Free Kindle books: Mon: 279 books, Sun: 299, Sat: 6, Fri: 680 ! + Free parental control app for Kindle Fire - UPDATE 12/13

TOO MANY free Kindle books, even for the Kindle forum free-book stalwarts

Never thought we'd see this situation.
  As you know, I haven't been around much, but things are calming down so I can get back to more regular blogging.  The first thing I find is that Joyce has posted, Sunday:

' Good morning to all ... Well, here we go again with another round of 299 freebies. I'm sorry, but I will need to pass this off to your search one more time. '

Then Joyce refers readers to one of the many good sites she visits to collect her daily specimens (there are several sites recommended in these threads I've pointed to you a few times a week).  The site she recommends for searches (kinlib) has a few per page with good information though not the quickest if people are in a hurry.
And they give advice for using it, when people feel it's laborious, and name other sites.  Another good site they recommend removes free books whose price have been raised back. (ereaderiq)

  The responses from the forum readers include naming the free books they felt were interesting enough to 'buy' (for $0.00), so I'll post some of these instead and -- as always -- am referring you to Joyce's ongoing daily forum threads so you can get all the forum alerts and links to finder-places 'first-hand' -- the forum message titles and threads are separate for each set of release-alerts and are otherwise hard to find unless you are right there in the forum to find and follow them.

 They tend to list on a regular basis which website sources they use so that you can find, bookmark, and regularly use them.

Sample reactions to the glut:
  "Oh no, not again!
  "Sometimes too much is simply too much!  Fortunately I am on vacation right now."

Amazon now lets self-publishers set promo pricing of $0.00
The likely reason for this unmanageable glut of free books is that Amazon has finally allowed Amazon-self-published writers who agree to offer their books for the Prime Lending Program (which allows members to borrow one free book per month with no waiting list and no due-date) the ability to set their prices to $0.00 instead of just under $1.
 And they can do this once (per year, I think per 90 days.  
Update - 12/13 - Those interested in this aspect can read how that works, in an article by Mark Coker of Smashwords (Link: huff.to/prime-indies ), whose site is one of those that are negatively affected by the Prime terms for Indy authors.  Unfortunately too many of them decided to do it the first week, and while the idea of briefly pricing their books at $0.00 is to let people find those books, this will be difficult this week.

 Add that the authors' books can be included in the monthly Prime borrowing program, with the added exposure, if they pull those titles from competitor sites where they do make some money.  In other reading (Nate Hoffelder's The Digital Reader (Link: bit.ly/prime-indy ), I see that one author (Jeff Bennington) said that Amazon had brought him 97% of his e-book sales, so it was an easy decision for him.

  All in all, I don't think most knew that they would be going into a pool of 46,000+ books instead of the original 5,400~ or so when the program started with traditionally published books and invited best-selling authors publishing at Amazon.

  Unless Amazon separates the new Indies books, it could make it harder for Prime members to find what we usually look for in the public libraries that are always on waiting lists.  I hope there's flexibility for the writers who signed up for this and that they are doing this on a trial basis (see Coker article linked in this section).

  When I first explained the new Prime Kindle book borrowing program (Amazon calls it the Lending program), I gave a special link to a browsable webpage listing of of the then 5,379~ Prime-eligible Kindle books (Link: amzn.to/kprimebooks ).

  Today, that link will bring you to over 46,000 Kindle books eligible for Prime program borrowing.   That matches our situation of 1,200+ free books the last few days.


Parental Control app available for Kindle Fire
In connection with some concern over the readily visible product pages for blue books (and I don't mean automobile), there is a very general free app available now for parental control of what can be accessed with the Kindle Fire.
  Here's the Amazon Kindle forum discussion of how the app works, its benefits and limitations.


Today's Kindle Daily Deal
Monday's Daily Deal is a Bellwether Prize-winning novel, Mudbound, by Hillary Jordan set in the Jim Crow South and is discounted from $8.51 to $0.99 (88% off) for one day.


The 1200-1500+ free books listed and discussed in message threads and a LOT of customer recommendations for those not wanting to plow through the listings is next.

  These will be on a 2nd page (if you are reading on the main page), as the long lists are linked to from the main page.

  MORE... ( The temporarily newly-free books on the 2nd page, off the main page)
  Those wanting to go see the discussion threads on these and some user recommendations reprinted here from the forum can do so by: clicking on "MORE" just below (if you're on the main web page).

*****

---

LATEST DISCOUNTED Kindle books (some temporarily) -
  Forum-thread starter RandomizeME cautions, "This thread is [only] for discounts and price drops that readers find from publishers."  Another main finder is Emily Bronte.
  For 12/7-12 )

---

TEMPORARILY-Free Books:  Alerts from the Amazon Kindle forums - via the energetic "Happy Reader" Joyce, who is ever on the lookout on behalf of forum members.

  NOTE: The alerts are quoted from Joyce's collecting of mostly temporarily-free books.  They're *not* recommendations by anyone but are a popular, unfiltered daily set of forum release-alerts by Joyce, logged here for those who don't or can't make it to the forums.  The eBooks are often no longer free within days, sometimes, within hours.  Thanks to Joyce for gathering and organizing them for us where possible.

*** [ Joyce writes, on [ Friday, Dec. 9 - and reactions are included in this blog entry. ]

Today there are too many free offers to post...Please enjoy your search (680 Books) and feeding your Kindles...

[ A SEPARATE thread was started in reaction, titled,
    "680 free books today! Does that intimidate anyone besides me?"


*** [ FREE Books - Saturday, Dec. 10, (6 books)

...It has been a little difficult to sort out the freebies this morning from the huge offering yesterday of 680 books.  But, I would like to share a few here with you this morning that might or might not have been on the list.  I think the following books are sure to be of interest to many.  I don't recall seeing them and/or maybe some of you missed...

"Travails of a Stepmom
Author: Ms. Taken
Genre: Non-Fiction - Lifestyle and Home

DESCRIPTION: These articles describe the trials of one stepmom as she fights to do right by her stepkids, son, and husband. There have been some ups. There have been some threats, name calling and private investigators.

*****

Upon the Isles of the Sea
Author: Gordon Ryan
Genre: Fiction - War - Inspirational
* Gordon is a superb writer - Don't miss this one *

DESCRIPTION: LDS Inspirational Fiction: When Seth, a young Stripling Warrior comes home from the wars after nearly eight years of fighting, he barely has time to settle in before Helaman, his former commander, now a missionary, comes to the village and calls him on yet another assignment. But Lilliana is determined that Seth will not leave the village again--at least not without her. Jared, Seth's best friend and also a former Stripling Warrior, is persuaded by General Moroni to remain in government service to infiltrate the devious "Secret Combinations." When Seth and Jared meet Hagoth--an "exceedingly curious man,"--in the City of Bountiful, their quest takes on a whole new dimension. Upon The Isles of The Sea, the first adventure tale from The Nephite Chronicles, is a story of courage, sacrifice, and honor.

*****

Santa's Diary (The Christmas Connection)
Author: Santa Claus
Genre: Christmas - Holidays

DESCRIPTION: A quick message from Santa ... Hello everyone, and welcome to my diary. People have been asking me for years to write about my experiences and what's going on in my world. So I have finally given in and I'm going to share with you all what I'm getting up to. I'll be keeping a record here of all my preparations for Christmas and news for the next fews month. And what a time it's going to be. The elves are already hard at work, and Rudolf and the other Reindeer are well rested. We're all looking forward to another great Christmas. I hope you'll read this diary regularly and send me lots of nice letters, and even track my movements over the coming month.

*****

The Everything Healthy Cooking for Parties
Author: Linda Larsen
Genre: Health - Cookbook

DESCRIPTION: With a third of Americans on a diet at any given time, planning party menus can be a challenge for any hostess. Veteran cookbook author Linda Larsen has the solution! She offers you healthy cooking tips and delicious party-food recipes with your health in mind. Her recipes include lots of fruits and vegetables and low-fat ingredients like turkey bacon and tofu, so the foods are good for you and taste great! You will find many festive recipes: Cantaloupe Punch; High-Fiber Cashew Pear Bread; Low-Fat Turkey Swiss Sandwiches; Lemon Meringue Crunch Trifle; and more! With this book, you will discover that party food doesn't have to be bad for you. And that's reason enough to throw parties more often!

*****

The Miracle Inspector
Author: Helen Smith
Genre: Literay Fiction

DESCRIPTION: A dystopian thriller set in the near future. England has been partitioned and London is an oppressive place where poetry has been forced underground, theatres and schools are shut, and women are not allowed to work outside the home. A young couple, Lucas and Angela, try to escape from London - with disastrous consequences.


*** [ FREE Books - Sunday, Dec. 11 (299 books) Joyce writes:

Good morning to all ... Well, here we go again with another round of 299 freebies. I'm sorry, but I will need to pass this off to your search one more time... Some books that were free the past couple days in the huge number of free book offerings do not remain free for very long. As rumor has been heard, it appears that Amazon is switching out the old and bringing in new titles.
*** BE SURE THE PRICE SHOWS $0.00 BEFORE YOU "ONE-CLICK" *** ...

[D. Baker says:
Some that I "bought"
Advice
Juice recipes to prevent & fight Cancer by mick hann

The Presence of Gladness by George Alexiou

Fitness Training Made Easy [The Fitness Training For Easy Weight Lifting, Exercises Workouts and Workout Routines. Get a Fitness Program To Make Easy Your ... Workouts And Physical Fitness Training.] by Eric Nicolas

Mysteries
Retirement Can Be Murder (A Jake Russo Mystery) by Phil Edwards

MORTAL SIN (The Jake Lassiter Series) by Paul Levine

Hope Falls by Jamieson Wolf

*** MamaSylvia says:
So far I have grabbed the following freebies in addition to those I already listed:
Snowybrook Inn: Book One
A Married Man's Guide To Christmas
The Wobbit A Parody (Of The Hobbit)
Isabelle Around The World - The Trans-Siberian Railway
The Mysteries of Hummingbird Falls (Hummingbird Falls Mysteries)
Dating, Diapers & Denial
100 Unique Ways To Lose Weight
Elusive December (this was really good, I read it today)
Cat Training: How To Train A Cat With Ease [Cat Training - A Guide To Cat Training With Cat Behaviour Demystified, Training And Advices To Take Care Of Your Cat For Happy Cat Training!]
International Kittens of Mystery

and a few others that are no longer free

*** MamaSylvia adds:
There were hundreds more books this morning! Other freebies I picked up that are still free:
Mousetrapped and Backpacked Too
Christmas Journeys: Finding Joy along the Way
At Risk of Being a Fool
Ridgeway Manor
Driving on the Wrong Side of the Road: Humorous Views On Love, Lust, & Lawncare

These are mostly mysteries and humor, and at least the product descriptions used accurate spelling and grammar and gave me an idea of what to expect from the book, so I have hopes they will be readable. And if not, I just delete them from my Kindle and go on to the next book.

MamaSylvia says:
I actually got caught up! The only new freebie I added was:
Mafia Math - sounds like it will either be hysterical or a dud

*** angelmum3 says
Whose Angel Keyring The description sounded interesting :
all these years later, a key that'd gone missing has mysteriously appeared. What does it unlock? Is it just the heirloom clock hiding in plain site on the mantel? Or does the angel keyring unlock far more? Though the e-book stands alone, it alsoextends the Milford-Haven Novels, the critically acclaimed, popular series, a multi-generational saga. Based on Purl's BBC Radio drama Milford-Haven U.S.A.

This is a kid's book - that is probably suited more for the Fire - it will be a gift for DD, so I clicked!
A Stranger At Christmas
Not much description, but again - worth the price!
The Edward Francis Blogs - the complete saga.
This year ...the geek shall inherit the earth! Part-time blogger, full-time social outcast. The story of how eighteen-year-old, Edward Francis had nothing, gained something, lost everything and found himself in-between.A rich, rewarding experience that you'll want to read again and again.Teen / young adult. Some swearing. Includes volumes 1, 2 and 3. Plus the Waiting Room. The complete saga! (putting in the product link I saw that amazon sells volumes 1, 2, 3 separately - so may be more reviews there)

*** [ patrinka says ]
Here's a few I picked up that looked interesting:

Emily Dickinson: Beyond the Myth fictional bio

Out of Time Series Omnibus (Out of Time: A Paranormal Romance & When the Walls Fell) time travel paranormal romance

How to Lower your Cholesterol with French Gourmet Food. A practical guide.

*** AnnieB-Grinch's Nemisis says

Patricia Sierra has several other free books today...

From the Writer Half of My Being: Poems and Short Stories in Search of a Reader

The Absence of Color (a time-travel romance in the age of The Great Gatsby)

Sheet Music

*** dharts says
Lost Gold of the Shenandoah
A lighthearted tale of mystery and adventure set against the historical legacy of the American Civil War.

In the Autumn of 1864, a Confederate payroll train out of Richmond, Virginia, is attacked and plundered by a Union raiding party near Waynesboro, Virginia. The successful band of raiders, with their booty of strongboxes full of gold coins, headed north toward the Union lines near Winchester, Virginia. They never made it back.

One hundred forty-six years later, this tale of the lost gold is regarded only as legend, except in the small Shenandoah Valley town of Apple Grove. The descendants of the town's founding families, the Sons and Daughters of the Stars and Bars, have never stopped looking for the gold. But the trail of clues to its whereabouts has long grown cold, until the summer of 2010.

Lauren Reynolds had recently moved to Apple Grove and purchased the old White Swan Inn. She loved the town's old houses and battlefield park, the working period steam locomotive, and the numerous shops that catered to tourists and Civil War enthusiasts. It was a town where Civil War Reenactors came each year to relive the romance of times gone by. But when Lauren accidently stumbles across hidden secrets from the inn's past, she discovers that there is a darker side to this picturesque Shenandoah Valley town.

A Raucous Time (The Celtic Cousins' Adventures)
"When the final tally is counted, it will be seen that John's vices far outweigh the virtues of other kings," Churchill meant the Magna Carta of course. John also left another legacy though. One which has been hidden from sight for almost one thousand years. Rhyllann Jones's geeky cousin Wren believes he can solve an ancient mystery. And he's willing to sacrifice everything to the race to discover the fabled treasure trove of King John.

Rhyllann Jones longs for a normal family life. His Mum is an animal activist, his gran is in hospital, his aunt is in prison, while his cousin insists he knows where King John's lost treasure is hidden. Somehow Rhyllann finds himself fleeing from a ruthless gang and DI Crombie, over the wild moors of Bodmin and in more danger than he could ever imagine.

*** AmeliaA says
I picked those two up, too -- I'd heard about the Appalachian trail one and had been wanting to look at it.

Here are the links:
Skywalker--Close Encounters on the Appalachian trail
and
Skywalker--Highs and Lows on the Pacific Crest Trail

Here's the first half of the product description for the Appalachian Trail one:
 Why would a middle-aged businessman who had never even spent the night outdoors, attempt to hike the entire Appalachian Trail? Bill Walker, a former commodities trader in Chicago and London, and an avid walker, had developed a virtual obsession to hike this historic 2,175 mile footpath in one hiking season.
So in the spring of 2005 he set off from his home state of Georgia, hoping to make it to Mount Katahdin in northern Maine before the arrival of winter. Immediately, he realized he had plunged into a whole new world. For starters, the Appalachian Trail has some ferociously difficult terrain, winding through dramatically diverse geography and covering the East's highest peaks.

Walker's 6'11' height earned him the trail name, "Skywalker", and drew envious attention from his fellow hikers. However, the height made him more susceptible to weight loss, cold weather, and crushing fatigue. An elemental fear of bears and snakes, as well as getting lost, also loomed large.

*** Andromeda says
Looking for history books I found this, which is easily missed among the huge list of freebies, thought some might like to know about it:

The Battle of Massard Prairie, Arkansas: The 1864 Confederate Attacks on Fort Smith

"On July 27, 1864, Brigadier General Richard M. Gano carried out one of the great open field cavalry attacks of the Civil War. Targeting the camp of the 6th Kansas Cavalry, Southern horsemen charged across miles of open prairie and achieved one of the few overwhelming Confederate victories of the Civil War in Arkansas. On Massard Prairie outside Fort Smith, Gano's Texans fought side by side with Choctaw and Chickasaw soldiers to virtually destroy an entire battalion of Union cavalry in a sweeping victory that opened the way for the noted Cabin Creek expedition just two weeks later. The Battle of Massard Prairie, Arkansas, is the third in a series of studies of small but significant Civil War battles by historian Dale Cox. Other books include The Battle of Marianna, Florida and The Battle of Natural Bridge, Florida. "


*** [FREE Books - Monday, Dec. 12 (278), Joyce said ]
. . .Well, we are starting off yet another day of 278 [+1] free books.

ETA: ** Be sure you check the price is $0.00 before you "one-click". Some books have already gone back to regular pricing, and this list has only been available for 6 hours. **


*** [More recommendations ]
*** Princess "Jingle Bells" (Joyce) says
Well, I have completed my search through today's 278 books, and I have to admit that I did find 8 books that I think I will enjoy reading.

The Wedding Gift
Christmas Dog, The
Love Me Tender
Watermarks
Betrayal (Liv Driscol)
Taking Out the Trailer Trash
The Mediocre Housewife
If We Dare to Dream (The Evans Family, Book One)

*** The SNOW FLAKY squiggly, StoneHeart says
these are the ones i grabbed
: )
Grubbycup's Garden Notes (The Path of the Garden)
Christmas with Family & Friends Cookbook: Favorite recipes, homemade memories and little touches that make the holidays warm & cozy.
Poor Man's Cheesecake. A Simple, Easy to Follow No Bake Cheesecake Recipe.
Easy Indian Curry Recipes
The Addicted Brain: Why We Abuse Drugs, Alcohol, and Nicotine (FT Press Science)

*** AnnieB-Grinch's Nemisis says
The Cloud Roads not what I usually read but had excellent reviews
First Degree Innocence
Eye Sleuth (A Yoko Kamimura Mystery)
Christmas with Family & Friends Cookbook: Favorite recipes, homemade memories and little touches that make the holidays warm & cozy.
Monarch: Egg I'm hoping this is a full book not a preview.
A Christmas in Two Egg, Florida his other books have good reviews.
Christmas O'Clock
A Perfect Flood
The Quest: Mystery Of The Professor's Notebook this is interactive. I also put it on Dan's kindle.
The Wedding Gift I almost forgot this one. :

*** Sweet Diva Reader says
Wading through the list now and I've picked up:
Heir of the Wolf Malediction
Warnings: A Collection
Six of Hearts
New Christmas Stories
Christmas Dog, The
Harvest
Christmas Stories
The Offer: Book 1 (The Skeptic)
Supernatural Witness 1 (Paranormal Factor)
Sisters 3 - Book 1 - The Nine Gates
Watermarks
The Quest: Mystery Of The Professor's Notebook
Torchlight and Shadow
Taking Out the Trailer Trash
Christmas with Family & Friends Cookbook: Favorite recipes, homemade memories and little touches that make the holidays warm & cozy.
Poor Man's Cheesecake. A Simple, Easy to Follow No Bake Cheesecake Recipe.
Temporal Membranes (1)
If We Dare to Dream (The Evans Family, Book One)
Supernatural Witness 2 (Paranormal Factor)
Tales of Merryville
Addicted to Magic
Easy Indian Curry Recipes
SongMaster's Realm
The Wedding Gift
A Christmas in Two Egg, Florida

*** Reindeer Snow Prancer says
...also these additional titles, so far.
The Amun Chamber
In The Shadow of Babylon
Eye Sleuth (A Yoko Kamimura Mystery)
Fiji: A Novel

*** kiss04bam says
The Haret (The Haret Series)
The Forest of Adventures (The Knight Trilogy)
Retirement Can Be Murder (A Jake Russo Mystery)
Skywalker--Close Encounters on the Appalachian trail
MORTAL SIN (The Jake Lassiter Series)
The Suicide Effect
The Eve Tree: A Novel
Motion To Kill (Lou Mason Thrillers)
The Gorge (An Appalachian Thriller Novel)
The Chocolate Gravy Queen
The Wedding Gift
Living Successfully with Screwed-Up People
Christmas Dog, The
Taking Out the Trailer Trash
First Degree Innocence

*** Christine H. says
Christmas Dog, The
The Orwellian Afghanistan War
Thaw
The Offer: Book 1 (The Skeptic)
The Ninth Orphan
Fiji: A Novel
THE "SKULL AND BONES" CULT CREATES WARS FOR PROFIT AND POWER!
Strictly G.I.: The WWII Letters of Cpl. Wanda M. Renn
The Amun Chamber
In The Shadow of Babylon

*** Live2Read says
Thanks Joyce and everyone who shared their picks of the day. Here is what I decided to try:
The Ninth Orphan
The Overtaking (The Overtaking Series)
The Whole Enchilada: A Payton Claymore & John Raines Novel
30 Easy Ways To Draw(for daughter)
Easy Indian Curry Recipes
Changing Curses For Blessings - Loving Yourself and The World Around You
How To Draw An Orchid In Six Easy Steps (daughter)
What a treasure trove of free books we have!


[ AND SO, go to the thread if you want to see what others are adding on for books they found interesting out of too many ] '

Kindle Touch 3G   Kindle Touch WiFi   Kindle Basic   (UK: KBasic)   Kindle Fire
Kindle Keybd 3G   (UK: Kindle Keybd 3G)   K3 Special Offers   K3-3G Special Offers   DX

---

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button .

Read More

Kindle Tip for all Kindles (Images) + San Francisco Bay Area dark again

I realize this is all getting pretty old, and I agree. Sitting here in complete darkness for hours again is no fun.

Power came back about 5 times but not Comcast ... then Comcast said it would be back in a few hours and then all the electricity went out yet again.

Normally I'm here briefly with the Kindle 3 or what's known as the Kindle Keyboard (UK: KK), but my new Samsung Galaxy 3G now provides tethering and acts as a WiFi router for my Kindle Fire, so I'm coming in that way and it's faster.

However, all my notes for the blog are on the main computer so I'll need to start backing that kind of thing up from now on to a dropbox so I can pull them down as needed, as this happens too much in this area lately.

It IS amazing to me that a little phone can provide WiFi to the Kindle Fire though.

A SMALL KINDLE TIP FOR NOW:
Images -- on the various Kindles, when reading Kindle Books
One thing that the Kindles can do that most other e-readers can't, when you're reading an e-book, is to allow you to use a small picture in the book so that it fills the screen--very good if a photo was published in higher resolution as many are today.


Kindle 1 - Put your silver column-cursor next to the area that would be the center of the image and click on the scroll wheel.  It'll show you a pointing hand image in the center if it acts as a link to an Internet web site, and it will also display the magnifier/zoom-in icon that you can click on to enlarge the image to fill the screen.

  If it has text it'll be much easier to read and if the photo is in high enough resolution, you'll see more detail in general.  The feature was added some time after the Kindle 2's had it.  When you've finished viewing the image, pressing any key will exit the full-screen image.

Kindle 2 and 3 - With the direct screen access that came to Kindles with the release of Kindle 2, you can just move the screen cursor into the center of the image, which will then display what the Kindle 1 does. Click down on the 5-way navigation button when the cursor is on the magnifier icon.  Even the smallest picture will then fill the screen.  Then click any key to end the full-screen viewing.

Kindle 4 Basic - I don't have the Kindle 4 Basic but it probably works the way the Kindle 2 and 3 do. Let me know.

Kindle Touch
TOUCH procedures are quite different.  With the Kindle Touch, touching any area of the screen except the top edge -- which brings up options at top and bottom -- will merely take you to the next or previous page.

  As mentioned last week, touching the left side of the screen brings up the previous page, and touching from the the center area to the right edge takes you to the next page.  This segmenting of the screen surface favors those who use mainly the left hand for single-handed reading.

To enlarge a picture or illustration, you do a very light long-press (instead of the page-turning short press) until you see a reverse image (white info on dark, like a photo negative) and a magnifying glass appears.  Lightly tap the magnifying glass icon, and the picture will fill the screen.  To end it, tap anywhere on the screen.

Kindle Fire
With the Kindle Fire, while reading a book,  you can just double-tap an image and the KFire will put it into landscape mode if needed and center the image if it's too small to fill the screen.
  At that point, you can then pinch zoom the image [using two fingers on one point  on the surface and  spreading them apart to cause an expansion of the screen contents] to zoom in to see more detail.  When done, tap the 'X' at the top right corner.

Life in the Dark
WELL, as I was typing the Kindle Touch portion, my lights finally came on again.  Comcast was still down, and my computer screen said that the Cooling Fan was not responding, and it was hung up.  What a great night.

   Needing some kind of reward, I grabbed an ice cream, took a break and reset the computer, which apparently restarted the fan, and now Comcast is up.  So I'm finishing this on a nice computer keyboard, which I don't appreciate enough until I have to use a virtual keyboard on a tablet or a laggy physical keyboard attached to a tablet.

Sorry for all the delays.   Will definitely catch up on the free-books log of forum alerts and will get that back on a more regular basis.  But I also have more interesting tips coming up on slightly more esoteric matters.



Kindle Touch 3G   Kindle Touch WiFi   Kindle Basic   (UK: KBasic)   Kindle Fire
Kindle Keybd 3G   (UK: Kindle Keybd 3G)   K3 Special Offers   K3-3G Special Offers   DX

---

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button

Read More

Quick Note until later today

Apologies to subscribers. Could not be here for the blog due to several sudden projects that took too much time, but I did get to explore some things and will report on them later today and get caught up on the free book-logging.

Read More

Kindle News: TV Guide i.TV comes to Kindle Fire

ITV BRINGS ITS FREE TV GUIDE TO ANDROID USERS IN NO. AMERICA. IN AMAZON APPS STORE.

TNW's Aayush Arya reports that I.TV has brought its TV guide app to North American and it's ready for the Kindle Fire at the Amazon Appstore.

They say it's the "all-time most downloaded TV Guide App for iPhone and iPad, and bringing it to Android was the number one request they get.

Arya continues:
  "The app detects your location and shows you [the] local TV listing based on your service provider, as long as you are in Canada or USA.  You can also type in a ZIP code manually if that is more to your liking.

Also, "...there’s news from the entertainment industry, which can be filtered by favourite shows, and inbuilt access to information about shows from the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) and Wikipedia."

So, check it out at the Amazon Appstore.  If you already have Kindle Fire, you'll know how to get to the Amazon store on it.

Read More

Free Kindle books (12/4 -12/6 books - 69 books). + Discounted-book forum alerts + Amazon promos

FREE/DISCOUNTED KINDLE BOOKS DISCOVERED BY FORUM MEMBERS

Dec. 4-6 - Sunday thru' Monday, 69 newly-free books, plus discounted ones as of 12/6 for the same time period, so far. (See page 2 of this blog entry -- if you're reading this on the Home page -- for details.)

A quick one today, as have to be gone.   No highlighted free book, but the 69 newly listed free Kindle books listed should tide people over.  Will leave up, for Kindle Fire owners who didn't see this new offering over the weekend, Bufo Calvin's Kindle Fire guide .


A Kindle book that costs more than $0.00 but will be well worth it for those wondering how to work this Kindle Fire thing

Love Your Kindle Fire: The ILMK Guide to Amazon's Entertablet, by Bufo Calvin, 9 customer reviews, 4.8 stars, $2.99 (Link: amzn.to/love-your-kindle-fire )

Bufo Calvin is the author of 5 other Kindle books and is very popular in the Amazon Kindle forums for his clarity and good humor in answers to questions there, which he does on his own time.  He also has a best-selling Kindle-Edition blog, "I Love My Kindle."

  Calvin goes through each menu option, step by step, explaining what each does.  A lot of the book is in conversational Question and Answer format, in which he interviews himself with the types of questions he has seen most, from the Kindle forums and at his blog, but most important, with some very thorough answers.
  (As this is included in an evening blog posting Friday, it'll also be used for a Saturday listing of free book titles released (if even more are released Saturday) and highlighted finds at the top.


Children's Fiction, Grades 1-4


Tuesday's Kindle Daily Deal (changes at midnight) is Pandora Gets Jealous, by Carolyn Hennesy, 25 customer reviews, 4.5 stars   (Link: amzn.to/pandora-gets-jealous )

  Monday's price: $2.99, Tuesday's discount: $2.00
Tuesday's Kindle Daily Deal Price: $0.99 (67% off)

Another children's book.  (Amazon's link and title are pointing to a former hardback listing page that's currently also designated "Kindle Edition.")
 The author is currently seen on daytime's General Hospital, per the product page.
"Carolyn Hennesy's magical tale follows a 13-year-old girl on her quest to collect unleashed mythological evils. –- Amazon editor"


  MORE... ( The temporarily newly-free books and discounted-book forum-alerts are on a 2nd page, off the Home page, which will help loading of the main page more quickly.  Those reading this on the Home Page and wanting to go see the details on this specific post can do so by: clicking on "MORE" just below - 69 newly-free Kindle books today)
*****

---

LATEST DISCOUNTED Kindle books (some temporarily) -
  Forum-thread starter RandomizeME cautions, "This thread is [only] for discounts and price drops that readers find from publishers."  Another main finder is Emily Bronte.

  For 12/3-6 (posts)
(43 added after my last logging of these on Dec 3, morning)

---

TEMPORARILY-Free Books:  Alerts from the Amazon Kindle forums - via the tireless "Happy Reader" Joyce, who is ever on the lookout on behalf of forum members.

  NOTE: The alerts are quoted from Joyce's roundup, from several sites, of mostly temporarily-free books.  They're *not* recommendations by anyone but are a popular, unfiltered daily set of forum release-alerts by Joyce, logged here for those who don't or can't make it to the forums.  The eBooks are often no longer free within days, sometimes, within hours.  Thanks to Joyce for gathering and organizing them for us.

' [ Joyce says...]

***** [ Sunday, Dec. 4 - 3 books]

The Strategy of Satan
Author: Warren Wiersbe
Genre: Religious - Action

DESCRIPTION: Dr. Wiersbe zeroes in on Satan's attacks as deceiver, destroyer, ruler, and accuser. He emphasizes that conquering the enemy comes by obeying God's truth.

*****

The Holiness of God
Author: R.C. Sproul
Genre: Religious - Theology

DESCRIPTION: Every Christian who is serious about his or her growth needs to read The Holiness of God. I profited greatly from this book.

*****

A Victorian Christmas (Anthology)
Author: Catherine Palmer
Genre: Religious - Fiction

DESCRIPTION: A beautiful patchwork of four novellas about love and joy at Christmastime by best selling author Catherine Palmer. These four novellas were previously published in four anthologies-A Victorian Christmas Quilt, A Victorian Christmas Tea, A Victorian Christmas Cottage, and A Victorian Christmas Keepsake. Return to a time when life was uncomplicated, faith was sincere ... and love was a gift to be cherished forever. Includes author's favorite holiday recipes.


***** [ Monday, Dec. 5 - morning - 10]

The Christmas Bus
Author: Melody Carlson
Genre: Holidays - Religious - Spiritual

*** Previously Offered: October 4, 2009 ***
DESCRIPTION: The people of Christmas Valley always celebrate Christmas to the fullest extent. The mayor plays Santa, every business is holiday themed, and there's a nativity for the kids each Christmas Eve. This town knows Christmas. But this year nothing goes according to plan. Shepherd's Inn is full of strangers, Mad Myrtle is causing problems, and a young couple with a baby due any minute rolls in to the middle of town in their Partridge Family-style bus. It's hardly the holiday Christmas Valley wanted--but it may be just what they need. This charming novella is sure to become a new Christmas tradition for readers who love a great holiday story.

*****

The Open Innovation Marketplace: Creating Value in the Challenge Driven Enterprise
Author: Alpheus Bingham
Genre: Business - Systems and Planning

DESCRIPTION: The Open Innovation Marketplace introduces groundbreaking strategies for leveraging a world of innovators to develop breakthrough products faster, with lower cost and risk. Drawing on their experience building InnoCentive, the pioneering open innovation platform, the authors show how to dramatically increase the flow of high-value innovations your organization can discover-and deliver.

*****

The Culture Cycle: How to Shape the Unseen Force that Transforms Performance
Author: James Heskett
Genre: Business - Systems and Planning

DESCRIPTION: The contribution of culture to organizational performance is substantial and quantifiable. In The Culture Cycle, renowned thought leader James Heskett demonstrates how an effective culture can account for up to half of the differential in performance between organizations in the same business. A follow-up to the classic Corporate Culture and Performance (coauthored with John Kotter), this book explains how culture evolves, can be shaped and sustained, and can promote both survival and innovation in tough times. Drawing on decades of field research and dozens of case studies, Heskett introduces a powerful conceptual framework for managing culture and shows it at work in a real-world setting. Heskett's "culture cycle" identifies policies, practices, and behaviors that are crucial to moving cultures forward and demonstrates how to calculate the economic value of culture through the "Four Rs": referrals, retention, returns to labor, and relationships with customers.

*****

Over Fields of Fire: Flying the Sturmovik in Action on the Eastern Front 1942-45 (Soviet Memories of War)
Author: Anna Timofeeva-Egorova
Genre: Military - History - World War II

DESCRIPTION: This is a quite unique story of courage, determination and bravery in the face of tremendous personal adversity. The many obstacles Anna had to cross before she could fly first the Po-2, then the Sturmovik, are recounted in detail, including her tough work helping to build the Moscow Metro before the outbreak of war. Above all, Over Fields of Fire is a very human story - sometimes sad, sometimes angry, filled with hope, at other times with near-despair, abundant in comradeship and professionalism - and never less than a large dose of determination! ABOUT THE AUTHOR Anna Alexandrovna Timofeeva-Egorova was born on 23 September 1916. After attending school she had hoped to learn to fly but this wish was delayed due to one of her brother's becoming a victim of the Communist security system, which deemed him an `enemy of the people'. After a number of setbacks Anna learned to fly, and during the first part of the Great Patriotic War flew Po-2 biplanes for the 130th Aviation Signals Squadron, being shot down three times. She then switched to flying the fearsome Ilyushin Il-2 Sturmovik ground-attack aircraft with the 805th Ground Attack Regiment (805 ShAP), 197th Ground Attack Division. Anna flew approximately 270 combat missions before being shot down in the summer of 1944, being severely injured and taken prisoner by the Germans. Thanks to her determination, and the skill, dedication, care and kindness of numerous individuals, she made a remarkable recovery and was liberated when the Soviets overran her POW camp near Küstrin in 1945. However, her troubles were not over, as the Soviet authorities initially believed her to be a traitor and collaborator and subjected her to 11 days of continuous interrogations. She was released, although her injuries were such that was medically discharged from the Air Force in 1945. She continued to fight to clear her name after the war - she was eventually reinstated into the Communist Party and in 1965 finally received the award of `Hero of the Soviet Union'. She died in October 2009

*****

Freedom From the Lies You Tell Yourself (Ebook Short)
Author: Marie Chapian
Genre: Religious - Spiritual

DESCRIPTION: Learning to deal with your thoughts is the first step on the road to healthy thinking. In this book Dr. William Backus and Dr. Marie Chapian explain the life-changing method they call "Misbelief Therapy." It's remarkably simple, incredibly effective, and thoroughly biblical. It has helped thousands of people for many years, and it can help you too!

*****

Trace's Psychic (Supernatural Bonds, Book One): 1
Author: Jory Strong
Genre: Erotica

DESCRIPTION: Book 1 in the Supernatural Bonds series. Homicide detective Trace Dilessio has always considered himself a regular meat and potatoes kind of guy-a red-blooded man who likes his women with big boobs, a nice ass, and legs that don't stop. Aislinn Windbourne is a whole different type than what he usually goes for. And even though he hates psychics-especially those that get tangled up in police business-Trace can't seem to fight his obsession for the delicate beauty who makes him feel both primitive and protective.Years of being shunned in Elf-space because of her half-elf, half-human blood have made Aislinn cautious about opening her heart-until she meets Trace. He beguiles her from the start, and among Elves such a reaction usually means that a couple is destined to form a heartbond. But even as love chases away her loneliness, every time Trace rejects the magic that's part of who she is, Aislinn fears that this human world might be every bit as painful as the one she grew up in.

*****

Firms of Endearment: How World-Class Companies Profit from Passion and Purpose
Author: Jagdish N. Sheth
Genre: Business - Human Resources and Personnel Management

DESCRIPTION: Through a series of real-life vignettes from well-known companies, the 11 brief, well-written chapters compellingly argue that many of today's successful businesses foster intrinsic cultures that embrace values for the stakeholders as well as the shareholders; for them, it is more then just politically correct, it is the only way. This is a book that every undergraduate and every business leader should be required to read.

*****

The English Heiress (Heiress, Book One)
Authro: Roberta Gellis
Genre: Erotica - Historical Romance

DESCRIPTION: Blush: This is a sensual romance (may have explicit love scenes, but not erotic level). First in the Heiress series. Leonie de Conyers' life had been destroyed by the French Revolution. Her mother and brother died in the prison where she had been raped and starved for no greater crime than her father's title. And her father died in an escape engineered by a stranger who claimed he had come to bring her to England where she would inherit the property and wealth of an uncle. Did Leonie dare to believe in such altruism? Roger St. Eyre's life had been destroyed by the girl he fell passionately in love with. Solange did not love him; she was selfish and vicious and extravagant. By the time she died, Roger felt dead himself. Perhaps he was hoping for the peace death brings when he set out to wrest his old friend Henry de Conyers from the murderous grip of the French Revolution. Instead, Roger and Leonie found love and reasons to live-if they could escape exposure to the revolutionary fanatics and their favorite toy, the guillotine.

*****

What's Stopping You?: Shatter the 9 Most Common Myths Keeping You from Starting Your Own Business
Author: R. Duane Ireland
Genre: Entrepreneurship

DESCRIPTION: In this trim but comprehensive and engaging book, Barringer and Ireland (Entrepreneurship: Successfully Launching New Ventures) dispel the myths that prevent the typical American from starting a new business. The authors weave their academic research and business incubation fieldwork with stories from real life startups, refuting claims that entrepreneurship entails colossal risk, requires a great deal of money, demands extensive business experience or is dependent on the perfect product or service. This book is refreshingly pragmatic while still being encouraging; it addresses the obstacles at each stage of entrepreneurship, including overcoming psychological barriers to quitting a day job, identifying and developing the right idea, financing and running effective public relations and marketing campaigns on shoestring budgets. Simultaneously upbeat and instructive, this book offers the aspiring business owner a practical push toward taking the entrepreneurial plunge.

*****

Insights from Remarkable Businesspeople (Collection)
Author: D. Michael Abrashoff
Genre: Business and Investing

DESCRIPTION: A brand new collection of essential insights for your business and career from world-renowned experts...now in a convenient e-format, at a great price! Get it straight from the top: secrets only the world's best leaders can tell you! What it takes to lead your team to greatness! Outstanding leaders tell you how to identify and fix even the biggest problems...get buy-in that's real...balance external customers and internal processes...infuse creativity throughout your organization, and reinvent its future...get results, not salutes!


***** [ Monday afternoon - 1]

The Flinch
Author: Julien Scott
Genre: Mind - Health - Body

DESCRIPTION: A book so important we refuse to charge for it. Julien Smith has delivered a surprise, a confrontation, a book that will push you, scare you and possibly stick with you for years to come. The idea is simple: your flinch mechanism can save your life. It shortcircuits the conscious mind and allows you to pull back and avoid danger faster than you can even imagine it's there. But what if danger is exactly what you need? What if facing the flinch is the one best way to get what you want?Here's a chance to read the book everyone will be talking about, before they do. What are you afraid of? Here's how to find out.


***** [ Monday late evening - 50]

The Second Coming: A Horror Short Story

***

Shower ... [Check forum list for this erotica title.]

***

Double Dare

***

Winds of Change

***

The ABCs of Erotica ... [Check forum list for this erotica title.]

***

High School is a Jungle

***

Dr. Love

***

Seducing My Beefcake Roommate ... [Check forum list for this erotica title.]


***

Bourbon Affair

***

Dark Earth

***

For The Sake Of Sin

***

The Quill Pen

***

A Fall from the Walls of Troy

***

An Essay ... [Check forum list for this title (not erotica).]


***

Diary of a N$$pho ... [Check forum list for this erotica title.]


***

Judgement

***

Teddy Bear: A Short Story

***

Gabby...All About Me

***

The Dressing Room

***

The Shower

***
Killer Temptations ... [Check forum list for this erotica title.]


***

All Things Austria

***

Inkubus Sampler ... [Check forum list for this erotica title.]

***

Naughty Cinderella (Adrianna's Fairy Tales)

***

Barb's S$xual Awakening: A short story from the "True Life Erotica" collection

***

Fall Into Erotica: An Autumn Anthology

***

eBully

***

Age of Dreams

***

Blow ... [Check forum list for this erotica title.]

***

While I Was Learning To Become God

***

Bad to the Bone

***

Aztec Vampire: Bloodthirsty Gods (vampires and werewolves - paranormal romance)

***

Casey's Night In (The Mirage Agency #1.5)

***

Hot Tales: 8-Guess Who is Coming for Dinner?

***

My Life as a S$x-o-Gram: Book One

***

DarkAge

***

MILF Stories: Mrs. Daniels

***

The Phoenix and the Watchers' Bargain (The Phoenix Odyssey)

***

Touring the Afterlife

***

Wild West Women of Some Gumption (Historical Adventure Series)

***

The Undead: Zombie Anthology


R$pper's Row ... ... [Check forum list for this erotica title.]

***

God in the Machine: a short story

***

Stolen (The Madame X School ... [Check forum list for this erotica title.]

***

Expedition Force (Mercenaries of Earth)

***

Expedition Force II (Mercenaries of Earth)

***

The Trouble With Spells (Of Witches and Warlocks)

***

Detective John Sanders' Er$tica Noire ... [Check forum list for this erotica title.]


***

The Comfort of a Woman ... [Check forum list for this erotica title.]

***

Needing Nita (Serve and Protect Series)


*** [ Monday - More late evening - 1 ]


A Practical Guide to Risk Management

***

The Mermaid ... [Check forum list for this erotica title.]


*** [ Tuesday - morning - 3 ]

Witch & Wizard: The Fire - Free Preview: The First 34 Chapters
Author: James Patterson
Genre: Science Fiction - Fantasy - Magic
** Pre-Order for December 15, 2011 **

DESCRIPTION: Whit and Wisty Allgood have sacrificed everything to lead the resistance against the merciless totalitarian regime that governs their world. Its supreme leader, The One Who Is The One, has banned everything they hold dear: books, music, art, and imagination. But the growing strength of the siblings' magic hasn't been enough to stop the One's evil rampage, and now he's executed the only family they had left. .Wisty knows that the time has finally come for her to face The One. But her fight and her fire only channel more power to this already invincible being. How can she and Whit possibly prepare for their imminent showdown with the ruthless villain that devastated their world-before he can truly become all-powerful? In this stunning third installment of the epic Witch & Wizard series, the stakes have never been higher--and the consequences will change everything.

***

A Holiday Sampler: Delicious Excerpts From Your Favorite Authors
Assorted Authors
Genre: Action - Adventure - Holidays
** Pre-Order for December 19, 2011 **

DESCRIPTION: This free eBook contains the complete essays Six to Eight Black Men and See You Again Yesterday by David Sedaris. Celebrate the holidays with eight great excerpts from bestselling authors like David Sedaris, James Patterson, Brad Meltzer, Nicholas Sparks, and more.

***

Change.edu: Rebooting for the New Talent Economy
Author: Andrew S. Rosen
Genre: Business - Policy

DESCRIPTION: Rosen, chairman and CEO of Kaplan, Inc., has written a smart, easy-to-read overview of the weaknesses of colleges and universities and the benefits of the fast-growing private-sector colleges, one of which, Kaplan University, he heads. He argues that too many public and private universities focus on campus amenities and institutional prestige rather than what their students learn and that community colleges provide access but have an unsustainable financial model. Private-sector universities prosper only because they give students new skills, so they pay close attention to what their students learn and how they can learn better. Rosen presents data and analyses that challenge the usual criticisms of private-sector universities-that they don't educate and they charge too much, misuse government funds, and recruit too aggressively. While this book will not quiet all critics, it effectively identifies weaknesses in both the nonprofit and the public sectors and should stimulate college presidents to reconsider some of their priorities. VERDICT: A well-written and thought-provoking critique of contemporary higher education of interest to all readers concerned about the future strength of American society. '


[The above are from Joyce's free-book alerts Sunday-Tuesday in the forums.
 12/4, 3;  12/5, 10; 12/5 - afternoon, 1; 12/5 - late evening, 50; 12/5 - more late evening, 2; 12/6, 3 -- total 69 books for Sunday through Tuesday morn'.

Amazon's own ongoing listing of LIMITED-TIME OFFERS - Promos   Amazon sorts these by Bestsellers first.   I've added a by Low-to-High pricing. Editors' Picks: $1.99-$3.99   for December

Free contemporary books: subsets Filters out excerpts, chapters, previews US:  by Last 30+ days  Nov 2011    Publication Date   Late-listed    Bestselling   High-ratings UK:  by PubDate   Popular

Ongoing popular discussions   (See Kindle Forums for more.)
  . Kindle Fire for nonTech person?   Newer
  . Kindle Fire Keyboard.. Anyone else having issues?   Newer
  . Any happy Kindle Touch owners?
  . Kindle Fire video on airplane compared with iPad video, a tense thread :-)   Newer
  . Got my Fire!
  . Feel like almost crying - Kindle loss and personalizing Kindles - lighthearted
  . Unusual calls from Amazon because of forum posts
  . Personal docs now sendable to individual Kindles again
  . To Avoid Confusion, Please Use the Official Product Names in Forum" [entertaining]
  . Discussion of geographic restrictions on digital purchases
  . Discount-alert books discussed on separate message thread (Newer)
  . What have been your favorite public domain books that are not so well known?
  . Best "Free" books you've read (many are no longer free, however).
  . Highly recommended Indie authors
  . Unique Uses of Kindles

Other current forum threads that might interest some
Public Library Lending questions at the forums, and Lendle's Kindle borrowing
  . How many e-books does your public library have?
  . Public librarians: what has been your Kindle/Overdrive experience?
  . Changes to lendle (This is Kindle owner-to-Kindle owner lending.)
      The changes include incentives for offering loaners



Kindle Touch 3G   Kindle Touch WiFi   Kindle Basic   (UK: KBasic)   Kindle Fire
Kindle Keybd 3G   (UK: Kindle Keybd 3G)   K3 Special Offers   K3-3G Special Offers   DX

---

Check often: Temporarily-free late-listed non-classics or recently published ones
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published non-classics, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
    Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button .

Read More

Kindle Tips: for Kindle Touch and Kindle Fire

SOME TIPS PICKED UP FROM FORUMS, COMMENTERS HERE, AND SOME EXPERIMENTING

Re the Kindle Touch:
Be sure to see the first article on what you can do with some of the features on this unit, with basic tips on the changes and certain unexpected aspects encountered when using the Kindle Touch.

  Also se the later added More tips & info (12/23-24) on using Kindle Fire and Kindle Touch.  There is actually basic and very useful info in that one also.


Encountering a screen with nothing but book text and no button icons
One thing for new users to be aware of -- you'll often be greeted with a screen of book text only, and with no clue about what to do.  I've seen that this has confused some reviewers who didn't spend enough time with the user's guide.  But it IS anti-intuitive to have no small icon anywhere to let people click to get to even a basic item like a menu.   I really like the Kindle Touch, but this has to be noted.

  Anyway, we're often finding ourselves with a page of just the text of a book (no headers or footers as with physical books) and no clues there as to what to do to get to something besides the Next and Previous page (by tapping on the left or right sides of the screen).  Note that the right 'side' or 'edge' is extended to near the center of the KTouch, probably so that a person holding the Kindle with the left hand will be able to reach the right 'edge' that way.

  When wondering "What do I do now?" (which happens to me still), here's the
  #1 action when you're reading a Kindle book on this ultra light unit.

  If you're not on the Home screen but are reading a book:
  Lightly press the top center part of the screen or the area to the left of center, and many options will come up, including the MENU button that will appear near the top right.

    If, instead you tap the middle area of the page, that will usually be interpreted by the Kindle Touch as a request for the Next Page because of the extended 'right side' that I mentioned above.

  The two most important buttons (for me)
The two most important buttons besides the dedicated, physical HOME button that looks like an air conditioning unit at the bottom of the screen are the ones seen after lightly pressing the top center of a book-text-only screen:

  . MENU -- This offers additional, important options that you don't see in the screen header and footer options that display after you press Menu

  . BACK ARROW ICON at the top left.
That makes sure you can get back to your last action before you jumped to the current page. That *doesn't* mean the last page you were on.  It means the last thing you jumped from (as in a link).
  In the case of a book I'm reading, it took me back to the Home screen, as it was the link action that took me to the book.

  NOTE: In the Kindle Store, the Back (arrow) indicator can get you back to the page of search results when you've searched on a book and have finished reading about one of them.

---

Summing up the basics
Main actions to remember:
  Home -- Top Center or Top Left Tap/Press -- Menu -- Back Arrow

  With those you'll have enough to 'safely' navigate around the Kindle Touch without getting the "What?!" experience (which I still get - because I'm exploring a new smart Android phone, the Kindle Fire, the Kindle Touch, and a larger tablet, all with somewhat different methods of navigation because the makers want theirs to be a unique experience.

  The possible upside?  Studies have shown that making ourselves learn new things, new methods, puzzling out odd situations -- any of that will help to protect us from dementia later on.  It's the equivalent of physical exercise, and the mind itself is physical.

It also helps when the makers remember it's better to avoid confusing the customer too much and to come up with consistent designs, where possible, in the interface.

---

OTHER TIPS
Making the small text on WEB pages and in PDFs readable, for the most part

  PDFs and WEB pages
  (The WEB portion of this section applies to the Kindle Fire also, as does most of the PDF section except that the Kindle Fire CAN rotate to Landscape mode.

    PDF Screen Text
  Blog commenter Kristen B reminded us of something very important when trying to read two-column PDFs on a small 6" screen, which would have even smaller text.

There's an Android feature that allows for RE-FLOWING text when you enlarge or reduce the fonts, so that it adapts to the width of the space it's in.

  This works in different ways depending on the coding of the webpage, and I saw a video the other day in which a Samsung Galaxy S2 phone did re-wrap the text in a newspaper column, but the iPhone didn't, in that case.
  That ability to adjust the font and text-layout makes all the difference when trying to read tiny text on the web or in PDFs.  We've seen this as an everyday-thing when increasing or decreasing fonts in e-books.

  Kristen pointed out that when playing with a store demo of the Kindle Touch displaying a preloaded 2-column PDF file:

' I was able to "double tap" on 1 column of a 2-column PDF file (preloaded on the KT), and it zoomed to exactly fill the screen with that text.

  Then I could use the swipe or tap methods to advance through the document (properly... top left to bottom left, then top right, bottom right, next page) without any major hangups, though it did have trouble continuing to scroll past a table/figure in the document, but with just text it did great. '

  The earlier Kindles require doing a next-page, via the page buttons, to see the rest of one column and then page backward to see the top of the 2nd column, so this particular mode of handling two columns is considerably better.

  Also, in a PDF, you can also pinch-zoom to exactly where you want it, but as I've said before, it's a choppy, harder- to control function, and the double-tap method optimizes it for the longest line length. Also, some PDF makers create big margins and the Kindle software observes those, respecting the original layout too much.  I wish they'd handle that as they did the old, beloved Landscape mode on the Kindle2 and 3, trimming unnecessary large margins.  But, for now, there's no landscape mode with the Kindle Touch.  There IS Landscape mode for the Kindle Fire, which makes it much more readable.

  Apparently landscape mode wasn't made available because of the segmenting of areas that is done for the portrait mode, but a customer service rep told one Kindle owner that they were working on it.

  WEB Page Text
Applying the method above to webpages with the usual tiny text on a 7" tablet

    Web forums usually have a column on the left identifying each message writer and a column for the post itself.

  Usually Android web browsers will auto-fit the width of the screen (they tend to default to that setting, which I like, so that I first see the original layout, but I can't read the text that way.

  Double tapping the screen can improve it, but the text may still be too small because the adjusting includes the left column that's of less interest usually.

    Important Web-Browser Setting: "Auto-fit pages"
    This web-settings box, if checked, formats web pages to fit the screen

    So, that box has to be checked for this to work.

Here's what to do:

1. Move the page with a finger or a stylus (the latter can be really helpful when typing) so that the message body is filling the screen -- even better, until it's expanded beyond the screen edges, too large for the screen area.

2. Double-tap the screen.
The software then keeps the font that chosen size but REFLOWS the text so that the message wraps and you can read it all in that larger font.

  SOMEtimes, the double-tap leads to the tiny version again, but if you double-tap once more, then it goes back up to the large font for text (which exceeded the boundaries you were at when you first double-tapped) but now adjusts the screen-wrap.  As mentioned, it's called "re-flowing" the text.

 It's a great feature.

Blog commenter Tom Semple adds several other good tips also. Some of his finds and suggestions:

Changes:
1. "In addition to TTS ability for PDF, they have quietly added support for 'Table of Contents' (PDF bookmarks), and also PDF links! This makes PDF more navigable. Hopefully landscape will show up in an update."

2. In text to speech mode, the process pops up a dialog box when the user taps anywhere on the screen.

    The popup has options for male/female voices and 3 speed options as before, but you can see them while the text-to-speech is running..

3. A favorite of mine that Tom discovered does work in Kindle Touch after all.   On previous Kindles, when books are sorted by title on the Home screen, you can use the bottom search bar to type one alpha character (only), then click down on the 5-way controller button to jump to the first title that starts with that letter.  (If you forget and type more than one letter, the Kindle starts a search of the entire Kindle for that and it takes forever.)

  That method doesn't work with the KTouch.  Tom found that, on the KTouch, you can tap the "Page x of y" indicator at the top right to bring up a dialog box that lets you enter up to two alpha characters, to jump to the first title starting with those letters.

  It also lets you enter a Home listing page number so you can access it directly.
  For one thing, when the Home screen is sorted by "Most Recent Order" the 'Periodicals: Back Issues" folder created by Amazon for our subscriptions is on the last page, and you can jump to that page by putting the last page number in this dialog box.  There's another method to access the folder, and I'll add that at the end of this post.

  The User's Guide mentions that you can put in diacritics by holding a letter down and choosing one, which helps when typing in west european languages (where Amazon is opening up new stores).

  Shortcut for Screenshots: "Hold down the Home button and single-tap on the screen, continue holding Home for a second or two.  The screenshot is placed in the 'root' or top directiory of the Kindle."

  Screen Refresh (for the mild ghosting that happens when there is no refreshing done for the first 5 of 6 pages in order to load the pages more quickly and without a black flash on each page as happens with e-Ink).  Also, the very densely dark virtual keyboard leaves a bit of ghosting for the next page, though many won't notice it.
    To eliminate it, tap on the top center area or the top left of the screen, which brings up the many options (top and bottom) described eons ago at the start of this blog article.
  That will refresh the page.  Tap again to get rid of the option lines.  A double-click seldom works though.

  PDF page numbers - Actual page numbers show up (if they exist) when you press that center top or left top area.

  Some do have embedded page labels, but they may not match the actual page images due to lack of care during the PDF generation process.

FINAL TIPS
Home Screen's Shortcuts
1. Lightly pressing the home screen's header, "My Items," pops up a box to take
you directly to "Periodicals: Back Issues" or "Archived Items" folders.

2. Pressing or tapping the current sorting order allows you to change it without going to the menu.

Chapter Begin/End indicators
Also, in the Comments area we've discussed the Chapter indicators not being displayed anymore.  It's up to publishers to provide these, and not many of them seem to but when they do, it's very useful.

  For the books that have them, we don't see them, and the only way to find out whether the book we're reading has these or not, is to swipe up (as if rolling the bottom of the page up) or swipe down.  If the book has them, then we can go from chapter to chapter that way.

And, finally:
With both these units, but especially the Kindle Fire, a barely perceptible, very light press (more so than a tap) will be more likely to activate touchscreen responses.

Thanks to the blog's contributors to the Comments area for the good info.

Next time I'll include some ideas from Joe Golton and Edward Boyhan.

---

US: Kindle Fire  7" tablet - $199 Kindle NoTouch ("Kindle") - $79/$109 Kindle Touch, WiFi - $99/$139 Kindle Touch, 3G/WiFi - $149/$189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189, Free, slow web Kindle DX - $379, Free, slow 3G web

UK: Kindle Basic, NoTouch - £89 Kindle Touch WiFi, UK - £109 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi, UK - £169 Kindle Keyboard 3G, UK - £149   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

OTHER International Kindle NoTouch Basic - $109 Kindle Touch WiFi - $139 Kindle Touch 3G/WiFi - $189 Kindle Keybd 3G - $189   Keybd: w/ Free, slow 3G WEB

Check often: Temporarily-free recently published Kindle books
  Guide to finding Free Kindle books and Sources.  Top 100 free bestsellers.  Liked-books under $1
UK-Only: recently published free books, bestsellers, or £5 Max ones
  Also, UK customers should see the UK store's Top 100 free bestsellers.

  *Click* to Return to the HOME PAGE.  Or click on the web browser's BACK button

Read More