Online books
October 5, 2007 | 2:02 pmA good source of information, which you might not be aware of, is the online libraries that several publishing houses offer. I have tested (and still use) Wrox Books 24×7 and O’Reilly Safari. Wrox has a simpler interface and somewhat fewer books. The cost of subscription is $50 per 3 months. O’Reilly is more expensive, $40 per month. You can browse chapters, copy and paste text and code, add bookmarks and notes and in limited measure download chapters (O’Reilly). O’Reilly also has a very useful cross-reference between sections relating to each other in different books.
It is not like having the book on your desk, but it is a great complement. I like to underline with different colors and write in the margin of books that I read. You can’t do that (yet). Also, it is still more comfortable to read text on paper than on screen if you read for a while.
The main advantage is that you can search through the whole library and find several aspects of what you are searching for. Two explanations are much better than one. Another advantage is that most of these books are so heavy that you don’t carry them voluntarily. I often bike to work and I assure you that it makes a difference whether you have 1584 pages of Professional ASP.NET Special Edition in your bag or not. Online books as such is an interesting path from the environmental perspective, since it is a renewable resource.
The cost of the subscription is easily covered by the time you save.
