
PG: The Art of Funding a Startup is now free on Amazon - neya
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005MEG11Q?ie=UTF8&camp=213733&creative=393177&creativeASIN=B005MEG11Q
======
arihant
I believe the reviews are bad because of people's high expectations. This is
essentially an interview transcript. Most PG interviews are laid back and most
Andrew Warner's are about getting the information out rather than creating a
documentary. That combination gives an informative video, not a book.

This is still a good read for a short flight. Definitely better than the
2-star rating Amazon has for it.

~~~
wilfra
This is very common in the App Store. Apps that decide to go free after
charging typically take a full one-star downgrade to their rating.

Lots of people download them because they are free and don't care that much
about them and are uber-quick to think they are terrible and move on to the
next free app. Whereas people who pay are much more interested in what it has
to offer, give it more time before they move on etc.

App.net is probably experiencing some of this with their backers. If it were
free it would likely have much worse 'reviews' from people. Not that there is
anything wrong with the product, just that people who spent $50 are much more
likely to give it more than a quick once-over before making up their minds
about it.

~~~
briandear
The App.net effect is due to sample bias -- the people paying are the one's
most likely to be enthusiastic about it, so they are enthusiastic about it to
justify the fact that they spent $50 for it. They don't want to feel like
they've wasted their money. With App.net, users have a vested interest in
other users adopting the service, hence the cheerleading.

------
davidw
Formatting problems with your Kindle books? We can help:

<http://www.liberwriter.com>

~~~
pc86
I'm somewhat curious why this spam hasn't been downvoted into oblivion.

~~~
matthuggins
Hacker News has downvoting? I only ever see upvote arrows. Do I need more
karma or something?

~~~
bhousel
This is offtopic, but I'm curious, how did you hear about Hacker News? I'm
curious what makes new users want to participate here.

~~~
AYBABTME
Personaly, I was doing a search on something like 'The best websites for
developers', and I think it's on StackOverflow that I found people mentioning
HN and reddit/programming among other websites. I heard from Y Combinator by
Alexis Ohanian at CUSEC 2012, so the URL of HN stood out. And of course, same
thing for reddit.

The content at that time was luckily quite interesting, but both website
appeared to report the same articles. After a week sight seeing on both, I
concluded that HN was usually of better quality than reddit. I think that
articles on reddit tend to cover more trivial subjects than on HN, making for
an easier, more casual reading, which is usually not what I'm looking for.

I want to participate because I would like to be part of a community of
'doers'. And every time I participate and post something, I'm at risk of
getting my face slapped and hell-banned by the readers, which makes for a
harsh but effective learning experience.

~~~
DenisM
_I want to participate because I would like to be part of a community of
'doers'_

Welcome aboard.

------
adnam
"Free on Kindle" <> free.

~~~
brk
How so? You can read it online, or in a number of free Kindle apps for other
devices.

~~~
polshaw
how do i read it online? I have no kindle.

It offers downloading a windows app, no good for linux. It won't let me
download unless i have a registered kindle program. Why can't they just let me
download the file first? Significantly more friction than just downloading a
pdf.

~~~
gav
You can use Amazon Cloud Reader: <https://read.amazon.com/>

This will let you read it online. It looks like there's some offline support
but I haven't tried it myself.

~~~
polshaw
I have no (major) problem reading it online, but it just wont let me. If i go
to your link, i am sent back to the kindle store. Then if i try to 'buy', i am
required to have a kindle serial number, there is no other way to proceed. (I
assume if gives you an ID or something if you download the app, but there is
no 'read online without a kindle' choice).

~~~
gav
It worked for me with my existing Amazon account, but then I have a Kindle.

I thought I'd test with a new account, so in an incognito window:

    
    
      * Went to https://read.amazon.com/
      * Created a new account
      * Got redirected to Kindle store, found free book, hit "Buy now with 1-Click"
      * Filled in a billing address
      * Got a page thanking me for my order, hit "Read now in Kindle Cloud Reader"
      * Book loaded
    

You're welcome to use this account--login: "M8R-2neeuu@mailinator.com",
password "test123".

Hope this helps.

~~~
polshaw
thanks! very helpful.

------
lylejohnson
Looks like its getting _great_ reviews at Amazon.com.

~~~
davewasthere
Yeah, it's a shame that poor formatting is so irritating. It's not hard to
format a book properly.

That said, I didn't think it was all that bad.

UK link: [http://www.amazon.co.uk/Paul-Graham-Funding-Interview-
ebook/...](http://www.amazon.co.uk/Paul-Graham-Funding-Interview-
ebook/dp/B005MEG11Q/ref=sr_1_1)

------
alpb
Could anybody get an ePub file? Amazon is not available in my country. I feel
bad. :(

~~~
skeletonjelly
[http://rapidgator.net/file/37153300/Paul_Graham__The_Art_of_...](http://rapidgator.net/file/37153300/Paul_Graham__The_Art_of_Funding_a_Startup_\(A_Mixergy_Interview\).zip.html)

Incidentally, what's the legality on this? Seems confusing to me.

~~~
alpb
I think so. Thanks anyway for the conversion. That was quite nice of you.

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pjmo
I just got it, but would never actually pay to read an interview.

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raphinou
Very good initiative, but giving an epub option would have been even better.

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lazyjones
If I want to borrow it (for free) and not own it, I can borrow the book also.
But generally I prefer buying physical books that I actually own.

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msutherl
Hey PG, as a former painter, did you have a hand in designing the book cover?
If so, can you tell us a bit about the color and layout choices? The electric
blue and the not-quite desaturated photograph create a pretty striking effect
and the layout seems kind of unusual with the photo taking up not-quite the
bottom half of the cover.

------
q_revert
from one of the amazon reviews:

"The price to content ratio of this publication is enormous and much of the
information can be gleaned from a web search. "

for a free book it seems harsh but probably fair

~~~
Chico75
The book probably wasn't free at the time of this review

~~~
thebluesky
Either that or he got a divide by zero error...

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OoTheNigerian
Yet again, African dwellers are not allowed to have access to information

<http://awesomescreenshot.com/031ee7aa1>

~~~
tetomb
I can access it from South Africa.

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klausjensen
I wonder if I was the only one, who read the headline and thought of some sort
of Bizspark-like program for amazon (free hosting for startups).

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JoeAltmaier
Thanks!

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davidpayne11
If you find yourself frustrated with the Kindle walled garden, and want the
book in another format (PDF, EPUB, etc), then you can convert your kindle
books to PDF/Whatever format by following this procedure. Please note - This
may not be legal, and is demonstrated for educational purposes only!

1)Download and install Kindle for PC (Or Mac, if you have a Mac)

2)Download and install freeware Calibre (Open Source) (<http://calibre-
ebook.com/download>)

3)Download and install DRM removal plug-ins for Calibre (if you use Kindle for
PC app, you will just need to add the Kindle plug-in to Calibre)

4)Download your .AZW (Amazon's proprietary format) ebook onto Kindle For PC

5)Run Calibre

6)Find the folder with Kindle for PC ebooks (My documents/My Kindle Content)

7)Select DRM-protected AZW files and drag-n-drop them onto Calibre

8)Calibre will remove DRM protection from AZW ebook(s)

9)Convert your DRM-free MOBI ebooks to any other format (like
ePub/fb2/LRF/Mobi/PDF/PDB/TXT/RTF/LIT) using Calibre if needed.

10)Enjoy reading the book in your new format. This is another way to say 'fuck
you' to walled gardens like the Kindle.

~~~
sp4rki
I've been tempted to do just that: Convert all my Amazon kindle books into
MOBI and get out of the "walled garden" as you put it. There was one thing
stopping me though. I have an inherent need to support authors as much as I
can since I not only wanted to be a writer when I was a kid, but I actually
ended up writing a few short stories and a couple of novels. All unpublished
off course since they where not mature (as in experience and style) enough. I
fear that if I get out of the walled garden I'll end up buying a lot less
books (and supporting authors less and less) because of how easy it is to get
books online, and I don't necessarily mean pirating FYI.

So yeah, I installed Calibre and was amazed by the flexibility it gave me...
and I uninstalled it an hour later because I realized that I couldn't support
authors if it was that easy not to do so.

In any case this is great information, thanks for the walkthrough. maybe one
day I'll go ahead with it and get out of Amazons lawn (get it get it? garden
&& lawn?)

~~~
pbhjpbhj
> _I realized that I couldn't support authors if it was that easy not to do
> so_ //

You realise this is counter-logical presumably. There is no reason you can't
support authors and have their works in a format that is easier for you to
consume. Indeed isn't it part of established fair-use in the USA to do format
shifting?

So you buy the work and, assuming it isn't already, transfer it to the format
you wish to consume the work in ... so where is the part where the
author/owner/licensee doesn't get their "support" (ie payment)??

I don't understand how format shifting is going to change the number of books
you buy either; can you explain further?

------
its_so_on
Free with purchase of Kindle _

~~~
jlgreco
Huh? The kindle application for iOS/Android are both free, as are the PC/OSX
applications and the cloud viewer.

~~~
its_so_on
Ok I didn't know this. Comment withdrawn :)

------
mfringel
Thanks for the posting. This has inspired me to learn how to write Mozilla
plugins. My first project will be to write one that will strip (or at least
alert on) referrer codes.

~~~
davidw
God forbid anyone should make a bit of money by recommending a book that is of
interest to you.

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4360330>

<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4402285>

