Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: Free textbook on engineering thermodynamics

thermodynamicsbook.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 53 posts

Re: Show HN: Free textbook on engineering thermodynamics

#31

Post by rramadass »

Nice. Good to see actual hard science books popularized and available for free.

The textbook industry is a criminal cartel shafting both the students/knowledge seekers and authors/professors. Hence i really appreciate the way you have made the pdf available both for free and for a nominal price; so thank you.

We need more hard science (Physics/Chemistry/Biology/etc.) content (books/articles/videos/etc.) on HN. For example, the interdisciplinary field of "Materials Science" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materials_science) is one the most practical and important for our modern world and yet there is hardly any discussions/popularization about it.

Re: Show HN: Free textbook on engineering thermodynamics

#32

Post by ginkgotree »

This is awesome. Also, this quote feels relevant: "Ludwig Boltzmann, who spent much of his life studying statistical mechanics, died in 1906, by his own hand. Paul Ehrenfest, carrying on the work, died similarly in 1933. Now it is our turn to study statistical mechanics." - David Goodstein's States of Matter, Introduction

Re: Show HN: Free textbook on engineering thermodynamics

#34

Post by 2DcAf »

heykjo wrote: post #27

I'd love to send you a few euros; but the checkout process requires both an email and a cell number. Are those strictly necessary to authorize a cc payment?

The payment for the paid-for PDF is processed through Payhip. As far as I can test here in Germany no cell number is required. Maybe you trigger some extra verification that I don’t?

As for the email, I require it so that I can subscribe all of my readers to a weekly newsl… haha just joking. Juuuuust joking :-) If you try it, you will find that a bogus email address works just fine.

Re: Show HN: Free textbook on engineering thermodynamics

#35

Post by 2DcAf »

ginkgotree wrote: post #32

This is awesome. Also, this quote feels relevant: "Ludwig Boltzmann, who spent much of his life studying statistical mechanics, died in 1906, by his own hand. Paul Ehrenfest, carrying on the work, died similarly in 1933. Now it is our turn to study statistical mechanics." - David Goodstein's States of Matter, Introduction

ha yes :-) Carnot died of cholera aged 36, and Rudolf Diesel committed suicide too. Maybe I should add an appendix about mental health at the end!

Re: Show HN: Free textbook on engineering thermodynamics

#37

Post by 2DcAf »

rramadass wrote: post #31

Nice. Good to see actual hard science books popularized and available for free. The textbook industry is a criminal cartel shafting both the students/knowledge seekers and authors/professors. Hence i really appreciate the way you have made the pdf available both for free and for a nominal price; so thank you. We need more hard science (Physics/Chemistry/Biology/etc.) content (books/articles/videos/etc.) on HN. For ex…

I used to think that way about the publishing industry too, but I now think that this description is not deserved. Just observing it from an operational perspective: a laptop to type, software to edit, book printers that will talk to you, payment rails, and even access to world-class distribution: it’s all available to us now. On the other side of the market, students and teachers are not locked in either. Barriers to entry are nonexistent. For context, see the links I posted in my other comments on this page. It’s all in our hands!

Re: Show HN: Free textbook on engineering thermodynamics

#39

Post by 2DcAf »

nafistiham wrote: post #38

What system are you using to get the money? The service is taking 25% of your earnings! Also, I believe you could do some optimization with the heavy images. Anyway, thanks for sharing this. It's gonna help my cousin.

Glad the book can help! Regarding image size, it’s on my todo list now (see thread further down the page).

I am using Payhip for the transaction, and then Paypal. Fees end up averaging 0,5€. Calculating in terms of percentage is not really helpful here at such low prices: there is an incompressible flat rate pretty much anywhere you go. See it differently: these intermediary fees go towards making the UX smooth, the payment secure, reducing fraud etc. I want to spend my energy on the content, not making a credit card form :-)

Post reply on HN