Free Book - The Holiday Goddess Handbag Guide to New York (K-AU)

The Holiday Goddess Handbag Guide to New York, by Jessica Adams, is a free pre-order for Australian customers in the Kindle store. Two others in the series were previously free pre-orders, but are now up to nearly $7 each (for Australians). So far, I don't see these being available, at all, for those in the US.

Book Description
Like a trusted and impossibly cool girlfriend you rely on to inspire and surprise you, THE HOLIDAY GODDESS HANDBAG GUIDE reveals the secrets of what women REALLY want to know about four of the world's most fabulous cities: Paris, London, New York and Rome. Born in a handbag from scribbled tips shared between holiday goddesses whose work, love and life adventures scattered them all over the globe, it will take you where few women have been before. Release your inner goddess as you follow Audrey Hepburn's footsteps in Rome, delve into the secret diaries of shopaholics in New York, learn 'chiconomical secrets' in Paris, where to love the nightlife in London, and how to find to-die-for shoes, lustworthy cult local brands,the best vintage markets, heavenly spas or sanctuaries to escape the hustle and bustle, the most original art, the best live music, where to eat, love, and eat some more. Elegantly packaged in red linen, it's as irresistibly chic as a designer handbag and ten times more useful - the must-have accessory for goddesses who love to travel or just enjoy dreaming about it.

Four Free Books for Aussies (K)

There are four new pre-orders for Australians in the Kindle store today, all published by HarperCollins. None of these are available for US customers.

Phoenix Rising, a Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences novel by Tee Morris and Pip Ballantine, is the oddest of the lot. This was 99 cents for US customers last December, was delivered, then disappeared from the Kindle market. Now, it's back, but as a free pre-order and only for those in Australia (who could, I suppose, also buy the other version available for Aussies only, which costs $8.72, instead).

Book Description

Evil is most assuredly afoot—and Britain’s fate rests in the hands of an alluring renegade . . . and a librarian.

These are dark days indeed in Victoria’s England. Londoners are vanishing, then reappearing, washing up as corpses on the banks of the Thames, drained of blood and bone. Yet the Ministry of Peculiar Occurrences—the Crown’s clandestine organization whose bailiwick is the strange and unsettling—will not allow its agents to investigate. Fearless and exceedingly lovely Eliza D. Braun, however, with her bulletproof corset and a disturbing fondness for dynamite, refuses to let the matter rest . . . and she’s prepared to drag her timorous new partner, Wellington Books, along with her into the perilous fray.

For a malevolent brotherhood is operating in the deepening London shadows, intent upon the enslavement of all Britons. And Books and Braun—he with his encyclopedic brain and she with her remarkable devices—must get to the twisted roots of a most nefarious plot . . . or see England fall to the Phoenix!

The Voice is a novella by Anne Bishop. This one does have a US edition ($2.99), although they are not linked together. Also included is an excerpt from her upcoming Bridge of Dreams (AU/US)

Book Description
In a small village outside the city of Vision, the people know no sorrow or grief. But this seemingly idyllic community is hiding a terrible secret. As a young child, Nalah did not know why she was told to bring a cake to the mute girl known as the Voice whenever she was upset, only that doing so made her feel better. Now grown, Nalah understands the dark truth, and yearns to escape from the oppressive village that has been her life-long home. But it is only after visiting the city of Vision and discovering the Temple of Sorrow that Nalah understands what she must do to be free…

From author Jessica Adams, there are a pair of titles, The Holiday Goddess Handbag Guide to Rome and The Holiday Goddess Handbag Guide to London, from a planned 4-part series (one of which is available,The Holiday Goddess Handbag Guide to New York, just not free, and the last one is not yet listed).

Book Description
Like a trusted and impossibly cool girlfriend you rely on to inspire and surprise you, THE HOLIDAY GODDESS HANDBAG GUIDE reveals the secrets of what women REALLY want to know about four of the world's most fabulous cities: Paris, London, New York and Rome. Born in a handbag from scribbled tips shared between holiday goddesses whose work, love and life adventures scattered them all over the globe, it will take you where few women have been before. Release your inner goddess as you follow Audrey Hepburn's footsteps in Rome, delve into the secret diaries of shopaholics in New York, learn 'chiconomical secrets' in Paris, where to love the nightlife in London, and how to find to-die-for shoes, lustworthy cult local brands,the best vintage markets, heavenly spas or sanctuaries to escape the hustle and bustle, the most original art, the best live music, where to eat, love, and eat some more. Elegantly packaged in red linen, it's as irresistibly chic as a designer handbag and ten times more useful - the must-have accessory for goddesses who love to travel or just enjoy dreaming about it.

Free Book - Moon USA Travel Planner (K/N/E)

The Moon USA Travel Planner is a repeat freebie in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble and Kobo

Book Description
Moon USA Travel Planner is a sampler of top travel destinations in the U.S. Excerpted from Moon’s Handbooks series, this eBook offers information on vacation spots ranging from Washington’s San Juan Islands to Florida’s Gulf Coast. Rather than providing in-depth coverage on just one location, this is a fun-to-browse guide that offers overviews of fifty-two individual cities, states, regions, and national parks and monuments—along with a trip-planning section, suggested itineraries, maps, and photos for each one. With chapters on Napa and Sonoma, Yellowstone, New Mexico, Michigan, Kentucky, New York, Rhode Island, and more, Moon USA Travel Planner gives travelers the tools they need to create a more personal and memorable experience.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble (apparently new listing).
Get the free ebook from Kobo.

Free Books from Coffeetown Press (K)

Small publisher Coffeetown Press, located in Seattle, is apparently trying for a big splash in the Kindle store. They just made several of their titles free (presumably for one to five days, under KDP rules) and those who read academic non-fiction (their specialty) or historical fiction are sure to find at least one or two worth grabbing (although at least one is more humor/men's adventure than anything else).

A Reader's Companion to J. D. Salinger's The Catcher in the Rye, by Peter Beidler

Book Description
This second edition of Peter G. Beidler's Readers Companion builds on the success of the first edition. It will be an indispensable guide for teachers, students, and general readers who want fully to appreciate Salinger's perennial bestseller. Now six decades old, The Catcher in the Rye contains references to people, places, books, movies, and historical events that will puzzle many twenty-first century readers. This edition includes a new section on reactions to Salinger's death in January, 2010.

Beidler provides some 250 explanations to help readers make sense of the culture through which Holden Caulfield stumbles as he comes of age. He provides a map showing the various stops in Holden’s Manhattan odyssey. Of particular interest to readers whose native language is not English is his glossary of more than a hundred terms, phrases, and slang expressions.

In his introductory essay, “Catching The Catcher in the Rye,” Beidler discusses such topics as the three-day time line for the novel, the way the novel grew out of two earlier-published short stories, the extent to which the novel is autobiographical, what Holden looks like, and the reasons for the enduring appeal of the novel.

The many photographs in the Reader’s Companion give fascinating glimpses into the world that Holden has made famous. Beidler also provides discussion of some of the issues that have engaged scholars down through the years: the meaning of Holden’s red hunting hat, whether Holden writes his novel in an insane asylum, Mr. Antolini’s troubling actions, and Holden’s close relationship with his sister and his two brothers.

Risk Teaching: Reflections from Inside and Outside the Classroom, by Peter G. Beidler (same author as above, but with initial used)

Book Description
Must we always teach from the inside of a classroom? Do periodic exams encourage learning as well as daily quizzes do? Do you schedule individual conferences with each student at the start of the term? Is lecturing an effective way to teach? If a student falls in love with you—or vice versa—are you doing something right or something wrong? If you have a pedagogical idea that will probably fail, should you try it anyhow? How do we know when it is time to retire from a profession we love? Such questions may make readers uncomfortable, but they may also lead them to change the way they think about the profession. Teachers may reconsider their methods, causing students to reconsider their attitudes. In choosing the title Risk Teaching, Peter G. Beidler hopes to convey multiple meanings of the word “risk.” “Risk” the verb, as in “take a chance on an amazing profession.” “Risk” the adjective, as in “risky”—teaching that diverges from the safe and traditional path. “Risk” the noun, as in “teach students to take risks” and learn outside their comfort zones. Beidler's book, like his teaching, is saucy, innovative, and challenging.

The Addiction of Mary Todd Lincoln, by Anne Beidler (I'd say it's safe to assume a relationship with the author above)

Book Description
Mary Todd Lincoln, wife of the president we have immortalized, has ­always been difficult for us to understand. She could appear poised and ­brilliant one moment, yet rude and ugly the next. Sometimes competent and strong, able to entertain dignitaries from around the world, at other times she ­appeared dependent and weak. At times she seemed utterly beside ­herself with sobbing and screaming.

Historians have mostly avoided saying very much about Mary Todd ­Lincoln except in reference to her husband, Abraham. To many it would seem that Mary Todd Lincoln is still an embarrassment in the tragic story of her martyred husband. But Mary Todd Lincoln lived her own tragic story even before Abraham was murdered. She was an addict, addicted to the opiates she needed for her migraine headaches.

Seeing Mary Todd Lincoln as an addict helps us understand her and give her the compassion and admiration she deserves. In her time there had been no courageous First Lady like Betty Ford to help people ­understand the power of addiction. There was no treatment center. In Mary Todd Lincoln’s time there were many addicts at all levels of society, as there are now, but it was a more socially acceptable condition for men to have than for women. More importantly, addiction was not very well understood, and it was often mistreated.

Because Mary Todd Lincoln’s only surviving son, Robert Lincoln, made a great effort to protect his mother and his family from journalists and ­historians, he intentionally destroyed most of Mary Todd Lincoln’s medical records and many of her letters. What he could not destroy, however, is the record of Mary Todd Lincoln’s pain and the record of how she behaved while living with this pain.

In The Addiction of Mary Todd Lincoln, we can see clearly, for the first time, what Mary Todd Lincoln had to live with and the courage it took for her to carry on.

Eating Owen, by Anne Beidler

Book Description
In the autumn of 1819, the unthinkable happened. Out in the middle of the Pacific Ocean a whale rammed into the Essex, sinking it within minutes. (The event that helped inspire Moby-Dick.)
The crew had no refuge except to jump in the three small and very flimsy wooden boats they carried on board to help them chase the whales. So during the the next three months, bobbing around aimlessly out there on the ocean, the men suffered terribly. They ran out of food to eat and some of them died.

And some of them ate each other. Including Owen.

The few survivors returned to Nantucket with the story that Owen had been fairly elected to be executed--before he was eaten. But no one knows for sure what happened. Or do we?

Eating Owen is the story of Owen Coffin and his family before the Essex tragedy. It is a story about a family, a story about surviving and not surviving. A story about a whale’s revenge.

Sacred Ground & Holy Water: One Man's Adventures in the Wild, by Lyn Fuchs

Book Description
Sacred Ground and Holy Water, the first book by writer and professor Lyn Fuchs, is a collection of travel stories filled with humor, tragedy, adventure, sexual innuendo, and spiritual insight. Lyn should be called Lyndiana Jones. He has survived enraged grizzlies, erupting volcanoes, Japanese swordfights, and giant squid tentacles. He has been entrapped by FBI agents and held at gunpoint by renegade soldiers. He has sung with Bulgaria’s bluesmaster Vasko the Patch and met with Mexico’s Zapatista Army commander Marcos. He has been thrown out of forbidden temples in southern India and passed out in sweat lodges off the Alaskan coast. His navel has been inhabited by beetles and his genitals have been cursed by eunuchs. He has shared coffee with presidents, beer with pirates, and goat guts with polygamists. He has contracted malaria, typhoid, salmonella, and lovesickness around the world.

Entry-Level, by Bobby Casella

Book Description
A "deranged young professional" is hell-bent on making a million bucks because he thinks life without money is not worth living. Entry-Level is an outrageous and ultimately heart-warming adventure comedy about a young man's battle with cynicism.

Free Book - Moon Maya 2012 (K/N)

Moon Maya 2012, by Joshua Berman, is a repeat freebie in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble.

Book Description
December 21, 2012 is an important date for the Maya; it marks the end of the Long Count, a 5,125-year cycle of the Maya calendar, and the world’s transition into a new era. Some believe this transition will be peaceful; others warn it will be nothing short of explosive. But there's one thing everyone can agree on: Traveling to the Mundo Maya in the year 2012 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—and it’s not to be missed.

Travelers to Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras in 2012 can expect a yearlong celebration of Maya culture, past and present—and Moon Maya 2012 is the guide to the best of these celebrations. From Palenque and Tulum to Tikal and Uaxactún, from Caracol to Copán, Central America expert Joshua Berman details the top offerings of each destination: Maya-themed sporting events and reenactments, ceremonies, dances, festivals, important archaeological sites, and more. Packed with strategies for planning a 2012 trip, lists of the organizations and tourism boards offering the best packages and tours, and easy-to-read maps to help you navigate your way through them all, Moon Maya 2012 gives travelers the tools they need to create a more personal and memorable experience.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book - Hawaii or the Caribbean? (K/N)

Update: 2/19/12 Now free in the Kindle store.

Hawaii or the Caribbean? ($0.99 Kindle), by Planet Lonely, is free from Barnes & Noble.

Book Description
Turquoise seas, white-sand beaches, palm trees and fruity drinks - both Hawaii and the Caribbean Islands have all the ingredients for a dreamy, tropical getaway. So - how to choose?

Let Lonely Planet's Hawaii or the Caribbean? eBook help.

This engaging and useful eBook gives you the information you need to choose the perfect warm-weather getaway. It starts with an incisive introduction that helps you narrow your focus to one of the regions. This is followed by features that rate the islands by interests, top activities and key attributes. From here, you can link to profiles of 29 Caribbean destinations and the six major Hawaiian Islands, with information on why and when to go, weather patterns and picks for the best accommodations, beaches or dining options.

This free island chooser was created from Lonely Planet's latest Caribbean Islands and Hawaii travel guides. Each guide was written by a team of dedicated authors who immersed themselves in island life, finding unique experiences and sharing practical and honest advice so readers can get the most out of their trips.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Nine Free Books from New Word City (K)

There is a new batch of free books from New Word City in the Kindle store.

1. What the Ivy League Won't Teach You, by William Deresiewicz
2. No More Bad Decisions, by Sydney Finkelstein
3. Discovering the World's Oldest City, by Edgar James Banks
4. Lorenzo De Medici Rules in Florence, by Oliphant Smeaton
5. Humphrey Bogart: A Life In Film, by Richard Schickel
6. Laurence Olivier, A Life In Film, by Richard Schickel
7. Nelson Mandela, A Life
8. Michelle Obama: A Life
9. Margaret Thatcher: A Life (repeat)

Free Book - The Stapleton 2012 Gay Guide to Fort Lauderdale (K)

The Stapleton 2012 Gay Guide to Fort Lauderdale, by Jon Stapleton, is free in the Kindle store.

Book Description
The Stapleton Guide is a comprehensive travel guide to Fort Lauderdale, focusing on the interests of gays and lesbians. Lodgings, restaurants, attractions, shopping and nightlife, updated several times a year in ebook form. Though slanted toward the gay world, the Guide is quite comprehensive, covering all other aspects of Fort Lauderdale of interest to anyone.

Free Book (nook) - Fodor's 100 Hotel Awards

Fodor's 100 Hotel Awards, a B&N exclusive that only works on the nookColor and nookTablet, is free from Barnes & Noble. There's no description at B&N, but checking at Fodor's website, I found the web version of the book, along with an interactive map; one of the top 100 hotels in the world is just down the road from here, in Walland, TN.

Book Description
At Fodor's, we know that where you stay can make—or break—your vacation. That's why our writers and editors travel the globe each year, scouting new properties and revisiting Fodor's-recommended lodgings to ensure our coverage always hits the mark. Like any world traveler, we can't help but brag about our special finds. Our first-ever global Fodor's 100 Hotel Awards conveys our top resort and hotel picks for 2011, from innovative boutiques in Beijing to luxe wilderness lodges in British Columbia. Presented in eight fantastic hotel categories, from grand dame to design, the year's most remarkable lodgings are sure to inspire your next getaway.

Get the free ebook from from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book (Kindle) - Barefoot Sisters: Southbound

Barefoot Sisters: Southbound, by Lucy and Susan Letcher, is free in the Kindle store.

Book Description
At the ages of twenty-five and twenty-one, Lucy and Susan Letcher set out to accomplish what thousands of people attempt each year: through-hike the entire 2,175 miles of the Appalachian Trail. The difference between them and the others? They decided to hike the trail barefoot. Quickly earning themselves the moniker of the Barefoot Sisters, the two begin their journey at Mount Katahdin and spend eight months making their way to Springer Mountain in Georgia. As they hike, they write about their adventures through the 100-mile Wilderness, the rocky terrain of Pennsylvania, and snowfall in the Great Smoky Mountains - a story filled with humour and determination. It's as close as one can get to hiking the Appalachian Trail without strapping on a pack.

NOOKstudy's How to Land an Internship

NOOKstudy's How to Land an Internship: 25 Tips, by SparkNotes, is free from Barnes & Noble. Might come in handy for the student or new grad at your house (and an internship can lead to a paid position or resume experience that lands one later).

While you are there, you can still pick up NOOKstudy's Lining Up a Semester Abroad: 25 Tips for free, also. Both titles are from Sterling Publishing, which is owned by B&N, so only available on the nook.

Free Book (Kindle/nook) - Moon Maya 2012

Moon Maya 2012: A Guide to Celebrations in Mexico, Guatemala, Belize and Honduras, by Joshua Berman, is free in the Kindle store and from Barnes & Noble.

Book Description
December 21, 2012 is an important date for the Maya; it marks the end of the Long Count, a 5,125-year cycle of the Maya calendar, and the world’s transition into a new era. Some believe this transition will be peaceful; others warn it will be nothing short of explosive. But there's one thing everyone can agree on: Traveling to the Mundo Maya in the year 2012 is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—and it’s not to be missed.

Travelers to Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, and Honduras in 2012 can expect a yearlong celebration of Maya culture, past and present—and Moon Maya 2012 is the guide to the best of these celebrations. From Palenque and Tulum to Tikal and Uaxactún, from Caracol to Copán, Central America expert Joshua Berman details the top offerings of each destination: Maya-themed sporting events and reenactments, ceremonies, dances, festivals, important archaeological sites, and more. Packed with strategies for planning a 2012 trip, lists of the organizations and tourism boards offering the best packages and tours, and easy-to-read maps to help you navigate your way through them all, Moon Maya 2012 gives travelers the tools they need to create a more personal and memorable experience.

Get the free ebook from Barnes & Noble.

Free Book (ADE-PDF) - Spiral Jetta

The University of Chicago Press' free book this month is Spiral Jetta: A Road Trip through the Land Art of the American West ($9.99 Kindle), by Erin Hogan.

Book Description
Erin Hogan hit the road in her Volkswagen Jetta and headed west from Chicago in search of the monuments of American land art: a salty coil of rocks, four hundred stainless steel poles, a gash in a mesa, four concrete tubes, and military sheds filled with cubes. Her journey took her through the states of Utah, Nevada, New Mexico, Arizona, and Texas. It also took her through the states of anxiety, drunkenness, disorientation, and heat exhaustion. Spiral Jetta is a chronicle of this journey.

A lapsed art historian and devoted urbanite, Hogan initially sought firsthand experience of the monumental earthworks of the 1970s and the 1980s—Robert Smithson’s Spiral Jetty, Nancy Holt’s Sun Tunnels, Walter De Maria’s Lightning Field, James Turrell’s Roden Crater, Michael Heizer’s Double Negative, and the contemporary art mecca of Marfa, Texas. Armed with spotty directions, no compass, and less-than-desert-appropriate clothing, she found most of what she was looking for and then some.

Click HERE to sign up for the free book. You'll need to enter your email address, then check your email for the link to download the book. Mine arrived within seconds -- you get link to an .ACSM file, which, when opened, will load the EPUB book inside of Adobe ADE. This is a DRM'd PDF and is not compatible with the Kindle.

Free Book (Kindle/EPUB) - Moon USA Travel Planner

Update: 5/24/11 Now free from Kobo.
Update: 5/26/11 Now free from Borders.

The Moon USA Travel Planner is free in the Kindle store. It says it is a sampler, but mentions several travel destinations. Beware, though, that it is 50MB in size, so will take quite a while to download.

Book Description
Moon USA Travel Planner is a sampler of top travel destinations in the U.S. Excerpted from Moon’s Handbooks series, this eBook offers information on vacation spots ranging from Washington’s San Juan Islands to Florida’s Gulf Coast. Rather than providing in-depth coverage on just one location, this is a fun-to-browse guide that offers overviews of fifty-two individual cities, states, regions, and national parks and monuments—along with a trip-planning section, suggested itineraries, maps, and photos for each one. With chapters on Napa and Sonoma, Yellowstone, New Mexico, Michigan, Kentucky, New York, Rhode Island, and more, Moon USA Travel Planner gives travelers the tools they need to create a more personal and memorable experience.

Click HERE to get the free book from Kobo.
Click HERE to get the free book from Borders.

Free Book (PDF) - GOG

GOG - An End Time Mystery ($5.59 Kindle), by Dan Richardson, is free from Wowio this month.

Book Description
After her husband Nick goes missing in Egypt, sheltered art curator Carina Wilde flies out to find him in a land devastated by a man-made flood two years earlier — a fulfillment of the Biblical prophecy of Ezekiel, many believe.

Stumbling upon the secrets he uncovered, she becomes a fugitive pursued by despots, religious fanatics, looters and occupying powers. Her only allies are an orphan scavenging the ruins of Cairo, and a Suez bar-girl whose relationship with Nick is just one of the questions Carina is forced to confront…

A dark satire for an age when the righteous and ruthless shape our world, Gog - An End Time Mystery is written with a rare insight into Egyptian life, Middle Eastern geopolitics, and disinformation.

You can also download a Hayes FM radio interview with Dan Richardson hosted by Paul Goodwin. Among the topics discussed are how Dan began writing travel guides, the experiences that went into his Egyptian thriller, Gog – an End Time Mystery, and how a novel can tell you things about a country that a Rough Guide can’t.

Click HERE to get the free book.

Free Book (nook) - 5 of USA's Best Trips

5 of USA's Best Trips: Our Favorite Themed Itineraries Across America, by Lonely Planet, is free from Barnes & Noble (nook and nook app only). There doesn't appear to be a comparable book available in the Kindle store, but I'd bet these five trips are included in the volume Lonely Planet USA's Best Trips ($9.99), which has 99 trips, is over 15MB in size and 708 pages in print.

Book Description
Five USA Trips handpicked by Lonely Planet, perfect for a fall getaway:

West Virginia
Vermont
Minneapolis to Milwaukee
Alice Waters' Culinary Tour (California)
Whistle-Stop Brewery Tour (Pacific Northwest, with a detour into Canada)

Easy-to-use maps for each trip, plus driving times and directions
Local experts share their favorite trip ideas
Tune in on the road with our regional music playlists
Family-friendly and pet-friendly listings throughout
Green index lists the most environmentally friendly options

Click HERE for the free book.

Free Book (ADE/PDF) - We'll Always Have Paris

We'll Always Have Paris: American Tourists in France since 1930 ($35.00 Hardcover), by Harvey Levenstein, is free this month from the University of Chicago Press.

Book Description
For much of the twentieth century, Americans had a love/hate relationship with France. While many admired its beauty, culture, refinement, and famed joie de vivre, others thought of it as a dilapidated country populated by foul-smelling, mean-spirited anti-Americans driven by a keen desire to part tourists from their money. We'll Always Have Paris explores how both images came to flourish in the United States, often in the minds of the same people.

Harvey Levenstein takes us back to the 1930s, when, despite the Great Depression, France continued to be the stomping ground of the social elite of the eastern seaboard. After World War II, wealthy and famous Americans returned to the country in droves, helping to revive its old image as a wellspring of sophisticated and sybaritic pleasures. At the same time, though, thanks in large part to Communist and Gaullist campaigns against U.S. power, a growing sensitivity to French anti-Americanism began to color tourists' experiences there, strengthening the negative images of the French that were already embedded in American culture. But as the century drew on, the traditional positive images were revived, as many Americans again developed an appreciation for France's cuisine, art, and urban and rustic charms.

Levenstein, in his colorful, anecdotal style, digs into personal correspondence, journalism, and popular culture to shape a story of one nation's relationship to another, giving vivid play to Americans' changing response to such things as France's reputation for sexual freedom, haute cuisine, high fashion, and racial tolerance. He puts this tumultuous coupling of France and the United States in historical perspective, arguing that while some in Congress say we may no longer have french fries, others, like Humphrey Bogart in Casablanca, know they will always have Paris, and France, to enjoy and remember.

Click HERE to sign up for the free book. You'll need to give them an email address and then check for their message to get the download link. The book is a DRM'd PDF and will requires Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) to download and read.

Free Book (ADE-DRM) - Cartographies of Danger

Cartographies of Danger: Mapping Hazards in America($15.00 Kindle), by Mark Monmonier, is free this month from the University of Chicago Press.

Book Description
No place is perfectly safe, but some places are more dangerous than others. Whether we live on a floodplain or in "Tornado Alley," near a nuclear facility or in a neighborhood poorly lit at night, we all co-exist uneasily with natural and man-made hazards. As Mark Monmonier shows in this entertaining and immensely informative book, maps can tell us a lot about where we can anticipate certain hazards, but they can also be dangerously misleading.

California, for example, takes earthquakes seriously, with a comprehensive program of seismic mapping, whereas Washington has been comparatively lax about earthquakes in Puget Sound. But as the Northridge earthquake in January 1994 demonstrated all too clearly to Californians, even reliable seismic-hazard maps can deceive anyone who misinterprets "known fault-lines" as the only places vulnerable to earthquakes.

Important as it is to predict and prepare for catastrophic natural hazards, more subtle and persistent phenomena such as pollution and crime also pose serious dangers that we have to cope with on a daily basis. Hazard-zone maps highlight these more insidious hazards and raise awareness about them among planners, local officials, and the public.

With the help of many maps illustrating examples from all corners of the United States, Monmonier demonstrates how hazard mapping reflects not just scientific understanding of hazards but also perceptions of risk and how risk can be reduced. Whether you live on a faultline or a coastline, near a toxic waste dump or an EMF-generating power line, you ignore this book's plain-language advice on geographic hazards and how to avoid them at your own peril.

Click HERE to sign up for the free book. You'll need to give them an email address and then check for their message to get the download link. The book is a DRM'd PDF and will requires Adobe Digital Editions (ADE) to download and read.

Free Travel Guides from Lonely Planet

Download the Lonely Planet Travel Guides iPhone/iPad app from Lonely Planet and get the San Francisco City Guide (valued at $15.99) and the Mexican Spanish Phrasebook (valued at $9.99) for free. In addition, as a Volcano Relief effort to assist those stuck in Europe with grounded flights, they are giving away city guides to 13 European destinations (offer valid thru Thursday, April 22), which normally sell for $15.99 each.

In response to the widespread chaos caused by the eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano, Lonely Planet is offering 13 of its European iPhone guides free.

‘Travellers stuck in unfamiliar places need access to practical information as well as suggestions on what to do whilst stranded’, said Tom Hall, Lonely Planet Travel Editor. ‘That’s why we’re giving away iPhone city guides to major affected destinations.’

The cities included are:

• Amsterdam
• Barcelona
• Berlin
• Budapest
• Copenhagen
• Istanbul
• London
• Moscow
• Munich
• Paris
• Rome
• Stockholm
• Vienna

If you doing a bit of traveling, you might want to check out their website. If nothing else, you might want to sign up for their contest to win a free trip around the world.

Free Books and Free Reads

The Storms of Eternity ($0.99 Kindle), by Robert Williams, is free to download at Smashwords. Make sure you get all the formats you might want and make a backup copy, as there is no way (currently) to save it on your bookshelf when it's an entirely free read at Smashwords.

Book Description
Mike Rhoades, Reese Patterson, Josh Carter and his twin sister Jen are inseparable friends, but they each have a secret they cannot share with the others.

All that changes, however, during a sailing trip down the Alaskan coast, when they are struck by a violent storm. After the winds clear, the friends find themselves lost in a nightmare landscape where clouds cover the Earth with eternal darkness; roaming gangs stalk the unending night seeking victims, and two militant factions battle to rule the devastated land by any means necessary.

Mike, Reese, Josh and Jen are caught up in a fight for their lives, freedom, and their very humanity as they are drawn towards the inhuman being that has brought them into this apocalyptic future for its own enigmatic plans.

Finn Reeder, Flu Fighter, by Eric Stevens, is free in PDF format until Jan 1, 2010, from Stone Arch Books. The tip for this one was sent in by one of my readers.

Book Description
Finn Reeder thought it was just a dumb assignment when a sub told his English class that they had to start keeping a journal. Little did he know that his journal would turn into the record of a major flu pandemic.

Somehow, he survives infection. As their class size dwindles, Finn and his friend Amy face down the school bully, draw comics, catch the principal ordering pizza, and even manage to study once in a while. And when finally, Finn is the lone student remaining in school, he manages to win—and lose—the most intense game of solo dodge ball ever.
By the time the month is over, he’s made it through the epidemic, gotten vaccinated, and might even have found himself a girlfriend if he plays his cards right.

One for the Road ($33.00 Paperback), by Bjørn Christian Tørrissen, can be downloaded for free from his website, in several different formats (only the PDF includes photos, it appears). The website is worth exploring to see his other photos from trips and his blog continues his journeys to other locations.

Book Description
It's a fun and informative read about independent travelling, taking you on three different journeys:

• Through Patagonia and Antarctica the cheap way
• Through Southern Africa along the backpacker trail, visiting South Africa, Swaziland, Botswana, Victoria Falls and Namibia
• On and off the Trans-Siberian Railway, Vladivostok to Moscow

If you enjoy humorous tales of trips to foreign parts, I do believe you will find the book worth your while. Also, if you plan on doing a trip similar to any of these three, definitely read at least the chapter about "your" trip, as a preparation!

Come, Wewoka & Diary of Medicine Flower, by Edward C. Patterson, is free when using coupon code EX87U, thru November 28.

Book Description
The Trail of Tears left a deep mark on the Cherokee nation, a mark that still ripples through the descendants of that culture. It should also leave an indelible mark on the current conscience. Come, Wewoka - Poems on the Trail of Tears is a collection of heartfelt reflections on Cherokee culture during those days and after. Diary of Medicine Flower - Cherokee Aphorisms re modern Cherokee thoughts

Refuge of Delayed Souls, by Miladysa, is free when using coupon code GH35B, thru Nov 30.

Book Description
Volume 1 ~ RoYds In a story spanning many lifetimes, we follow Elizabeth Whyte's journey as she investigates the supernatural & seeks information about her own past, all while trying to keep a balance between the light & the darkness in her work for an agency known as the Refuge of Delayed Souls. A world where ghosts, angels, the Living & others exist side by side, although not always in harmony.

Samhain has a new short story as a free download - Love & Scones, by Meg Benjamin