Green Literature?

[BrDevon]

I love to read, but don't have a lot of money in the budget for books, and don't have enough time or gas money to get back and forth to the library as often as I would like. I was tipped off to a website that answers the need nicely:

DailyLit.com

This site has a decent selection of titles, many at no cost, that can sent to you as an email or an RSS feed. You select how often you wish to have an installment of your selected title (daily at a certain time, to once a week). If you can't wait for your next installment, there is a link to send the next one in advance of the scheduled time.

I'm reading a few of the classics I loved in school, and will be grabbing a couple that I always heard about in school but never got a chance at.

There are contemporary titles too, but those do cost slightly. For now, I'm sticking with the free stuff, but even the paid titles are very reasonable.

Best of all, there are no books to return.

If you're like me, a lot of these titles are the type that are nice to read once in a while, but you aren't really going to read them often enough to make it worth buying or keeping a copy. For those, it's nice to read the email installments, and simply delete when you're done - or share it with a friend who might like the title too. Either way, on a screen, there is no cutting of trees for printing. Most of us are going to read email anyway. It would be a nice switch to go from spam to actual quality reading.

Feel free to share the news.

[PastorWilbur]

I heard about a site like this once before.

It's a great tool, isn't it?

Edited February 24, 2008 by PastorWilbur

[Rev T Hedberg]

I love to read, but don't have a lot of money in the budget for books, and don't have enough time or gas money to get back and forth to the library as often as I would like. I was tipped off to a website that answers the need nicely:

DailyLit.com

Hi BrDevon. Never heard about Dailylit... thanks!

Have you ever tried this website:

archive.org/details/texts

The Internet Archive got a bunch of free stuff from the public domain.

Another link that I enjoy is the free audiobooks from public domain at the Librivox page. Here you may download audiorecordings that volunteers has contributed. A good way to be able to “read” while you do other things or for people not able to read for some reason.

librivox.org

Just hope the links works...

Take care and happy reading

[mererdog]

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_Page

20,000+ free ebooks from Project Gutenburg.

[Fawzo]

Thanks for the links folks!!

[Phillipe]

There are contemporary titles too, but those do cost slightly. For now, I'm sticking with the free stuff, but even the paid titles are very reasonable.

Contemporary writer waiting for a full royalty check...

...sorry - had to get that off my chest.

[Rev T Hedberg]

Contemporary writer waiting for a full royalty check...

That was truly “une riposte élégante” (pardon my bad French) in defence of authors... I really liked that one.

At first though... I thought it was a picture of me at my former office... but his bone structure is much better looking than mine...

[Phillipe]

Merci beaucoup!

[Samuron]

I'm actually wondering just how "green" such books really are.

A traditional book, once printed, consumes no resources, and can be made of renewable materials.

An e-book, however, must be displayed on a system that requires power, which is currently (no pun intended) produced, in most areas, using polluting technologies consuming non-renewable resources.

E-books may actually still be more environmentally friendly; if someone has actual data, I’d love to see it. Just assuming that since “no trees were killed” they are automatically better, however, may not be accurate.

Edited March 8, 2008 by Samuron

[BrDevon]

I'm actually wondering just how "green" such books really are.

A traditional book, once printed, consumes no resources, and can be made of renewable materials.

An e-book, however, must be displayed on a system that requires power, which is currently (no pun intended) produced, in most areas, using polluting technologies consuming non-renewable resources.

E-books may actually still be more environmentally friendly; if someone has actual data, I’d love to see it. Just assuming that since “no trees were killed” they are automatically better, however, may not be accurate.

On hard data, I would take your point, absolutely, since a book, as you say only requires the energy to be printed once.

The rationale I was using when referring to this method as "green" is that I, as most people, receive email anyway, and tend to read a book once, maybe twice, and not touch it again for years, if at all. In those cases, I would expect it to be less expensive overall for me to simply read the book through email, since it did not require paper, ink, transportation, marketing, etc. I', also thinking in terms of human inertia. While many books can be recycled, how many people actually do recycle them? Even something as basic as a telephone directory is rarely recycled. In my area, the telephohne companies actually have recycle day, where when they put the new issue out, they ask residents in the area to put the old book(s) out in the same location and they are picked up for processing within the week. Very easy, but so few take advantage of the offer.

As with all things green and energy efficient, the only way to make it effective is with the efforts of the end user(s).

[BrDevon]

On rereading your post, I also realized as I was turning to pay my electricity bill (ahh, timing!) that I also use greener electricity. I actually pay more for it, but my utility provider offers power from renewable resources (mostly wind farms and a few hydroelectric sources in my area). I'm willing to throw an extra penny or two a kilowatt for that. I also use a very low amount of electricity. My appliances are energy star rated, my computer sleeps when I am not actively using it, the monitor is --off-- not sleeping overnight, I light my entire apartment at night on 13w of electricity, and when daylight is available, the lights are off. I try to use only what I need, and the only electrical draw that is not on a timer or shut down regularly is the refrigerator. My next big move is to try to get up enough money to get a replacement car, and hopefully with it better milage and efficiency. I would love to go hybrid, but realistically I know I can not afford that option this round unless I win a lottery.

[Phillipe]

Putting greenness aside just for a moment...

Maybe I'm too old-school, but there's a kind of magic about real books. You can feel their weight, smell them and put them in order on your bookshelf. You can leave one open to the page where you fell asleep, and like a good and trusted friend it will be waiting for you when you awaken. If you're especially strange like me, you'll actually look forward to moving, because that gives you an excuse to handle all of your books and once again experience the wisdom and enjoyment they'd previously given. There's a tangible aura to books, especially the old ones, that just can't be replicated (yet!) on the Net.

It's like keeping a journal (OK, "diary" ) - I've experimented with keeping both on- and off-line electronic journals. Yes, it's nice to have the technology to add photos, sound bites, etc., but there's no LIFE to them. I much preferred (before they were stolen ) my old hard-copy versions...I know that I wrote in them, not some clattering machine; I can actually feel the ink from my calligraphy pen on the page; my writing, both style and actual penmanship, changed over the years. On this page, a coffee stain...on that, a section crossed out until it becomes a black hole, covering some unwanted, painful memory.

Technology is wonderful, yes...but it isn't everything.

[BrDevon]

There is absolutely no replacement for a printed book, but online access to books is perfect for a few scenarios: books that you simply wanted to read and move on, or in my case, a not-as-green option: printing out passages to read elsewhere. Some books are too bulky to make it practical to travel with them, and some places are not set up for comfortable reading. I enjoy reading while walking on the treadmill in the fitness center. It's a great way to kill off an hour while killing some calories. The treadmills at my facility of choice have a small ledge that is good for holding up a few sheets of paper, but are too small for a book, and even most magazines. So I might print out a chapter or two of a book I'm into and use it to pass the time.

[Rev T Hedberg]

Phillipe & BrDevon: I've got an education health care and also an education in the handcraft of bookbinding (later also industrial) and worked as a professional bookbinder. I've even combined the two in a Rehabilitation project for people with disabilities, who managed to repair books from libraries and in doing so pro-longed the life of the books on behalf the readers. Also made books for others as well. I was quite proud over my students, the project and the rewards it gave to all involved.

So I guess I'm somewhat bias when it comes to books. You get a special feeling for books especially when you restore older books from lets say the 16th or 17th century and there's only a few original copies left in the whole world. Feeling a part of a long line of bookbinders, honor the old master by restoring his work. Holding a well made book of high quality in ones hands is...

I also find the text on the computer screen to be a bit dead... and also difficult to read it properly, but maybe thats a question of age and the younger generation has another view upon it? Often when I've written a longer piece I need to print it out and read it first. However, the computer is still a great tool. Then when I compare old paper and old with recently manufactured theres also a huge difference.

Neither I believe that any e-books or other new formats will ever replace the traditional books. There is nothing that can compare to holding a well made book.

Green literature?

Samuron: Industrial bookbinding also requires a certain amount of power to run its production... compared to the cost of power required to read an e-book? Well, I don't know... I didn't think about those things while I worked there. But the machines ran almost constantly around the clock.

However it's an important issue.

Hopefully, we'll find an alternative to trees as building material or in making paper. At least so we can stop the destruction of the rainforests and save its species. It's terribly shortsighted when so much is still to be discovered and may help mankind in finding new medicine etc in future.

Better contribute myself now... by shutting down my computer... besides I'm so tired I cant see straight at the moment and much less think.

In a state of total confusion... I bid you farewell for now!

[Ree]

My fiance has downloaded lots of books for me, and I hate to admit I never read them. I hate reading books at a computer screen. It seems unnatural. I'm a true bibliophile, and if I had the option every wall of my house would be covered from floor to ceiling in bookshelves.

Every time I have to pack up a box of books for the attic because there isn't enough space I want to cry. No amount of pleading "What if I want to read it!" every stops the depressing march of books up those lonely stairs, the books forced to await me in solitude until I can find a new place to store them in plain sight. Out of sight is out of mind afterall, so I can't remember all the books crying for me to remember them. The ones on the hard-drive I never see at all, so I never remember they're there to read. And the few times I've tried I just get annoyed and fidgety staring up at the screen.

Guess I'm just old-fashioned too.

PS- I usually don't buy a book unless i want to read it over and over again, because there are few books that I've read that I haven't read at least twice and most I've read considerably more than that. There are only two books that I never want to read again and those are Billy Bud by Herman Melville and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger. They were just horrible beyond description...

[Phillipe]

Glad to see I'm not the only nut-ca...er, book lover here...