That Amazon serves in two other countries within Europe—France and Germany, besides the uk—was lost on me until recently. (No excuses for failing to notice Amazon.com’s footer.) While prices of new books weren’t any different, I found it interesting to know that a range of choices among used ones did exist. And by simply comparing prices from the list of used books across three domains (Amazon.co.uk, Amazon.de, and Amazon.fr), I was able to save €20.-.

I suppose the minor annoyance of not being able to read French naturally¹ was worth the saving.

1. I just translated the page via Google Translate.

Our fortuitous starting point is a generative device in tens of millions of hands on a neutral Net. To maintain it, the users of those devices must experience the Net as something with which they identify and belong. We must use the generativity of the Net to engage a constituency that will protect and nurture it. That constituency may be drawn from the ranks of a new generation able to see that technology is not simply a video game designed by someone else, and that content is not simply what is provided through a TiVo or iPhone.

It’s interesting that the author considers Indian enterpreneur Rajesh Jain’s Novatium Nova as a non-generative machine—likened to a similar device like the iPhone, which spells “control.”

The Indian government announced in 2006 that it would not sign up to buy any XO machines, in part due to difficulties encountered with the Simputer, a for-profit project begun in 1998 to deliver handheld technology to India’s rural population, which is made up mostly of farmers and laborers—many of whom are illiterate and speak regional dialects. In 2001, Bruce Sterling lionized the Simputer as “computing as it would have looked if Gandhi had invented it, then used Steve Jobs for his ad campaign.” It never took off. Instead India appears to be placing its bets on the Novantium Nova or a similar device, non-generative machines fully tethered to a subscription server for both software and content.

This book paints a larger picture of “Freedom 0″ and its underlying philosophy—so applicable to every forward looking medium, device, or mechanism, and how Freedom 0 is slowly becoming a primary cause for concern for the overall health of the internet.

This book is a must read for every netizen.

What I understand from replies is that many of these books originated from Joint Industry Projects (or JIPs), and were a result of intense research and some serious funding. With many patrons in these JIPs, the copyright is like that of a shared property. Apparently, the authors alone have no complete rights to editing, updating and sale of these books—even as the original publisher has closed shop. So, inspite of having worked on updates, authors are unable to publish subsequent releases. This is a case of wonderful work gone horribly wrong in publishing terms.

In the end it is a slightly different gripe, but nevertheless a problem that seems to have no clear solution.

• Dynamics of Fixed Marine Structures by NDP Barltrop and AJ Adams.
• Steel Designer’s Manual by The Steel Construction Institute.
• Design of Steel Structures by Gaylord and Gaylord.
• Roarke’s Formulas for Stress and Strains by Raymond J Roark.
• Structural Engineering Handbook by WF Chen.
• Fatigue Handbook by Almar Naess.

As a Structural Engineer, these are priceless to me—in terms of knowledge they hold. It is sad to note that four out of six of these books were ordered, waited-upon and eventually got hold of. There are also two books in that list that are not available at all. So, to one of the authors, I wrote:

The major problem has always been trying to find this book. Out-of-print, publisher problem has dogged my search. Needless to say, I am guilty of having an illegal personal scanned copy myself. I’d like to change that.

I ended my note with this:

If you still hold all rights to the book, please consider offering it via some of the book publishers, like Amazon (out of print), Google Books, for example.

I realize that most technical authors are busy academicians, and a method of offering like that of 37signals is beyond their capacity—in time and management. Whereas, a service like Google Books’ Partner program for example, could take sales and marketing management pain away, and paving a way for students, professionals and enthusiasts find books they love and retain as references. Everybody wins.

This is why I love the internet. It allows me to quickly find contact details of authors¹, send them a personal note of appreciation and tell how beneficial it would be to have their hard work back in the hands of those who love it. This was impossible just fifteen years ago.

1. This was not possible earlier—you had to go through the publisher, and if their shop had closed, then you’ve reached a dead end.

I generally don’t fancy learning new programming / scripting languages for the heck of it², but scripting support in Abaqus is one application I am seriously looking forward, to increase my productivity.

As I am wondering how to go about learning Python³, I would really appreciate if anyone could suggest me a simplified starting point resource(s) to get a hang of scripting in it.

Suggestions, anyone?

1. Python seems to be a natural fit for anything 3D. See Blender, for another example.
2. I think I am beyond that; but there was such a time not long ago.
3. Strictly task related work, generating meshes, modules, which I could replicate towards creating superelements. That kind of stuff.

The first one was Building Scalable Web Sites by Cal Henderson, the Flickr guy showing the ropes with his team’s awesome pull job called, what else, Flickr, of which, I am a huge fan of.

The pricetag¹ surprised me. Rs 325.00², and I got some discount as well over it, eventually paying less than Rs 300.00. Oreilly books are definitely cheaper in India³ than elsewhere.

This is apparently⁴ a good book for geeks behind the scenes. Having bought it and read it — cover to cover — it was insightful to learn about the woes of scaling. May be I will appreciate the efforts that go into reducing downtimes of service more now. Flickr is having a massage just got a new meaning.

The other was The Search by John Battelle. I have just started to read this. For some reason, this book is on the streets much more than others, implying its popularity. And in flavors⁵, because it was available on the street for Rs 60 (little more than a dollar).

1. I bought this in a store near VT station, Bombay.
2. The same book, in Malaysia’s Kinukoniya store was priced at RM88.00 — that’s about more than twice the Indian pricetag.
3. May be that’s because they are published by Shroff Publishers (Oreilly’s reseller/partner?), which makes these books affordable. In any case, this is definitely good news for book shoppers.
4. Just not for me. I really don’t know why I picked-up this one. May be because it was something to do with websites. And curiosity got better of me. The underlying complexity is enormous for guys like me to truly appreciate reading such a book.
5. Probably illegal reprints.