Always, always I am a little behind the times. That is to be expected of a country Roman Republican lost in the space age.

I’m writing this on my phone. I’ve only had a smart phone for little less than a year. I now love it. Instead of listening to calls from people I don’t want to talk to I can do research, watch videos, listen to music, read books and write posts. You, ever slightly ahead of me, already knew about these wonders.

Years ago I knew of the existence and purpose of the Kindle e-book. I dismissed the idea at the time. Ba friend showed me his book collection, all contained on his phone. I was impressed if unmoved.

Only last month I made my own Kindle discovery. I published a book there.

While gloating over my poorly formatted accomplishment I poked around the Kindle Store. There I made a startling discovery. While most e-books are much cheaper than their printed counterparts, many are priced at $0.00. They are completely and totally free. Thousands of them.

Kindle!

Like a mad man I downloaded over a hundred books. A paid for a handful I had to have. For example I found one about properly formatting a book for Kindle. I must have that; I need the advice. The rest cost me absolutely nothing.

Some of the greatest works of literature, history and antiquity are available for free. I picked works by: Plato, Thomas Aquinas, Thomas Jefferson, Jeff Davis, Gibbon, Locke, Poe, Cicero, Spooner, and Thucydides. Many popular modern authors offer free books too.

How is this possible? Well, most of the aforementioned thinkers have been dead centuries or millenia. They have no interest in copyright nor profit. Some lover of classics or a dedicated society will translate a book and post it as a social service or for fun. That’s great for the rest of us.

The living writers offer some copies for free either as a service or as a sales hook. For instance, Steve Scott has several good freebies. The eager reader can get these. Then, a new book will appear for sale. If one likes the free, one may pay $2.99 for another. A good system.

Now I invite you to examine the possibilities for yourself. Go to any category and sort the books from low to high price. The free ones come up first. A few clicks and they’re yours. Oh, the wonders of the mod

I have also just learned about a new appliance called “the microwave.” It seems cooking times have been reduced or something. More on that later.