One upshot of the e-book revolution seems to be that publishers (and presumably consumers) are paying more attention to the book as object/artifact. This is more than a kind of Frankliln Mint or Easton Press phenomenon. Check out the new, quarto-sized, full-color annotated critical editions being published by Harvard UP or Norton, for example; or productions like Penguin’s Drop Caps or Clothbound Classics Series. It seems as if in these cases formal/physical elements like accomplished typography and readable fonts (increasingly identified in books’ colophons), good paper, and remarkable bindings/jackets are being leveraged against the low, low prices and accessibility/convenience of e-books.
I mean, Xiaoming Wang and John Thorbjarnarson's The Chinese Alligator was a book that took years of research. Thorbjarnarson got malaria from the swamps they went to, and died just before the publication of the book; and Wang agreed that most of the money from the book should go to Thorbjarnarson's family (instead of the rather equal amounts Thorbjarnarson and Wang had originally agreed on).
So, distributing this material without charging for it; how are you going to pay the authors? How is this different from stealing a copy of the book, reprinting it, and giving it out for free?
How is Thorbjarnarson's life's work being distributed without (as far as I can see) any any benefit to his family?
I mean, Xiaoming Wang and John Thorbjarnarson's The Chinese Alligator was a book that took years of research. Thorbjarnarson got malaria from the swamps they went to, and died just before the publication of the book; and Wang agreed that most of the money from the book should go to Thorbjarnarson's family (instead of the rather equal amounts Thorbjarnarson and Wang had originally agreed on).
So, distributing this material without charging for it; how are you going to pay the authors? How is this different from stealing a copy of the book, reprinting it, and giving it out for free?
How is Thorbjarnarson's life's work being distributed without (as far as I can see) any any benefit to his family?
where is someone giving away this book for free exactly?
I assume that Google is doing some sort of thing where they pay the authors (or author's families) and thus this distribution of the research and work is financially benefiting the authors (or author's families). Because otherwise, I find this to be unconscionable use of material without any compensation to the creator (Wang is still alive, as is Thorbjarnarson's wife and kids).
I mean, this book isn't in the public domain, it was published first in around 2010.
I mean, Xiaoming Wang and John Thorbjarnarson's The Chinese Alligator was a book that took years of research. Thorbjarnarson got malaria from the swamps they went to, and died just before the publication of the book; and Wang agreed that most of the money from the book should go to Thorbjarnarson's family (instead of the rather equal amounts Thorbjarnarson and Wang had originally agreed on).
So, distributing this material without charging for it; how are you going to pay the authors? How is this different from stealing a copy of the book, reprinting it, and giving it out for free?
How is Thorbjarnarson's life's work being distributed without (as far as I can see) any any benefit to his family?
where is someone giving away this book for free exactly?
Google books, where you apparently read books for free. They have been sued by The Author's Guild, an institution I deeply respect, so I assume there's at least something going on there.
if you're gonna get mad about somethin, get mad at Amazon, they are known to have "previews" that can in some cases consist of most of the book.
Getting mad at Amazon for being a terrible soapy copyright thief that screws over people is like getting mad at tapeworms for needing a host to live in.
By which I mean, it is completely reasonable even though it's the innate nature of the creature; and both are serious problems that really need to be fixed before it affects more people.
Also, everybody knows that Amazon is like that. Google has a reputation for being a non-terrible thing; which is apparently actually deserved.
This troper has had this happen exactly one time, and that was when he realized that his learning disabilities had caused him to push away the only girl...hell, the only person to ever love him for who he was. He sobbed hysterically, and while he was crying, was also busily shattering every mirror in his room (all 5 of them) with his bare hands, cutting the heck out of them, and all the while screaming "I am not a monster" over and over. The last one ended up with my 6 foot long Sephiroth Muramasa replica through it, since my hands were too bloody and the glass was too thick to break with my hands.
I hope this is fake so it's okay that I find it as hilarious as I do.
Comments
You dare accuse us of this travesty?
So, distributing this material without charging for it; how are you going to pay the authors? How is this different from stealing a copy of the book, reprinting it, and giving it out for free?
How is Thorbjarnarson's life's work being distributed without (as far as I can see) any any benefit to his family?
It always is.
I mean, this book isn't in the public domain, it was published first in around 2010.
It's called Google Books; not Google Excerpts From Books.
Google: 1
Aliroz's Credibility: 0.
By which I mean, it is completely reasonable even though it's the innate nature of the creature; and both are serious problems that really need to be fixed before it affects more people.
Also, everybody knows that Amazon is like that. Google has a reputation for being a non-terrible thing; which is apparently actually deserved.
-takes handcuffs off Google-
Yeah, I'm that kind of figure in this episode.
Anyways, I am the Lieutenant Dundy to Google's Sam Spade.
Now, who is Joel Cairo?
I mean, look at the first few seconds on this video (spoilered to make the page easier for those on mobile.
I think I broke Firefox.
Assassin poems, Poems that shoot
guns. Poems that wrestle cops into alleys
and take their weapons leaving them dead
whoa