I understand people surrounding themselves with books because they have £ value and a big stack of them makes you look really intelligent but can you search your entire library in 10 seconds to find the page you need?

Plus they're a big fire risk

Bill

If it's complete and what you want download it, I would without hesitation whilst it's available, you never know if and when it will be taken down.

Emgee

For those that I have looked at I prefer to buy the book as I enjoy reading those that interest me and can flip back and forth very quickly especially if they say look at fig so and so I put a finger in the page I am reading and go to the fig in question then simply go back to the page I am on.

Those that I have seen for download seem like a lot of faffing about if you need to do as I described from a printed book

it is not illegal,as far as I know, to sell by auction or otherwise previously purchased books still in copyright – otherwise much of the 2nd hand market would be in trouble. What is illegal is to make a copy of the book and sell that.

Edited By Frances IoM on 03/03/2022 15:37:30

Is it a used, out-of-print, book? If so, I would download it and not worry about it. While I prefer to have the physical book in hand, the prices for many used books has gotten insane. I've seen some books list for over $1000USD.

Mike and JA Have pretty much got it covered.

I will give one exception, Websites that sell amterial that is free from the copyright holders. An example of this is American military standards. Even well respected companies like IHS will happily let you pay for a PDF you can downlod for free from a US government website. Interetingly most "MS" sspecifications are being "converted" to SAE documents. MS1234 becomes AS1234. In many ases they don't even re-format it, just put cover page on it. You do of course have to pay for SAE documents.
An intersting twist is a lot of publishers will sell a PDF but the licence says ony one person can read it and while you can print a copy you are not allowed to let anyone else read that either.

Robert G8RPI.

I've written a couple of books of variable quality. Most publishers of books of this type tend to pay around £1.50 per copy sold, but that varies a lot depending on how well known you are, how broad the market is etc.

I've got another book idea lined up but to be honest I've gone off the idea of spending 18 months to a year writing something, knowing full well that my sales will be severely dented as soon as people start sharing bootlegs. What's the point in putting in the work if people will steal it rather than pay for it? I can't pay the mortgage with good wishes.

June,

No apologies needed, I was merely giving my perspective.

As for Bill not posting I have to disagree; his posts are often interesting and sometimes start enlightening debate. Having lots of different opinions being aired is no reason for him to withdraw from the conversation. I certainly don't think he has any more or less to offer than most of the members here.

Just like 99% of the members on this forum, his perspective and knowledge is what gives us such an interesting place to have an informed chat. Disagreements are normal and usually sorted amicably!

Jon.

So many books (non fiction) are hardly even skimmed by their owners. Especially in the areas of model railway hobbyists. I have an archive of decades of ME with more coming in with MEW and other subs if I read / reread one a day I wonder if I will live long enough to get through them. Then books, say one a week, that's going to be years even before I start on the shelves of fiction my parents bought. I mustn't buy any more but people do keep bringing things along to the club because they want to ease the burden of books they won't read again.

There is a lot of weird stuff that goes on with the pricing of used books on the net in specialist fields such as model engineering and vintage motorbikes. I often see books that are still in print and available from publishers such as Tee Publishing or even the ubiquitous Workshop Practice Series that are listed used on the net at ridiculous prices many times the brand new price.

I think it is perhaps a result of software many used booksellers use to automatically list and price their stock on the net, using "bots" that crawl the net and find existing prices and then up them a little bit. After some time of this, prices artificially creep up. And maybe some unscrupulous dealers deliberately list books at silly prices so the bots automatically list their competitors books at high prices and then they can drop theirs and give someone " a bargain".

That very droll Scottish bookseller Shaun Bythell mentions such software in passing in one of his "Confessions of a Bookseller" books. Very amusing series of books and worth a read if you are interested in such things.

As for downloading, all fair enough if a book is long out of print IMHO, as a person who makes a living selling copyrighted material. But help feed a starving artist and don't do it for current material, or pretty soon nobody will bother writing books anymore. Then what kind of a world will we have?

Edited By Hopper on 04/03/2022 08:42:24

You missed a chance to make your fortune there lad.

If I read a book of which I have a huge number and fall asleep (in bed) The book will lay on the covers or silently fall to the floor, even Diesels Engine would make little sound sliding down, where as IF I fall asleep with the lap top in front of me it would CRASH to the floor, wake me up and be damaged as well ! BOOKS for me, I won't bore you with the many other advantages I perceive ! Noel.