Tag Archives: Cheap books

Cheap Kindle Books: Zinn the Sioux Nation

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A Peoples History of the United States* by Howard Zinn is a classic revision of American History.

The Last Days of the Sioux Nation (Second Edition) by Robert M. Utley is a classic, but not necessarily the one book you’ll want to read about Native Americans of the northern Plains. But I put it here because it is currently dirt cheap on Kindle, and if your library does not have this 1963 title you may want to grab it up. I would recommend as a first read in this area of culture and history the recently published tour-de-force Wounded Knee by the amazing historian Heather Cox Richardson. Not on sale at this time but worth it.

I should mention that right now you can get some great deals on the Paperwhite Kindle.

Horror, Fantasy, History, Cheap Books

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Lovecraft complete collection*

H. P. Lovecraft: The Complete Collection Kindle Edition is probably a amazing horrible book. Or, at least a book of amazing horror.

Lovecraft is classic. Racist. I would say he is misogynistic but his literature regards women as virtually non-existent so maybe it is hard to tell. I find his the craft of Lovecraft so offensive in this regard, but the love of his writing so abiding in the science fiction community, that I decided to re-write The Call of Cthulhu. My version is novel length, and the main characters are two women. The setting is the modern era and there are no benighted wild natives. I’ve written one chapter. It will be a while before you can read it.

In the mean time, get Lovecraft’s complete works and verify my assertions.

In cased you needed the Chronicles of Narnia* in Kindle format for nearly free, here it is.

Burry My Heart at Wounded Knee* buy Dee Brown is also cheap right now, maybe free depending on your account.

Kolata’s Flu and Shutt’s Heart: Two great books cheap

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Flu* by amazing science writer Gina Kolata, is currently available cheap in kindle form. This book takes you up to a critical point in time in the understanding of the influenza pandemic of 1918. A lot of things were discovered after Gina’s book came out, so it is admittedly not current, but it is nonetheless a classic.

Also on sale, the very recently released Pump* by Bill Schutt (see also our Ikonoklast interview)

Cheap book opportunity: Foundation, Handmaid’s Tale, More

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Kindle* (see note below) books on sale right now but just for a day or two that you may want to know about:

To Rescue the Republic: Ulysses S. Grant, the Fragile Union, and the Crisis of 1876

Late Victorian Holocausts: El Niño Famines and the Making of the Third World

The Handmaid’s Tale

Foundation

And not on sale but still cheap, don’t forget:  In Search of Sungudogo

Le Guin, Clarke, Butler Books Very Cheap!

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Suddenly, and presumably for just a couple of days, some great SciFi in Kindle form on sale dirt cheap.

Seed to Harvest: The Complete Patternist Series (The Patternist Series)* by Octavia Butler:
The complete Patternist series—the acclaimed science fiction epic of a world transformed by a secret race of telepaths and their devastating rise to power. In the late seventeenth century, two immortals meet in an African forest. Anyanwu is a healer, a three-hundred-year-old woman who uses her wisdom to help those around her. The other is Doro, a malevolent despot who has mastered the power of stealing the bodies of others when his wears out. Together they will change the world. Over the next three centuries, Doro mounts a colossal selective breeding project, attempting to create a master race of telepaths. He succeeds beyond his wildest dreams, splitting the human race down the middle and establishing a new world order dominated by the most manipulative minds on Earth. In these four novels, award-winning author Octavia E. Butler tells the classic story that began her legendary career: a mythic tale of the transformation of civilization. This ebook features an illustrated biography of Octavia E. Butler including rare images from the author’s estate.

The Lathe of Heaven* by Ursula Le Guin:

In a near-future world beset by war, climate change, and overpopulation, Portland resident George Orr discovers that his dreams have the power to alter reality. Upon waking, the world he knew has become a strange, barely recognizable place, where only George has a clear memory of how it was before. Seeking escape from these “effective dreams,” George eventually turns to behavioral psychologist Dr. William Haber for a cure. But Haber has other ideas in mind.

Seeing the profound power of George’s dreams, Haber believes it must be harnessed for the greater good—no matter the cost. Soon, George is a pawn in Haber’s dangerous game, where the fate of humanity grows more imperiled with every waking hour.

As relevant today as it was when it won the Locus Award in 1971, The Lathe of Heaven is a true classic, at once eerie and prescient, entertaining and intelligent. In short, it does “what science fiction is supposed to do”

Childhood’s End (Arthur C. Clarke Collection) by Arthur C. Clarke:

In the near future, enormous silver spaceships appear without warning over mankind’s largest cities. They belong to the Overlords, an alien race far superior to humanity in technological development. Their purpose is to dominate Earth. Their demands, however, are surprisingly benevolent: end war, poverty, and cruelty. Their presence, rather than signaling the end of humanity, ushers in a golden age . . . or so it seems.

Without conflict, human culture and progress stagnate. As the years pass, it becomes clear that the Overlords have a hidden agenda for the evolution of the human race that may not be as benevolent as it seems.

Ray Bradbury Wants You To Read These 100 stories

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Ray Bradbury wrote an unknown number of stories, but over 400. Some say 600. Doesn’t matter. Back in 1980, Knopf published 100 of these stories, chosen by Bradbury himself to represent the rest. The Stories of Ray Bradbury is over 900 print pages. The stories date from 1943 to 1980. And now, for a presumably limited time and probably just in the United States, you can get this book* in futuristic electronic Kindle form for three bucks.

It is worth noting that a second book, “Bradbury Stories: 100 of His Most Celebrated Tales“, was produced in 2003, and includes another 100 stories, with no overlap between the two books. As far as I know that book is not on sale at this time.

Do Androids Dream? And Longmire

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Suddenly available cheap from Amazon*, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?: The inspiration for the films Blade Runner and Blade Runner 2049 by Philip Dick.

While we are on the subject of cheap books, did you know that the popular, and pretty good, “Longmire” of TV started out as a series of books? The Highwayman: A Longmire Story (Walt Longmire Mysteries) by Craig Johnson is also cheap on Kindle, which is the 11th point five in the series (apparently it is complicated). The first is The Cold Dish: A Longmire Mystery. (Kindle edition of the first in the series here.)

The Source Cheap

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I read The Source: A Novel by James Michener a long time ago, so I might have some of this wrong, but…

It is a fun read, not actually religious as some might suggest. The story starts at the beginning and the end at the same time. The end involves a group of archaeologists digging down in a tel (called Tell Makor in the book, but I’m told it might be closest the the actual Tel Dan.) The beginning involves a family of pre-Neolithic people who invent agriculture and domesticate the dog. (I oversimplify, as does in that are, the author.) The rest of the story is a rough approximation of the Old Testament history.

Anyway, relatively cheap for Kindle* (2.99) right now.

I should also mention* that The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova, is still cheap ($4.99).

C.S. Lewis Book Cheap

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You already own this but in case you want a Kindle version so you can search the text or whatever, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is now 3 bucks, which is slightly less than half the usual price. This is book one, no wait, book two, no wait, book one, of the Chronicles of Narnia series. Book One, in my opinion. Fight me if you want.

While we’re on the subject of books you already own in meatspace but not yet on Kindle, Bratchett’s Equal Rites: A Novel of Discworld is two bucks, way less than half price. Go for it!

Democracy In Chains Cheap

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Ironic? Maybe, because we know democracy should not be for sale, and never, on sale. Whatever. I’m here to tell you* that Nancy MacLean’s “Democracy in Chains: The Deep History of the Radical Right’s Stealth Plan for America” is on Kindle right now for cheap, at least in the US, where Democracy and books about it are always on sale!

In an unrelated development, this may be of interest to you as well: Chancing It: The Laws of Chance and How They Can Work for You by Robert Matthews with a forward by Larry Gonick is also cheap* on Kinddle at this moment. This is yet another book about how people with calculators are smart compared to you. But, it has a foreword by Larry Gonick!

Arthur Clarke’s 2001, Tolkien’s Two Towers, Cheap

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You may be interested in these two cheap Kindle versions of classic books.

The Two Towers: Being the Second Part of The Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkein* is 3.99. The Fellowship of the Ring and The Return of the King are still ten bucks on the Kindle, tho.

2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur Clarke* is 2.99.

As long as we are on the subject of cheap Kindle book, 366 Days in Abraham Lincoln’s Presidency: The Private, Political, and Military Decisions of America’s Greatest President by Stephen Wynalda* is two bucks. I’m not recommending it, I’ve not read it, but I am reading Lincoln, by David Herbert Donald, which I recommend, so it caught my eye.

Hacking America, History of Information, History of Africa, William Shakespeare

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At this moment, there is a batch of very interesting and generally acclaimed books for sale really cheap in Kindle form in the US, that I suspect readers of this blog will be interested in.

A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare: 1599 by James Shapiro. Good reviews, but this is outside my area of expertise so I can’t say for sure, but it looks good.

Creek Mary’s Blood: A Novel by “Burry my Heart at Wounded Knee” author Dee Brown.

Africa: A History is an anthology that includes some older material, but all good. This is totally within my area of expertise, and I can say this book is full of classic writing by classic scholars. Not a light read. Edited by Alvin Josephy.

The Information: A History, a Theory, a Flood by James Gleick.

The Plot to Hack America: How Putin’s Cyberspies and WikiLeaks Tried to Steal the 2016 Election by Malcom Nance.

Narnia, Lincoln and Tevis super cheap

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The chronicles of Narnia, to be read in whatever order you feel is correct (but there is really only One True Order), are now for a short time available for $1.99 each in Kindle form. This probably only applies to US buyers, but I don’t know that for a fact.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe (Chronicles of Narnia Book 2 BUT REALLY BOOK 1)

The Magician’s Nephew (Chronicles of Narnia Book 1 BUT REALLY BOOK 2)

The Horse and His Boy (Chronicles of Narnia Book 3)

Prince Caspian: The Return to Narnia (Chronicles of Narnia Book 4)

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader (Chronicles of Narnia Book 5)

The Silver Chair (Chronicles of Narnia Book 6)

In addition to this, a very special and engaging biography of LBJ: Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream

And this, which I’ve not read, but thought you might like to know is cheap:

The Man Who Fell to Earth