned a masters from Harvard and a doctorate from Colombia, then inexplicably fell about as far as one could academically, ending up at CSUN. The state college is known for admitting just about anyone (73% of applicants) and it's pitiful graduation rate (12%). The most respected ratings of US colleges ranks it 77th among Western Regional Colleges. In short, it's the dregs.

Besides, even if he was at Harvard, his status as a bleeding heart liberal member of the 'hate America first' crowd makes his work suspect.

you are a shmo yank who doesnt like the idea of tarring the good name of the US....what Ed Shultz calls a flag wrapped patriot.

Not even close. If I thought I could get away with it I'd be tempted to get a deer rifle with a good scope and take out those responsible for the acts that got the good name tarred.

[sandman67]

Hi Guys

we were talking earlier about the way to convert one file ebook format into another, partiularly for to make non Kindle format books into Kindle MOBI format.

There is a site that does this online for free....you feed in the source file, they convert it online, then you download the converted file. Seems to hanle multiple file formats for both input and output

Here it is...I gave it a spin and it works a treat

http://www.convertfiles.com/convert/ebo ... -EPUB.html

despite what the addres says it allows any file format as input, and you can select the output format before converting

An ebook reader owners dream, and one Id recc bookmarking

[moja]

Thanks for the information

[hhfarang]

sandman67 wrote:
Homer you have set yourself up against Sheldon H.Harris - Emeritus Professor of History, California State, University, Northridge.
...
Homer vs Harris = you loose.

Homer wrote:

Dr. Harris earned a masters from Harvard and a doctorate from Colombia, then inexplicably fell about as far as one could academically, ending up at CSUN. The state college is known for admitting just about anyone (73% of applicants) and it's pitiful graduation rate (12%). The most respected ratings of US colleges ranks it 77th among Western Regional Colleges. In short, it's the dregs.

Besides, even if he was at Harvard, his status as a bleeding heart liberal member of the 'hate America first' crowd makes his work suspect.

sandman67 wrote:
you are a shmo yank who doesnt like the idea of tarring the good name of the US....what Ed Shultz calls a flag wrapped patriot.

Keep up the good fight Homer, Sandman67, while I enjoy his (fictional) stories, movie reviews, and tech expertise is exactly the kind of person who I mentioned on another thread that has discouraged me from going to the downtown bar area over the past years with his constant America and religion bashing. I used to run into people with an attitude like his (funny, they all seemed to be British ) all the time the first couple of years I lived here and used to go downtown at night a lot. Life is too short to be around people like that.

[MrPlum]

... is exactly the kind of person who I mentioned on another thread that has discouraged me from going to the downtown bar area over the past years with his constant America and religion bashing. I used to run into people with an attitude like his (funny, they all seemed to be British ) all the time the first couple of years I lived here and used to go downtown at night a lot. Life is too short to be around people like that.

I can understand why you avoid them. I had a Christmas dinner ruined by argument (from others) over politics and banned such conversations since. I rarely discuss what is said on the forum, off it and actually it's very unfair to attack ordinary Americans for the misdeeds of their leaders. Our own leaders are little better. The Americans I have met abroad are very different to those who stay at home and usually terrific company. I can't apologize for other Brits insensitivity but do apologise if anything I have said on here has contributed to your unhappiness. Btw a mutual friend and I (we spoke about him) have kissed and made up.

As for the riotous MrS, his extreme views on religion upset me too but having met him I found him pleasant company. With all the reading and movie-watching I do wonder if he ever leaves his subterranean lair.

If you aren't doing anything this year maybe I should invite some yanks to my next Christmas feast. Pete would also be welcome. He's a terrific contributor who never seems fazed and perhaps an example of how to sail serenely in shark-infested waters.

Apologies to others for going off-topic.

[sandman67]

While I have not been watching seems 4shared have changed their setup and site and my old book dump account has been squished in the cleanup

I will be setting up a new storage facility and if anyone has requests its probably best to keep them off thread - just PM me and I will sort out links and PM you back.

The Sandman Library of All Sorts is now up to about 3000 books, fiction and non fiction, so I probably have what you want or know where to source it. Im currently sorting storage for a Spike Milligan dump of his memoirs for a couple of users, so if you are interested PM me on that.

chin chin HHAD chums

[sandman67]

OK, here is a full list of all the "collections" that are on my Sony (so the books are all epubs and pdfs)

With each of the authors think "the collected works of..."

The non fiction collections contain too many books to list individually, but feel free to ask for a specific one or topic - "History - non fiction" for example contains books on everything from ancient Egypt and Greece to WW2, "War - non fiction" contains all sorts from ancient warfare tactics and weapons to the Band Of Brothers and Pacific memoirs, and books and memoirs from Vietnam.

Book Collections:
Robert Rankin
Spellsinger series
Conan and Solomon Kane novels
Atheism – non fiction
War – non fiction
Clive Barker
Bernard Cornwell
Brian Lumley
Christopher Priest
Conn Iggulden
C S Gardner
David Gemmell
Cthulhu – HP Lovecraft and various authors
Robert Harris
Steven Pressfield
Steven Baxter
Spike Milligan
Otori cycle
Douglas Adams
Greg Keyes
Harry Potter
James Ellroy
Temeraire cycle
Terry Pratchett
Peter Ackroyd
Tom Sharpe
Felix Castor
Tim Powers
Fu Manchu novels
JRR Tolkien
Michael Moorcock
Gor novels
Steampunk – various authors
Gatekeepers series
Oath series
History – non fiction
Politics – non fiction
Travel – non fiction
Colleen McCulloch
Fafhrd & Grey Mouser books
Shelby Foote’s The Civil War – three volumes
Harry Harrison
The Watch series – Daywatch, Nightwatch, Duskwatch
Dune cycle
Harry Turtledove
Judith Tarr
HG Wells
Spider Queen novels
Percy Jackson books
Shardlake books
Hunter S Thomson
Sherlock Holmes novels and collections
Robert McCammon
Game Of Thrones novels
Ra Hotep series
Assassins Creed novels
Jack The Ripper – non fiction
Ben Elton
The Lost Legion series
Generals series
Cormac McCarthy
Samurai fiction
History fiction
Falco series
Cato series
Steven Saylor
J M Roberts
Neil Gaiman
Elric novels
Lucifer Box series
Dr Nikola novels
Flashman novels
Movie novels
Ravenloft novels
Sven Hassel
Red Dwarf novels
Sir Richard F Burton
Charles Bukowski
Jules Verne
Hellboy novels
Thirteen series
Dan Brown
Fantasy novels
Karl Pilkington
Kim Newman

If there is something in there you fancy drop me a PM