E-Book Enlightenment

by James Simmons

This book was written for the One Laptop Per Child project to explain to teachers and students alike how to make effective use of free e-books. However, most of the material in the book will be of interest to anyone who wants to do things with e-books. The book covers where to find free e-books, what formats of e-books are available, how to make e-books in every format, and how to get them published, either using your own book server or through sites like Project Gutenberg, the Internet Archive, and even the Kindle Store. It also covers how you can make an e-book out of a printed book, how to know if a book is in the public domain, how to build your own high speed book scanner, how to use Booki to collaborate on writing an e-book on the web, and more. It's everything you always wanted to know about e-books (but were afraid to ask).

When I wrote this book I did not just compile information from other sources. I did everything I describe in the book. I created donations for the Internet Archive, Project Gutenberg, and Project Gutenberg Canada. I published five books on the Kindle Store. I wrote some of the e-book finding and reading software described in the book. I installed all the Book Server software described in the book, and I installed my own Booki. I designed and built my own book scanner. I wrote books using Booki, and assisted with the translation of one of them. I also read a lot of free e-books, in every format. I think I've done everything you could do with e-books except actually make money on the Kindle Store. I'm still working on that one!

There's a e-book revolution coming and if you want to be a part of it this book will start you on your way!

282 pages, Kindle Edition

Published July 8, 2011

About the author

James Simmons (1933-2001) was a poet and critic from Northern Ireland.

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.