|
|
Post by timoinsects on Sept 21, 2011 11:38:44 GMT -8
is it possible?
some books are very expensive, for insects ID with names and pictures or other contents,but indeed expensive. any good links that is free?
in China,we can spend very cheap price to buy some e-books(copy) from internet,there're e-books sellers. this way i had a few books included chinese books and two japanese books(the world cetonidae/lucanidae). ;D
|
|
|
|
|
|
Post by wollastoni on Sept 21, 2011 12:27:49 GMT -8
|
|
|
|
Post by lepidofrance on Sept 21, 2011 14:32:54 GMT -8
|
|
|
|
Post by nusferatus369 on Sept 21, 2011 14:46:35 GMT -8
|
|
ckswank
Full Member
Posts: 239
Country: USA
|
Post by ckswank on Sept 21, 2011 21:35:18 GMT -8
Thanks for the links, especially the Swallowtails.
Charlie
|
|
|
|
Post by africaone on Sept 21, 2011 23:22:42 GMT -8
until now, new description are not yet accepted if described online without any hardcopy. Books and revue needs money to survive (non profit association). To stop this flow of money and it is the death for the new descriptions possibilities (sawing the branch on which you sit). As a I know, papers and printers are not yet free ! I agree that online website are very useful and cheap and probably easier to make than book. But Where to keep for the eternity a definitive and reliable copy of a paper ! computerisation doesn't have yet bring the solution ! (please, don't speak about hDD, DVD, memory sticks, etc... it is a real joke). today the society have nothing to do with what will happen tommorrow. This will probably arise one day ! When ? How ? no idea ... More personal POV : I like to touch the paper and to have a nice copy (I am a book lover). may be a problem of generation  |
|
|
|
mygos
Full Member
Posts: 230
|
Post by mygos on Sept 22, 2011 6:09:56 GMT -8
Needless to say that I fully agree with africaone comments, and me too I love old books !
A+ Michel
|
|
|
|
Post by starlightcriminal on Sept 22, 2011 7:04:42 GMT -8
I like books too, handling is nice. Just the object is worth the investment to me, when I can afford it. And yes, please support your authors! They do a lot of hard work to provide such useful information, although I do understand that they can be quite expensive- publishers get usually more than 90% of the money from the book, the author(s) rarely get more than 7% and often it is divided between many authors so the profit for a leading book in a particular field is often less than a few thousand dollars a year, while it is new. Once it gets old you can buy used copies for almost nothing many times and none of that money goes back to the author at all. You have to be a writer of Harry Potter to make any real money at it. It's not very profitable for most scientific authors whose books are not purchased in such large numbers, only by special interest, so in order to promote more good books being published on a subject you enjoy it is important to buy them so that people will be permitted to use their time writing new ones- otherwise institutions will just say "teach classes, write grants, all day long" and no research for books gets done. Many people have to wait until they retire to publish books for this reason.
|
|
|
|
Post by africaone on Sept 22, 2011 8:25:57 GMT -8
"Once it gets old you can buy used copies for almost nothing many times and none of that money goes back to the author at all."
if think this is normal as the book as been yet paid one time !
being editor, I can assure you that 90 % of the money doesn't go in the pocket, on contrary our society paid a part of the missing money to publish the books. Of course, nothing was asked by the author for which the aim was to be published and in some cases the author paid himself a large part of the cost ! it seems that many authors are in this case ! The authors that really lived with the money of their (entomological) books are extremely scare ! (I know only one and a second who got sufficient ùmoney to travel and hunt)
|
|
|
|
Post by prillbug2 on Sept 22, 2011 13:41:54 GMT -8
There's the Electronic biologia Centrali Americana series on-line through the Smithsonian Institute. You can print them out for free, if you want. All the authors are dead, so I don't think that they would be worried about losing profit. Even though many of the names are invalid, it's still useful if you do a lot of cross referencing for the species that are included in the series. Actually, for Staphylinidae, you have to go down a few titles to Dr. Newman's paper to cross reference for that family in Central America.
Jeff Prill
|
|
|
|
Post by lepidofrance on Sept 23, 2011 2:04:34 GMT -8
|
|
|
|
Post by timoinsects on Sept 23, 2011 2:50:09 GMT -8
here only part of books,normally is old/vintage books prints can be bought from few websites,new published books are difficult.
there're many insects books worldly,but some indeed uncheap or very expensive as the pubslihed quantity is small,readers are small population. the free resources are important,like i ID some my exotic insects from the sites pictures. some links are so appreciated! Lucanidae sites,there're a few,very great!
<Fauna of New Zeland> lucanidae part,i doneloaded from internet,very good one. ;D so i learnt the lucanidae there,42sp.?
but i also like to buy some my favourate books in future when possible if not tooooo expensive. some coleoptera books are necessary for me as i am a beetle collector.
|
|
|
|
Post by Adam Cotton on Sept 23, 2011 11:20:25 GMT -8
publishers get usually more than 90% of the money from the book, the author(s) rarely get more than 7% Hah, I should be lucky! I got absolutely ZERO for the books I have written, except for a few free copies to keep. I just do it to help disseminate the results of my studies. Mind you, even 7% probably wouldn't amount to more than a few $$ when you bear in mind that they don't exactly make the bestsellers list. Adam. |
|
|
|
Post by starlightcriminal on Sept 23, 2011 13:54:33 GMT -8
Right, that's exactly it. I'm talking about big publishers, mind you and talking about % of the profit they keep, so it could really be pennies per book even. Also there are a number of small companies that pop up which are dedicated to printing material they are interested in, happens a lot in the natural sciences, and those owners certainly are doing it for the benefit of everyone. Limited audiences are the major problem of course, but I at least can express my appreciation for the efforts. I benefit greatly from books and most people could too.
|
|
