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Springer Textbooks More Than 10 Years Old Available for Free Legal Download

link.springer.com

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Re: Springer Textbooks More Than 10 Years Old Available for Free Legal Download

#131

Post by kgwgk »

david_ar wrote: post #105
kgwgk wrote: post #81

Earlier quoted context omitted.

SpringerOpen is not what's being talking about here. There are only a few dozen books listed in that page. I don't think any of the books being referenced in the comments is there.

That page isn't a complete listing, but you're right, only ~100 of the books seem to be properly open access, unfortunately. I guess Springer can decide to revoke access to the rest at any point in the future. Edit: looks like they've revoked access already in fact https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10811854

I should have downloaded a few more, in retrospect it's clear it was too good to be true... Especially when no announcement had been made.

Re: Springer Textbooks More Than 10 Years Old Available for Free Legal Download

#133

Post by icebraining »

gte525u wrote: post #130
diffraction wrote: post #119

While this may have been true when it was posted it is no longer true. If you think about it the idea doesn't make sense because the still living authors still want a cut. It's unfortunate because it's very difficult to find good textbooks just by searching yourself because the prices are so high.

It may just be the site getting hammered. I'm seeing my searches limited to 2011-Present even though I'm searching 1990-Present.

Sounds more like they just hid them until they have a proper fix.

Re: Springer Textbooks More Than 10 Years Old Available for Free Legal Download

#134

Post by _Codemonkeyism »

nikkev wrote: post #129
ioltas wrote: post #125

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This may be something decided depending on your geographic position where author's or editor's rights are differently being applied then.. From where I am I can get a "Download Book" button.

Not sure about that, just checked a link from a book that I had downloaded previously (this morning) and the download option was no longer there.

Same here (Germany), saw this in the morning, wanted to download after lunch, doesn't work anymore.

Re: Springer Textbooks More Than 10 Years Old Available for Free Legal Download

#135

Post by ksherlock »

sytelus wrote: post #47

If you get so excited by limited set of old book, here's something that will keep you awake for many many nights: https://www.safaribooksonline.com/ For couple of $100 bucks you can get unlimited access to virtually every CS/tech book out there. This include brand new ones and even exclusive access to books with future publish date.

My local library card gives me full access to safari. Might be worth checking if yours does, too. ACM membership also gives access to a subset of safari.

Re: Springer Textbooks More Than 10 Years Old Available for Free Legal Download

#136

Post by tremon »

diffraction wrote: post #119

While this may have been true when it was posted it is no longer true. If you think about it the idea doesn't make sense because the still living authors still want a cut. It's unfortunate because it's very difficult to find good textbooks just by searching yourself because the prices are so high.

What are the odds this change was made in error? i.e. someone pruning a database, only to have the website logic interpret that as "free" ?

Re: Springer Textbooks More Than 10 Years Old Available for Free Legal Download

#138

Post by vilius »

kevindeasis wrote: post #32

One of the things I've realized just a few days ago was that we need better technology to absorb content efficiently. There are so many books out there that I want to read, but might never be able to read because I will not have enough time. It would be amazing if there was just a way to download a book and understand its contents right into my brain in a matter of minutes.

Last time I had to absorb content efficiently I went for Kindle and their text-to-speech set at faster pace. I followed the robot's voice by reading the book myself and writing down a summary sentence / keywords per every page read. This way it took me a day (from early morning to late night) to read a 400 pages long Lawrence Lessig's "Code 2" and write a review. Next day I managed to get highest score at the relevant exam. It kind of makes sense that reading + writing + listening allows one to deeply absorb content and probably is the best combination so far.

It would be really interesting to see an interactive textbook that is combined with audiobook and asks you to read along and summarise every chapter. Not only it would increase speed of reading, but also help with memorising content.

Re: Springer Textbooks More Than 10 Years Old Available for Free Legal Download

#139

Post by bluenose69 »

Access seems to have been cut off about 2 hours ago. Presumably this was a mistake, but new-year optimists might hope that Springer did this on purpose, to gauge the market at low cost. As someone with a full-time job, I'd be happy to pay $10 to $20 to download an old book that might come in handy, but with conventional download costs being half the paper cost, I balk and just walk over to the university library so I can copy the 5 pages I actually need in the book.

Re: Springer Textbooks More Than 10 Years Old Available for Free Legal Download

#140

Post by wyldfire »

bluenose69 wrote: post #139

Access seems to have been cut off about 2 hours ago. Presumably this was a mistake, but new-year optimists might hope that Springer did this on purpose, to gauge the market at low cost. As someone with a full-time job, I'd be happy to pay $10 to $20 to download an old book that might come in handy, but with conventional download costs being half the paper cost, I balk and just walk over to the university library so I…

It appears to be working well for me, so perhaps a temporary glitch.

EDIT: no, I was mistaken. I can "download PDF" but it looks like that's typically only introductory content and not the entire book.

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