Tag Archives: Cheap books

Eco, James, Longitude, Cheap Books

Other

In Kindle form, worth checking out if you don’t already have them:

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco.

A Taste for Death (Adam Dalgliesh Mysteries Book 7) by PD James.

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel. Anyone alive in the eighteenth century would have known that “the longitude problem” was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day-and had been for centuries. Lacking the ability to measure their longitude, sailors throughout the great ages of exploration had been literally lost at sea as soon as they lost sight of land. Thousands of lives and the increasing fortunes of nations hung on a resolution. One man, John Harrison, in complete opposition to the scientific community, dared to imagine a mechanical solution-a clock that would keep precise time at sea, something no clock had ever been able to do on land.

Longitude is the dramatic human story of an epic scientific quest and of Harrison’s forty-year obsession with building his perfect timekeeper, known today as the chronometer. Full of heroism and chicanery, it is also a fascinating brief history of astronomy, navigation, and clockmaking, and opens a new window on our world.

Speaking of Tolkien and Cannibals… cheap books

Other, ,

Perhaps prompted by the news of a Tolkien biographical movie, this book — J.R.R. Tolkien: A Biography — is suddenly cheap on Kindle.

And as long as I’m mentioning cheap Kindle books, and since cannibalism is a common theme here, see: Man-Eater: The Life and Legend of an American Cannibal.

And I know some of you like Sue Grafton, so S is for Silence: A Kinsey Millhone Novel for two bucks is nice.

Super Cheap Super Science eBooks

Other, , ,

For some reason there is a sudden avalanche of of inexpensive (most $2 or less) of kindle science books that are good, and a couple of other not so science books that also happen to be good and on sale. Without further ado:

The Edge of Physics: A Journey to Earth’s Extremes to Unlock the Secrets of the Universe by Anil Ananthaswamy. Sais to be “A thrilling ride around the globe and around the cosmos.” —Sean Carroll.

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert. Over the last half a billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted. Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. This time around, the cataclysm is us.

I Contain Multitudes: The Microbes Within Us and a Grander View of Life by Ed Yong.

The Best American Science and Nature Writing 2018 (The Best American Series ®) edited by Sam Kean. An amazing diversity of topics, including politics of and in science.

Longitude: The True Story of a Lone Genius Who Solved the Greatest Scientific Problem of His Time by Dava Sobel. Anyone alive in the eighteenth century would have known that “the longitude problem” was the thorniest scientific dilemma of the day-and had been for centuries. Lacking the ability to measure their longitude, sailors throughout the great ages of exploration had been literally lost at sea as soon as they lost sight of land. Thousands of lives and the increasing fortunes of nations hung on a resolution. One man, John Harrison, in complete opposition to the scientific community, dared to imagine a mechanical solution-a clock that would keep precise time at sea, something no clock had ever been able to do on land.

Out There: A Scientific Guide to Alien Life, Antimatter, and Human Space Travel (For the Cosmically Curious) by Michael Wall. In the vein of Randall Munroe’s What If? meets Brian Green’s Elegant Universe, a writer from Space.com leads readers on a wild ride of exploration into the final frontier, investigating what’s really “out there.”

Chasing New Horizons: Inside the Epic First Mission to Pluto by Alan Stern. Called “spellbinding” (Scientific American) and “thrilling…a future classic of popular science” (PW), the up close, inside story of the greatest space exploration project of our time, New Horizons’ mission to Pluto, as shared with David Grinspoon by mission leader Alan Stern and other key players.

And, not science but still cheap right now:

The classic Texas: A Novel.

Eleanor: The Years Alone

He, She and It: A Novel by Marge Piercy.

Some cheap books: Vonnegut, science, history

Other

In kindle form, generally three bucks or less.

John Steinbeck’s classic East of Eden, what might be Kurt Vonnegut’s best novel, The Sirens of Titan: A Novel.

The Fire Outside My Window: A Survivor Tells The True Story Of California’s Epic Cedar Fire by Sandra Millers Younger is about the worst wildfire in California up until the more recent worst wildfires in California, but these recent ones don’t have a book about them yet.

This might only be cheap for a few hours: Night: A Memoir by Elie Wiesel.

The Universe, Native American History, Brother Cadfael: Cheap Books

Other

A true diversity of cheap Kindle books right now available:

Wonders of the Universe (Wonders Series) by Brian Cox and Andrew Cohen. I’m not sure if this is the ideal Kindle book because the original print version is full of illustrations that may or may not translate well, but that might depend on what you want to do with it. I like having print copies, if I get them cheap, that go along with excellent documentaries (and this is a book that goes along with an excellent documentary), and a kindle version might be fantastic for that since it is searchable, and the whole idea is to have a memory jogger or a reference.

Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee: An Indian History of the American West by Dee Brown is a classic. It was one of the key early books (ca 1970) to revise, as in making more accurate, the American conception of the history of Native Americans. The Kindle version contains additional information not found in the original.

If you read the Chroncles of Brother Cadfael and are not up to book 14, you may want to grab The Hermit of Eyton Forest , by Ellis Peters, which is book 14 in that series!