
Show HN: E-Book Site for Classics - kermittd
http://www.bookeyes.co/
======
mc42
Though the site is visually appealing, I fail to understand why nearly 550kB
of JS is needed (548kB to be specific). A site like this could get away rather
well with just using on-hover and some elegant links.

Overall a decent idea, but it's not one that needs to be this complicated. I
feel as if designing a better "classics" landing for the Project Gutenberg
might be a better idea. [0]

[0] - [https://www.gutenberg.org/](https://www.gutenberg.org/)

~~~
kermittd
On the memory side, I actually don't know why the site is so large compared to
its relatively small amount of content. Do you believe that it's large because
of the images that you think are unnecessary or because of some technical
defect?

~~~
bbody
I believe mc42 wants to know why your JavaScript files are so big. E.g. why
are you using the full jQuery library AND the minified library? All your
JavaScript should probably be minified.

~~~
kermittd
Gotcha

------
geraldbauer
FYI: A while back I've started to put together a world classics bookshelf
using plain text w/ markdown formatting and auto-published with a GitHub Pages
(Jekyll) theme - see
[http://worldclassics.github.io](http://worldclassics.github.io) Still early
(e.g. world classics for now include The Trial by Franz Kafka and Strange Case
of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson.) Cheers. PS: The idea is
that you can easily change the book design (thanks to markdown and github
pages/jekyll themes); see
[https://github.com/bookdesigns](https://github.com/bookdesigns) for more
(free) book designs.

------
roryisok
There are a lot of these sites already, but I like the layout you've gone for.

You really need to add more books though. I count only 11 (!)

Trying to decided the greatest books of all time is obviously divisive, but
there's a pretty good consensus on what makes up the greats of classical
literature. You don't have to (and shouldn't) wait for people to suggest them
to you.

A good start would be adding everything listed here.

80+ free classics for download:
[http://www.planetebook.com/](http://www.planetebook.com/)

The "top" charts on gutenberg.org itself:
[http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/scores/top](http://www.gutenberg.org/browse/scores/top)

Full list from "1001 Books to read before you die", copied from Listology
before it went down: [http://cc-gems.blogspot.com/2006/10/e-book-books-to-
read-bef...](http://cc-gems.blogspot.com/2006/10/e-book-books-to-read-before-
you-die.html) [http://cc-gems.blogspot.com/2006/10/e-book-books-to-read-
bef...](http://cc-gems.blogspot.com/2006/10/e-book-books-to-read-before-you-
die_11.html) [http://cc-gems.blogspot.com/2006/10/e-book-books-to-read-
bef...](http://cc-gems.blogspot.com/2006/10/e-book-books-to-read-before-you-
die_15.html) [http://cc-gems.blogspot.com/2006/10/e-book-books-to-read-
bef...](http://cc-gems.blogspot.com/2006/10/e-book-books-to-read-before-you-
die_18.html)

~~~
kermittd
Yes, I definitely need to add more books! I'll probably need to add a search
capability, that actually works, on the site as well once I put up enough
titles.

Though I don't "have" to wait for people's suggestion I really like that
aspect of it. Thanks for those links as well I'll be sure to use them!

------
anothercomment
I like it. I have often thought that there should be a more obvious way to
find the good books on Gutenberg. Simply providing a small but choice
selection, as you do, is one valid approach.

As a bonus, you could provide different formats.

~~~
smoyer
One way to narrow down the list is to use the recommended reading list for the
SAT.

[1]
[https://www.powerscore.com/sat/help/reading_list.cfm](https://www.powerscore.com/sat/help/reading_list.cfm)

------
acabal
Looks like these are just epubs rehosted direct from Project Gutenberg. Why
not just go to gutenberg.org instead?

~~~
kermittd
They are just rehosted from Project Gutenberg. I think their
interface/experience is terrible

~~~
soneil
I think I'd agree, but they are trying to solve very different problems. I'm
not sure your UI would scale to 53,000 titles either.

~~~
mcphage
Why should it need to?

~~~
dredmorbius
Why shouldn't it?

I'm working on a large research project, and with ~5,000 references, managing,
accessing, annotating, classifying, rating, and integrating in a workflow the
references ... is an absolute PITA.

~~~
mcphage
Because there's value in sites that highlight a few works as well, which is
the purpose of OP's site. Managing 5,000 references is a pain, but there's no
indication that was the problem OP was trying to solve.

~~~
kermittd
Hi! OP here. I would like to expand it but yes cracking the UI, which I really
like right now, with so many titles is a little more complex.

My plan is to actually host tens of thousands of titles but highlight between
9-18 titles and implement a search feature, that actually works, for author or
title.

~~~
dredmorbius
If you're still taking notes: there's a standard for information on books.
Library catalogs. In particular, MARC format.

Titles, authors, genres, publication dates, subjects, publishers, _languages_
(the amount of online information _not_ clearly categorised by langauage is
... annoying).

In my use of Pocket, what I'd really like is the ability to both see how many
titles are grouped under a tag, _and_ to get a visualisation of relationships
amongst tags.

------
aeroith
I also made a similar project to store personal books at
[https://bookstrap.ga/](https://bookstrap.ga/) The books are in my native
language but any language works.

------
dredmorbius
Recommendations:

"Your home for the classics" is ... a bit generous. "Your home for 11
classics" is rather closer the truth.

Please indicate what the specific format is. Neither the homepage nor the
About page indicate this. Given that e-book formats exist as: ePub, MOBI,
DJVU, fb2, PDF, PS, and more (I'm going off the Pandoc manpage largely here),
clarity would be appreciated. (Multi-format output could also be useful.)

There are ... a lot of classics. Project Gutenberg has some 53,000 texts.
There are many more texts on sites such as The Internet Archive or HathiTrust,
largely as scanned-in pages presented as PDF or other formats (and with OCR of
varying degrees of accuracy).

A pass-through to Gutenberg which would output formats on-the-fly might be of
use.

Categorisation and cross-referencing of works likewise.

------
soggypenny
I added The Time Machine by H.G. Wells. (unsure if on Project Gutenberg, but
it's at least free on Amazon). btw, when I submitted the form the thank you
message was off-white text on a white background.

~~~
kermittd
I'll update it so the message can be seen and also add The Time Machine.

------
paulcole
Why no mobi? Kindles must be most popular dedicated ereaders.

~~~
kermittd
I agree and am working on it

------
kermittd
Hey everyone! If you submitted book suggestions, as long as there in the
public domain ;) I'll be putting them up today.

------
cqlchess
I hate the way Gutenberg, and thus your site, mangles quotation marks and
apostrophes.

------
kermittd
Just updated to include suggested books: Mediations, The Time Machine, and
Walden Pond! More book suggestions will be implemented throughout the day.

------
dade_
It's a fine project to undertake, but this is a free feature of Kobo (software
and devices).

------
peternicky
When clicking on a book link on mobile nothing happens.

~~~
kermittd
I've had that problem as well and am trying to fix it. For some reason the
mobile build is unreponsive at times.

