| Retro |
| e-Books |
| Unreal |
| Guestbook |
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I have found the books in the public domain, and I have converted some myself from TXT/HTML to MobiPocket. Some of the stuff here may be regarded as bookwarez. Since my interests is sci-fi, cyber-whatever and computing, the e-books is about these subjects. Another brainy idea of mine is to make classical textfiles available for reading as e-books. Remember, if you like a book, buy some more from the same author, or at least visit the local library.
|
To
read these e-books you need a PDA with
A
few files can be found at BCR
Classic Internet Documents.
Old archived textfiles of all kinds can be found at Textfiles.com.
..and another source is my own ol' digital archive...
A nice site with a lot of links to online books and texts is The Assayer.
And finally, the ebookreader for Palm can be found at MobiPocket.
An alternative excellent all-round reader is iSilo. Comes with some really handy software for integrating it with MS-Office.
My favourite is still PalmReader, but it is too complicated to convert files to it. It is so far the only reader that allows reading in "landscape" mode.
Tired of going through the complete Hotsync cycle everytime you want to load another e-book? Use the excellent utility Pilot Install. Pilot Install can put PRC, PDB, PQA, PIA, MID, and TXT files on your Palm without the need for a HotSync.
| Cyberpunk Fiction | ||
| Bruce Bethke |
Cyberpunk | (22kb) This is the story where word 'cyberpunk' appears first time ever. First published 1983. |
| Richard Kadrey |
Metrophage | (292kb) Richard Kadrey's Metrophage is jacked directly into our information future. His world is the Los Angeles of Blade Runner with the amp turned up to 11. Hovercraft zip over neon-lit streets that link to shadowed alleys through which roam gangs of every stripe: the Zombie Analytics, the anarchist-physician Croakers, the Naginata Sisters, the Lizard Imperials. First published 1988. |
| Tom Maddox |
Halo | (186kb) Cyberpunk sci-fi story from 1994. |
| Cyberpunk Essays | ||
| David G.W Birch & S. Peter Buck | What is Cyberspace? | (12kb) An essay by David G.W. Birch and S. Peter Buck, 2000. |
| Philip Elmer-Dewitt |
Technospeak | (11kb) A article published in Time, February 8, 1993. Could alse be titled "what is cyperpunk". |
| Steve Mizrach |
Slackers manifesto | (6kb) A manifesto from a twenty-something, baby-boomer named "Generation-X". |
| Paul Saffo |
Cyberpunk R.I.P. | (5kb) Originaly published in Wired 1.04 1993, this essay declares the cyberpunk movement as dead. |
| Bruce Sterling |
Cyberpunk in the 90s | (12kb) Essay about cyberpunk sci-fi in the 90s, from Interzone #6 1992. |
| William Gibson | ||
| Johnny Mnemonic | (33kb) Originally published in Omni magazine 1981. | |
| Burning Chrome | (174kb) Short story, originally published in Omni 1982. | |
| Neuromancer | (257kb) The first book in a serie of three. The novel that defines cyberspace and cyberpunk.1984. | |
| Count Zero | (268kb) The second novel in the series that starts with Neuromancer. Count Zero was published as a serial before it was published as a novel, in Isaac Asimov's Science Fiction Magazine Jan-Mar 1986. | |
| Mona Lisa Overdrive | (265kb) The third book in the serie that starts with Neuromancer, 1988. | |
| Agrippa | (7kb) 1992. Ruminations on memory and family, fragmented. Released as a limited edition encrypted program on floppy, designed to self-destruct when read. Some versions came with self-destructing artwork by Dennis Ashbaugh. Eventually decoded by hackers, versions of the text are available on the net. | |
| Other Fiction | ||
| Douglas Adams | Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency | (215kb iSilo) What do a dead cat, a computer whizz-kid, an electric monk, quantum mechanics, a chronologit over 200 years old, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and pizza have in common? Apparently not much, until Dirk Gently begins his investigation. First published 1987. |
| Douglas Adams | The long, dark tea-time of the soul | (205kb iSilo) Sequel to Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency. A passenger check-in desk at London's Heathrow Airport goes up in a ball of flame and Dirk Gently becomes very inquisitive. First published 1989. |
| Terry Jones, Douglas Adams | Starship Titanic | (137kb iSilo) This is a very entertaining story about a handful of humans swept into space aboard a slightly insane luxury starship. If you squint your eyes just right while reading this book, you can imagine it was Douglas Adams that wrote it. In this case, Terry Jones wrote the novel based on a scenario by Douglas Adams. The same scenario was used by Adams's company, The Digital Village, for a CD-ROM game of the same name. First published 1991. |
| Isaac Asimow | I Robot | (190kb iSilo) In this collection, one of the great classics of science fiction, Asimov set out the principles of robot behavior that we know as the Three Laws of Robotics. Here are stories of robots gone mad, mind-reading robots, robots with a sense of humor, robot politicians, and robots who secretly run the world, all told with Asimov's trademark dramatic blend of science fact and science fiction. First published 1950. |
| Orson Scott Card | Enders game | (320kb) Andrew "Ender" Wiggin thinks he is playing computer simulated war games; he is, in fact, engaged in something far more desperate. The result of genetic experimentation, Ender may be the military genius Earth desperately needs in a war against an alien enemy seeking to destroy all human life. The only way to find out is to throw Ender into ever harsher training, to chip away and find the diamond inside, or destroy him utterly. Ender Wiggin is six years old when it begins. He will grow up fast. Nebula and Hugo award winner. First published 1985. |
| Orson Scott Card | Speaker for the dead | (330kb iSilo) Three thousand planet-bound years have fled since Ender Wiggin won humanity's war with the Buggers by totally destroying them. Ender remains young-travelling the stars at relativistic speeds, a hundred years or more might pass while he experiences a month-long voyage. In three thousand years, his books The Hive Queen and The Hegemon have become holy writ, and the name of Ender anathema; he is the Xenocide, the one who killed an entire race of thinking, feeling beings, the only other sapient race humankind had found in all the galaxy. The only ones, that is, until the planet called Lusitania was discovered and colonized. Nebula and Hugo award winner. First published 1986. |
| Orson Scott Card | Xenocide | (464kb iSilo) On the world Lusitania there are now three sapient races-the Pequeninos, who evolved there; Humans, who came to colonize; and a Hive Queen and her children brought by Ender long years ago. But on Lusitania there is also the descolada, a virus deadly to human beings which would spread like wildfire throughout the Stairways Congress should it ever escape the planet. First published 1991. |
| Orson Scott Card | Children of the mind | (284kb iSilo) The Starways Congress fears Lusitania and the strange virus that it harbors, and they have gathered a fleet to destroy the planet. Ender's oldest friend, Jane, the computer intelligence that has evolved with him over three thousand years, allowed the Starways Congress to discover her existence when she tried to stop the fleet. Now they are trying to kill her as well, by shutting down the network of computers and ansibles in which she lives. They are afraid of her and of her control over all human communications. First published 1996. |
| Orson Scott Card | Enders shadow | (354kb iSilo) With all the power of his original creation, Card has created a parallel volume to Ender's Game, a book that expands and complements the first, enhancing its power, illuminating its events and its powerful conclusion. Andrew "Ender" Wiggin was not the only child in the Battle School; he was just the best of the best. In this new book, Card tells the story of another of those precocious generals, the one they called Bean — the one who became Ender's right hand, his strategist, and his friend. One who was with him, part of his team, in the final battle against the Buggers. First published 1999. |
| Arthur C. Clarke | Childhoods end | (194kb iSilo) The Overlords appeared suddenly over every city--intellectually, technologically, and militarily superior to humankind. Benevolent, they made few demands--unify Earth, eliminate poverty and end war. With little rebellion, mankind agreed, and a golden age began. But at what cost? To those who resisted the benign new alien rule, it became evident that the Overlords had an agenda all their own. First published 1953. |
| Arthur C. Clarke | 2001: A space odyssey | (202kb) Clarke wrote this novel while Stanley Kubrick created the film, the two collaborating on both projects. The novel is much more detailed and intimate, and definitely easier to comprehend. Even though history has disproved its "predictions," it's still loaded with exciting and awe-inspiring science fiction. First published 1968. |
| Arthur C. Clarke | 2010: Odyssey two | (262kb) Who or what transformed Dave Bowman into the Star-Child? What alien purpose lay behind the monoliths on the Moon and out in space? What could drive HAL to kill the crew? Now all those questions and many more is answered, in this sequel. Cosmic in sweep, eloquent in its depiction of Man's place in the Universe, and filled with the romance of space, this novel is a must-read . First published 1982. |
| Arthur C. Clarke | 2061: Odyssey three | (205kb) In 2061, Heywood Floyd must once again confront Dave Bowman, a newly independent HAL, and the limitless power of an unseen alien race that has decided that Mankind is to play a role in the evolution of the galaxy--whether it wants to or not. First published 1987. |
| Arthur C. Clarke | 3001: The final odyssey | (197kb) 3001: The Final Odyssey is really a strange book. It has the general form of a novel, but it really doesn't have much of a plot. It mainly seems to be an excuse for Arthur C. Clarke to hypothesize about what life and the Earth will be like in another thousand years. First published 1997. |
| Michael Crichton | The Andromeda Strain | (225kb) A team of medical scientists races against time and all other odds to find a way to fight an alien pathogen nicknamed "The Andromeda Strain," a pathogen that has already obliterated a small Arizona town and has the potential to destroy the entire human population. Hidden in a top secret underground government facility, the book follows the scientists as they use all of their knowledge and expertise to stop the "Strain". First published 1969, and made it to the movies 1971. |
| Michael Crichton | Congo | (333kb) Deep in the African jungle, a team of explorers are brutally murdered by some unknown creature, caught on remote-recording video cameras. Watchers in Texas try to determine what that gray, blurred shape was on the screen. They finally tell it's a variety of gorilla not yet seen, and an expedition goes back to Africa to continue the previous team's work and find what killed them all. They bring with them a gorilla from the United States, Amy, taught to speak in ASL. Amy helps the team through the dense jungle, to the lost city of Zinj, where all the fun really begins. First published 1979, and made it to the movies 1995. |
| Michael Crichton | Timeline | (496kb) Michael Crichton’s new time travel thriller takes readers on a roller coaster ride through the fields of medieval France, with a pinch quantum mechanics and a megalomaniacal CEO thrown in for good measure. First published 1999. |
| Philip K. Dick | Minority Report and other short stories |
 (643kb)
Not only the excellent Minority Report can be found in this collection,
but several other of Philip K. Dicks best short stories. First published
1999. (Also known as The Collected Stories of Philip K. Dick, vol
4) |
| Joe Haldeman | Mindbridge | (170kb) Classic sci-fi. The storyline follows the life of a Tamer called Jacque LaFavre. A Tamer is a member of one of the tough exploration teams that explore planets using the Levant-Meyer Translation. But what they found out there in space is not always for mankinds best (cue dramatic music)... 1976. |
| Harry Harrison | Bill, the galactic hero | (176kb) This is a parody of futuristic military regimes. Bill, an ordinary farmer, is drafted into the army and conditioned to be a fighting grunt. Everyone is out to get everyone else, and when Bill accidently breaks an obscure rule he gets in trouble too, and goes on the run. |
| Robert A Heinlein | Starship Troopers | (268kb) Starship Troopers is
an old book (1959), and not one of Heinlein's best, given a new lease
on life by a movie which shares its name and some of its plot but
none of its convictions. Those who know Heinlein's work recognize him as a bizarre sort of principled right-wing libertarian/anarchist who believed strongly in individual responsibility, corporal and capital punishment, free thinking, mother-son incest, and the social equality of men and naked, sexually voracious, large-breasted women. |
| Robert A Heinlein | The Moon is a harsh mistress | (396kb) In the classic Hugo Award-winning book, a one-armed computer technician, a radical blonde bombshell, an aging academic, and a sentient all-knowing computer lead the lunar population in a revolution against Earth's colonial rule. First published 1967, Hugo and Nebula winner. |
| David "Fargo" Kosak | Palace Park | (10kb) A brand new short story (with a very long title) by the great gaming journalist, "Fargo". In this story he manage to mix chilling horror with arcade machines. And what a great drink they make. Don't forget to visit GameSpy where you can read more of his creations! |
| George R.R. Martin | Sandkings | (58kb) A chilling horror/sci-fi story that won a Hugo Award for best novelette 1979. I have personally read this one several times, and it is still a haunting piece of writing. |
| Terry Pratchett | Truckers | (178kb) To the thousands of tiny nomes who live under the floorboards of a large department store, there is no Outside. Things like Day and Night, Sun and Rain are just daft old legends. Then a devastating piece of news shatters their existence: the Store - their whole world - is to be demolished. And it's up to Masklin, one of the last nomes to come into the Store, to mastermind an unbelievable escape plan that will take all the nomes into the dangers of the great Outside ... 1989. |
| Terry Pratchett | Diggers | (132kb) Terry Pratchett is in fine fantasy fettle in this, the Second Book of the Nomes, as he takes us on another tour of the world according to the nomes who were rescued from death and destruction on the back of a lorry in Truckers, but now have to begin the real battle for survival Outside. As Winter rages in the quarry where the nomes have made their new home, the tribes start to bicker amongst themselves. But the everyday squabbling of the nomes is nothing compared to the Great Battle they will have to fight to save the quarry, and it is the intrepid Masklin who once again steps in to save the nomes from destruction by Humans. 1990. |
| Terry Pratchett | Wings | (133kb) When Masklin and his tribe from the Outside first ventured into the world of Arnold Bros (est 1905) they heroically saved the nomes under the floorboards from certain death. But Masklin also made a discovery that was to change his life--Thing, the little black box he carried as a talisman, could speak and was ,in fact, awfully clever. So Masklin has no reason to doubt that Thing is telling the Truth when it speaks of a Ship which will take the nomes Home to their place in the Stars, and begins to seek a way of returning the nome race to its rightful place in the Universe. And if that means stealing Concorde, then so be it.. 1990. |
| Terry Pratchett | Theater of Cruelty | (6kb) A short but (as always) great story by Pratchett. It includes Constable Carrot, so can it be anything but a good read? 1993. |
| Terry Pratchett | Turntables of the Night | (12kb) Another short story by Pratchett. This one is not connected to the Discworld series, but it includes one of its most famous characters. |
| J. K. Rowling | Harry Potter and the Sorcerers stone | (224kb iSilo) No introduction is needed. This is the first book of a series of 7, this one entailing the first year of wizards school. You are introduced to Harry Potter and friends at the wizard school. 1997. |
| J. K. Rowling | Harry Potter and Chamber of Secrets | (253kb iSilo) Harry again must solve a set of mysterious happening at Warthog's. He must also not get expelled while trying to help Hermione and the others who have been 'victimized' by this evil presence who has the school thinking' Harry is the one doing these rotten acts. 1998. |
| J. K. Rowling | Harry Potter and Prisoner of Azkaban | (311kb iSilo) Harry Potter isn't safe, not even within the walls of his magical school, surrounded by his friends. Because on top of it all, there may well be a traitor in their midst. 1999. |
| J. K. Rowling | Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire | (553kb iSilo) Fourteen-year-old Harry Potter joins the Weasleys at the Quidditch World Cup, then enters his fourth year at Hogwarts Academy where he is mysteriously entered in an unusual contest that challenges his wizarding skills, friendships and character, amid signs that an old enemy is growing stronger. 2000. |
| Kono Tensei | Triceratops | (14kb) Wonderful short story about a boy, his father and triceratops. First published 1974. Translated in Omni Magazine 1982. |
| Jack Vance | The Last Castle | (72kb) A classic sci-fi story by one of the best writers. Nebula Award Best Novella 1966. |
| Larry & Andy Wachowski | The Matrix moviescript | (89kb) The original moviescript, quite an interesting read for the fans. |
| Other Non-Fiction | ||
| Douglas Adams | Last chance to see | (181kb iSilo) The record of an odyssey by a zoologist and a zoologically-innocent comic novelist. It began in 1985 with a search for a rare lemur in Madagascar and went on to include expeditions which witnessed fruitbats, man-eating lizards, gorillas, a blind dolphin and the most inept parrot, the kakapot. First published 1991. |
| Douglas Adams, John Lloyd | The meaning of Lif | (42.6kb iSilo) Co-written with John Lloyd, the idea behind The Meaning Of Liff is a simple one. There are many occasions and events that simply have no name to describe them. There are just as many marvellous place names hanging around on signposts all over the world, doing nothing more than announcing the direction you need to take to get there. Combine the two and you have the reference point that is, The Meaning Of Liff. First published 1983. |
| K Eric Drexler | Engines of Creation | (241kb iSilo) Published in 1987, this book is the first thorough [albeit dated] description of Nanotechnology, the science behind it, a history to that point, predictions as to some possibilities, and some cautions. K. Eric Drexler provides the reader with an inside glimpse of the hows and whys regarding the multidisciplinary technologies that are working both together and apart to bring us the possibility of abundance, vastly greater health & longevity, and a variety of other science fiction-esque outcomes. |
| Suelette Dreyfus | Underground: Tales of hacking, madness and obsession on the electronic frontier | (588kb MobiPocket) From the booming time of BBSes and cutting edge 1200 baud modems, this is the tale of these hackers, from how they got started, to how they ended up. |
| Douglas Rushkoff | Cyberia: Life in the Trenches of Hyperspace | (266kb) A provocative, wide-ranging survey of the current state of the interface between the longings of youth and the wild potentials of computer technology. 1994. |
| Neal Stephenson | In the beginning was the commandline | (126kb) Past and future of personal computer operating systems, a good read by a very good writer, 1999. |
| Karl Taro Greenfeld | The Incredibly Strange Mutant Creatures who Rule the Universe of Alienated Japanese Zombie Computer Nerds (Otaku to you) | (11kb) First published in Wired Magazine 1993, this article gave us a first glimpse of the strange japanese phenomena Otaku. |
| JoAnna Thomsen | CyberGrrrlz | (67kb) Interesting essay about cyberpunk women of Neuromancer, The Matrix, and Blade Runner. 2000. |
| Sam Williams | Free as in Freedom | (247kb) A biography about the influential Richard M. Stallman. Considered the first true hacker, the inventor of GNU och Free Software. 2002. |
| Operation Sundevil | ||
| John Perry Barlow | Crime and puzzlement | (36kb) The essay that was the start for the Electronic Frontier Foundation. |
| John Perry Barlow | Crime and puzzlement Part 2 | (6kb) A follow-up to the original essay. |
| Steve Jackson Games | Top 10 Facts | (8kb) After the Secret Service crackdown, Steve Jackson Games published this list to clear up some misunderstandings in the press. |
| Bruce Sterling | The cyberpunk bust | (19kb) The essay that is the basis for The Hacker Crackdown, 1991. |
| Bruce Sterling | The hacker crackdown | (438kb PalmDigitalMedia) Fascinating story that vividly dramatizes the history of computer hacking, 1992. You'll need the PalmReader to view! |
| Classical Textfiles | ||
| Edgar W. Djikstra | Go To considered harmful | (10kb) A really classic article by one of the computing forefathers who died recently. About why you shouldn't use the Go To statement in programming. 1968. |
| E.Goldstein 2600Mag. | The Phrack E911 Affair | (21kb) A comment from the editor of 2600 Magazine relating to the trial against Phrack editor Craig Neidorf, and the infamous E911 document. Written May 15, 1990. |
| Eric S. Raymond | The Cathedral and the Bazaar | (33kb) Eric S. Raymond's seminal paper analysing why open source works so well. 1998. |
| Pamela Samuelson | Is Information Property? | (16kb) An interesting article about sharing information that may be the property of another part. It uses Craig Neidorf and the E911 document as an example. 1991. |
| Richard M. Stallman | The GNU Manifesto | (14kb) The GNU Manifesto (which appears below) was written by Richard Stallman at the beginning of the GNU Project, to ask for participation and support. A project that started in the beginning of the 80's, and now have given us GNU/Linux and other tools to fight Microsofts dominance. 1985. |
| Will Martin | Dec Wars | (24kb) One of the earlier and one of the best cross-cultural fan fiction files, combining the world of Digital's VAX series of computers with the Star Wars movies. Peppered throughout this file, tons of inside VAX jokes combine with Star Wars references, making it one of the geekiest, nerdiest files you could come across online. This genre has exploded out of control since then, but at the time, it was something really new, and a ton of fun. 198? |
| Mentor | The Hacker Manifesto | (8kb) The Conscience of a Hacker by Mentor. Written January 8, 1986. The original hacker manifesto. |
| Mike O'Brian | VAXen don't belong in some places | (13kb) A very funny "warstory" from the glory days of VAX computers. I find this one especially funny since I have worked with VAX computers and in the same environment as in the story, 1989. |
| The Story of Captain Midnight | (19kb) This textfile, source unknown, tells the story of Captain Midnight, a lone satellite operator who overrode HBO's signal with a warning against charging $12.95 a month and scrambling their signal, 1986. | |