Free O'Reilly tech books and Safari contest

Safari Books Online, the folks who bring O'Reilly's menagerie of books and thousands more online in the form of an electronic reference library, are now one of BB's sponsors. They're offering every BB reader online access to any one of the following three titles for free:

• JavaScript: The Definitive Guide
• Learning Perl
• Head First HTML with CSS & XHTML

Joel and I thought it would be fun to have a contest based on the kinds of things you might learn from these books. So we came up with a bit of a challenge and Safari put up a sweet prize: a one year subscription to Safari Books Online which normally costs $515. We'll announce the contest here in a few weeks! Free O'Reilly books from Safari

[#1 posted by zuzu , October 22, 2008 11:17 AM]

O'Reilly needs a book on Erlang. (just sayin')

[#2 posted by Doran , October 22, 2008 11:29 AM]

This would be cool if I didn't own half their catalog (including the rhino book) already.

[#3 posted by ripplepoppy , October 22, 2008 11:32 AM]

I want to work for you, O'Reilly.

[#4 posted by SamSam , October 22, 2008 12:04 PM]

I only see the promotion for 10% off the yearly subscription. To get the free book you need to put in a code (the above coupon for 10% off doesn't work).

It looks to me like you need to have already purchased the print version. Did I miss something, or did someone forget to post a coupon code?

[#5 posted by techdeviant , October 22, 2008 12:12 PM]

If you have a Seattle Public Library card, you can already get free access to Safari Books Online: http://www.spl.org/default.asp?pageID=collection_digibooks

[#6 posted by eclectro , October 22, 2008 12:17 PM]

It's free for *30 days only*. This really needs to be a pdf for it to be useful for me, instead of html-in-the-browser.

I own many O'Reilly books, and have a fair sized library. Book publishers are going to have to realize that there are other alternatives for my book dollar. My time also has value, and this 30 day "demo" doesn't really help or do anything for me.

[#7 posted by Anonymous , October 22, 2008 12:18 PM]

These books aren't being offered for free. The only thing free is one-month access. Considering that the Perl and JavaScript books (the ones most BB readers will go for) are more reference books than educational books, 30 days access isn't the greatest thing in the world.

Then again, this is just looking a gift horse in the mouth.

[#8 posted by rockerchica87 , October 22, 2008 12:20 PM]

damn, i had to buy the html book for my class.... and we haven't even started using it. whhhhhy

[#9 posted by David Pescovitz , October 22, 2008 12:21 PM]

SAMSAM @4, The coupon codes are next to each of the images of the books on the landing page.

[#10 posted by Tommy , October 22, 2008 12:26 PM]

Oh great. I own all three of these already.

In fact, doesn't everybody already own the Perl and JavaScript books?

I didn't much care for the Head First line.

[#11 posted by DavidPFarrell , October 22, 2008 12:40 PM]

$37.99 per month - And that's their "Special Price" ?!?! - Looks like $42.99 is normal, but they do also have a $22.99 option

Man I got in on Safari several years ago and my subscription was less than $10 per month.

I eventually dropped it after going 18 months without reading a single book off the site.

Even at the time I dropped, you could no longer get the sub-$10 plan, but $38 is crazy

I guess I'm a fool for dropping, 'cuz now I'll never rejoin with fees like this.

When will I learn - Its not how much you spend, its how much you save!

[#12 posted by loopGhost , October 22, 2008 1:02 PM]

From what I gather the O'Reilly "C# Bible" is actually the King James Version of the Holy Bible in the form of C#.

protected void universe_Init(object sender, EventArgs e)
{
if (day == 1)
{
CreateWorld();
// TODO: Fix CreateWorld - still buggy
}
}

[#13 posted by gzero , October 22, 2008 3:24 PM]

No guarantees that this will not break (circumvent) the EULA, but saving your book for later reading is pretty easy, at least if you're on Linux and using Firefox.

Click 'Print' (just below 'My Account') when viewing a chapter, then check 'Print to File' and choose a name. Voilá, you have the chapter in PostScript. Repeat for all chapters you want and besides the file format (which ps2pdf can take care of) you have the same result as if you'd bought the PDFs.

[#14 posted by Chizu , October 22, 2008 8:58 PM]

Took me a while to figure out about the codes.. They're printed beside the cover images. Copy the code and paste it into the next page for access.

[#15 posted by bbreader , October 23, 2008 6:04 AM]

This is not a book

and it's not free

[#16 posted by Anonymous , October 23, 2008 10:10 AM]

@Zuzu

O'Reilly's Publishing Partner, Pragmatic Bookshelf does have an Erlang Book:
http://oreilly.com/catalog/9781934356005/index.html

[#17 posted by Anonymous , October 24, 2008 4:11 PM]

It is free but requires you to jump through some hoops like registration coupon codes and such. I much prefer the other route library or the pirate bay. hehe

-Markus with a K

[#18 posted by Anonymous , October 28, 2008 7:41 AM]

An addition to comment 5. Montgomery county MD Library also has access to Safari books. Follow this link
http://www.montgomerycountymd.gov/Apps/Libraries/researchinfo/safari_remote.asp