eBooks and reference materials

[Pete Lorenz]

HAD to post this one:
Like many of you, I came up through the ranks of several Palm devices (still have my Palm V, still works perfectly, still ignoring calls from the Smithsonian).
With all of the apps on my 680, 4GB card and my intimate familiarity with and love for Palm OS, any investigation into eBooks has escaped me, until now.
I read a post here the other day wherein someone stated that they used their card for ebooks. Bored, I decided to meander the web and look into ebooks. The reason I never looked before is that I don't spend any time reading novels (which I ASSumed was the primary appeal of the ebook crowd).
Long story short, I decided to try it, after finding that you can also get lots of reference materials .
I downloaded the most popular free reader, Mobipocket Reader
I did a few trial versions, but ended up purchasing four:

The general encyclopedia I selected is HERE.

I also purchased an Encyclopedia of North American Birds
and an Encyclopedia of North American Mammals.
I also purchased the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary.

These things absolutely rock!
1) They download to your card, not your device (except for the reader, which comes in at only around 300k).
2) They are all they purport to be, and easy to use.
3) NICE integration.........If you select a dictionary in your library to use with your encyclopedia (on setup.......one time), and you highlight a word in the encyclopedia say, in the body of an article you're reading, a little dropdown opens just to the right of the word with lots of options. The first option is "Lookup". Tapping it will open the Merriam-Webster dictionary to the word I highlighted in the encyclopedia. I read the definition, then tap "Back" at the top of the dictionary's screen. This closes the dictionary and I'm back where I was in the encyclopedia. This works with the two other encyclopedias, as well! (shades of WM?).
IT WORKS FAST !!!
With all of the material in these four volumes, I expected my 4GB to be pretty slim, even though I'd done the math. I still have 2G of 3.7G (and I have a few hundred tunes, TomTom maps, photos, docs, etc on there, as well).
To many of you, none of this is new.
I hope that some of you will discover this use for your own device and embark on your own quest for world domination.
Better hurry........my success just got much closer .

[irishgoaltender22]

I will definitely add this to the list of programs to check out/download. Given work, I will probably look into a thesaurus app as well. Thanks for the links.

[dwkerux]

I have used eReader for a while, not extensively. I have a few ebooks just in case I am somewhere and need something to read. I am a Sherlock Holmes fan and if I am not able to sleep at night I just call up a short story and read. The awesome thing is I don't have to turn on the light (which is real good when your wife carries a Glock), when I get sleepy I just set the phone down and don't have to worry about losing my place.

I'll have to check into the dictionary, etc.

[eclair]

Thanks Pete for bringing up this topic again. There are so many new members that may not be aware of this. There are some posts made earlier about Gutenberg, but for a refresher this is good.
For free books check out:
Online Book Catalog - Overview - Project Gutenberg

I have opted for several of these free books, mostly Jules Verne, but they also have Dumas pere (the father wrote Three Musketeers, and his son the "fils" wrote Camille) The Man in the Iron Mask, and The Comte de Monte Cristo and many more. They have books in many languages as well. Here is a link to the Dumas page. Probably will need to scroll down a ways.
This is an enormous volunteer project very noteworthy in accomplishments. I highly support them.

Browse By Author: D - Project Gutenberg

[Sorian]

YAY, I am not the only one who goes to Project Gutenberg! I love that site because I like the Sherlock Homes advantures.

Oh, and if you have/know any high schoolers, most of the summer reading lists has a few of the older books.

I think I made a post about DropBook, that lets you convert plain text ebooks to the format for eReader... let me see, eReader Pro problems I was having problems with dropbook till I unchecked build dictionary, which tries to make a dictionary out of EVERY word in the book, and caused it to fail.

[eclair]

Hi Sorian, nice to see you again and good to have another Gutenberg fan. My sister creampuff (on the forum) has done quite a lot of volunteer work for that project. I love the classics. If you do any research the absolute best source I know is called Questia. The Questia Online Library

I actually have a subscription to this database, but they also are offering 5,000 free books as well. One of their top ten downloads is the Adventures of Sherlock Holmes

It is UNBELIEVEABLE how many volumes they possess.
I think you would enjoy what they offer. Take care.

[dwkerux]

Thanks guys for the converter and Questia they will be of great benefit. I have a couple books that I had downloaded and could not read correctly or wouldn't even show up in Ereader. Though when I updated to the new Ereader the other day it cleared up an issue with one of my Sherlock Holmes books. I have "The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes" & "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes" the latter I am reading now. I too have used Gutenberg in the past.

[dwkerux]

I have read several, I think all, of the different Tarzan ebooks and a few of the other classics.