A while back O'Reilly started promoting their Safari service.   For any who've not seen mention of it, you can subscribe to read books via your Internet connection.   If I understand correctly, it differs from ebooks in that with Safari, books aren't saved locally, rather they're read while you're online.

I've yet to sign up myself because, well, I pretty much love good ol' dead-tree books.   What has me intrigued with the service is that even softbound technical books are both expensive and quickly outdated.   This has potential to cut my book costs and obsolescence, plus reduce hauling them to and from work/home.   Drawbacks are equally evident: reduced resolution, legibility, and in some ways portability.

Anyways, what prompts me to post this is that O'Reilly is now partnering with other publishers, albeit in a very limited fashion so far.   A few details and links follow.
  cheers,
  Don
  2001-10-07

 

"The service lets you search, annotate, read,and build your own reference collection online.   Accessible whenever and wherever you need it.   The unique swapping feature allows flexibility and helps you stay current.   Trade in all or part of your subscription once a month. Subscribe to five books for as little as $9.99 per month."

"Site license Safari Tech Books Online for your company, institution, or library.   Customization packages are available, and we can set up a free trial for your workgroup."

"Your first swap date is 45 days after the purchase of your subscription.   After that, your swap option becomes available every 30 days.   On or after each swap date, you're eligible to swap out books, and add new books."

 

Perl Books Currently Available:

Incomplete List of Notable Books Perl Currently *Not* Available:

Publishers Currently Represented:

Resource URLs:

  • Comment on Be vewwwy qwiet - weuh hunting camews...

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Be vewwwy qwiet - weuh hunting camews...
by John M. Dlugosz (Monsignor) on Oct 08, 2001 at 09:18 UTC
    I like the deadtree format too, but there are exceptions. The MSDN I always read online, and would think that a dead form is nearly useless, considering how I normally use it. Likewise, the perldocs I read online, and even though the same material is in the Camel book and other books that include module docs, I never use it that way.

    For leisure reading, rather than looking things up, I found that my Casio PDA is almost "there". It's roughly the size of a paperback book, and has a 320x240 full-color display.

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Re: Be vewwwy qwiet - weuh hunting camews...
by anguz (Novice) on Oct 08, 2001 at 21:28 UTC
    I have been a subscriber to this service for several months and I think it's getting better as it goes on. Originally the number of books was limited and some of the bestsellers (like Programming Perl) were not available. That has definitely been improving and with the addition of other publishers looks like becoming a very useful resource.

    Personally, I like books like nutshells in paper format - much quicker to browse while at the code face and also easier to transport for those laptop moments. However, the bigger books are pretty usable online and save lugging a whole zoo around with you. I find myself switching books every month and exploring more technologies than I otherwise would - very useful. Of course there are some permanent reads on my bookshelf and when one gets too useful I find myself spending the money.

    Overall, I've found it useful as more of a research tool. The dead tree nutshells seem to be the mainstay of my paper collection for day to day development.

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Re: Be vewwwy qwiet - weuh hunting camews...
by gothic_mallard (Pilgrim) on Oct 16, 2001 at 15:16 UTC
    There is something "special" about getting hold of a good paper copy of a book - especially when learning new things.

    When I was starting out into the world of Perl I was a poor (mostly) student who certainly couldn't afford a PDA or decent Internet connection from home. To that end my only options were thus - get hold of a "real" copy of the books I wanted to read at my leisure in the comfort of home, or try to grab some time between lectures (and crowded computer labs) to go online.
    Certainly I believe I would never have got on so well into perl without my (soon to be well worn) copy of "Perl 5 For Dummies" and following that "Perl In A Nutshell". I spend many a happy evening huddled under a duvet in a freezing cold student room, coffee in one hand, book in the other, learning the delights of our fair language.

    However, much as I must extol the virtues of the printed word, it isn't the best medium for all situations.
    Now knowing the basics pretty well, most of the delving I do into "book" is to look up the odd bit of syntax that I'm fuzzy on or the such like. For this I generally use the O'R Perl Bookshelf CD.
    Using such a system can locate the exact bit of text that I'm interested in with a few mouse clicks instead of ages thumbing through the index of a book.

    Speaking of the O'R Safari - it's a nice idea if you have the money, but to be honest I'd rather pay £20-30 for a book that will be mine for always, won't cost me anything for the priviledge of letting me keep it on my bookshelf and, most of all, will enable me to scribble in the margins.

    To these ends I'd have to summarise thus; Neither medium can fully replace the other. Both have advantages and disadvantages in numerous situations and, of course, the most important factor - personal preference. There are very few things in this world we can get a majority to agree on at the best of times, so I think this one will run for a while.

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