Book People Archive

Some quick updates

I've been rather busy trying to write a thesis lately, but I thought
it'd be worth making a quick report on what I've been seeing in the world
of on-line books.

First of all, this list now has over 80 subscribers.  They include
people who read on-line books, a fair number of people who transcribe
them and put them on the Web, and even some writers of books that have
gone on-line.  So if you have a particular question or topic you'd
like to talk about concerning on-line books, you have a broad and
multi-talented group of people you can talk to here.

On the On-Line Books Page, I've been indexing books from a number
of projects as I have the time.  Some of the books are single books
that have been put up by individuals, like the memoir from a Holocaust
survivor Mary mentioned in an earlier post.  Many of the other books
are from particular projects.  Here's a quick overview of some of the
projects I've been indexing lately:

  -- The Kansas Collection.  This is the sort of hidden treasure
       I love to find: a group of volunteers that have been working
       to build up a high-quality repository of on-line books, and
       that have already put up several.  The collection includes
       books, articles, pictures, and other material by and about
       Kansans at various points in history.  It's not just of
       regional interest, either; the books in question give insights
       (and often first-person accounts) into westward migration,
       the Mexican War, the conflicts leading up to the Civil War,
       and other interesting topics.

    Main page: http://kuhttp.cc.ukans.edu/carrie/kancoll/
    (I indexed the individual book titles on Jan. 21)

   -- Island Multimedia (islandmm.com) has been putting up both some
       never-before-online books from the early 20th century, but also
       some breathtaking new editions of classic books.  (The edition
       of _Alice's Adventures in Wonderland_ with the Rackham and Tenniel
       illustrations is outstanding, for instance.)  They take
       advantage of frames, but now they're also viewable by older,
       non-frames browsers as well.  (My thanks to them for making them
       more portable.)


   -- Coach House books is a small Canadian press that's starting to
       put some of its backlist on-line (www.chbooks.com).  They don't
       have that many titles available yet, but it's a trend that's
       worth encouraging.  They seem to focus on books which have
       a particularly artistic design.  One of the books they have on-line,
       _Nicholodeon_, is pretty much entirely graphical.

   -- Project Gutenberg recently announced its January releases, and
       a couple of their planned February releases as well.  I've indexed
       some of them on my pages.  The January releases also included
       preliminary versions of a number of French-language titles, for
       which I'm told help in correcting would be appreciated.  More
       information is given in the latest Gutenberg newsletter.

   -- National Academy Press now has a *huge* collection of on-line
       research reports in the natural and social sciences, which I'm
       slowly going through as I have the time.  (I indexed their
       argicultural titles last week, and am now starting to go through
       some of their behavioral and social science titles.)  At first
       glance, these books may seem obscure and only of specialized
       interest, but close examination reveals a number of books that
       are worth wider attention.  For instance, in the agriculture
       section, you'll find titles addressing such questions as
       "How can we continue to feed the world?" (in titles on sustainable
       agriculture or newly discovered or rediscovered grains such
       as those described in _Lost Crops of the Incas_), and
       "what effect do farming practices have on the environment?"
       (in titles like _Pesticide Resistance_ and _Use of Reclaimed
        Water and Sludge in Food Crop Production_.)

       Some people on this list may be interested in some of the titles
        listed today on women in the workplace, such as 
       _Computer Chips and Paper Clips: Technology and Women's Employment_
       and _Women's Work, Men's Work: Sex Segregation on the Job_.

       NAP's top-level page is http://www.nap.edu/.  The on-line books
        are in the "Reading Room" section.

Anyway, that's what I've been seeing lately.  If people find or put up
more on-line books, feel free to let me or the list know.

John