What does this mean for people with degrees?

When this came across my news pages, I wondered if this is only the beginning of a new trend in the writing and publishing world.  It only takes one to break the ice and move in a new direction and others will follow. 

It looks to me like all the money and time put in for a degree and other credentials won’t hold the weight it once did and the playing field may be leveled to include people with life experience and not necessarily a degree.  This is an interesting turn of events.  If you’re interested, you can read the whole article here.  All comments are welcome.

Who doesn’t like FREE books?

Books are always high on my list.  I don’t think you can ever have too many.  Books are expensive so it’s great to find a big variety free of charge.

Here are twenty sites on the web to download free books.  You’ll be able to find any genre you’re looking for on this list.  Most of these places are easy to search using the book name or author name.  Some of them require you to sign up first.   I guarantee you won’t run out of reading material any time soon.

ReadPrint – this one has anything from classics to sci-fi to Shakespeare and more.  This site requires you to register but it’s free.

ManyBooks.net – over 20,000 books are available at this site

The Literature Network –most books on this one are free, but some require a small fee.  Authors are listed alphabetically by last name.

FreeComputerBooks.com – you’ll find everything to do with computers on this one, as well as some textbooks.

Librivox.org – this one has free audio books and gives you a choice whether to listen on your device or to download to CD.  You can also volunteer to be a reader for an audio book.

Authorama.com – find current and classic authors here in English as well as some German texts.  You can read these on your computer or print out pages to read later.

Project Gutenberg – most books are in English but there are some other languages available.  This site contains over 50,000 books in various formats.

Scribd – This site gives you a fourteen-day free trial and then it’s $8.99 a month.  They have ebooks, audio books, sheet music and comics.

International Digital Children’s Library – This site is organized by age, reading level, book length and genre.  English and other languages are available.

Ebooks and Text Archives – This one includes popular books, children’s books, historical and academic books.

World Public Library – This one is $8.95 a year for access to thousands of books in 100 different languages.  However, there are over 200 titles on a Give Away Page.  You also have to sign up to use this one.

Questia Public Library – this one contains classics, rarities and textbooks.

Wikisource – the works on this site are submitted and maintained by its users.

Wikibooks – most of the books on this one are textbooks and some cookbooks.

Bibliomania – this one has 200 classics, plus author notes, biographies, summaries and study guides.

The Open Library – over a million books in a variety of formats.

Sacred Texts – this one contains books on religion, mythology and folklore.

SlideShare – this one is for digital presentations on any subject.  Anyone can share ideas, or learn about new technology, by uploading or downloading presentations.  The sign up is free.

Free eBooks – this one has a wide variety of genres but there’s a limit on books per month unless you sign up for a VIP membership.

The Online Books Page – this one has over a million books to read and is maintained by the University of Pennsylvania.

Resolution time

From my house to yours...Happy New Year everyone.  

Raven

We have a blank page again to start new adventures.  What fun.  I haven't made any resolutions yet.  I just hope this will be a better year than 2015, although last year did have some nice moments in it.  

Let’s face it, most of the resolutions we make are broken before the month of January is over. What is called for is being more thoughtful and realistic about the goals we set for ourselves.  As we all know, life gets in the way of many things as the days go by.  

This year, I'm taking my time to think this over.  I think the usual items on the list, losing weight, eating healthier and exercising more are hard to keep because we need to be resolved to change our habits.  That isn't an easy thing to do, but it can be done.  I'm happy with myself in those areas anyway because I changed my habits long time ago where weight, diet and exercise are concerned.  

This year I think my goals will be smaller and more attainable. When I reach them I can make more, even if it isn't New Years.  Remember, you can do this too and may be happier with yourself if you take baby steps.  There's nothing at all wrong with that.  As we look to the future, it’s time to get serious with ourselves about the things important to us.  What do we really want to accomplish?  If you’re yearning for it, the resolution will be easier to keep.

Think about that as you make your list.  Until next time...