Getting hard-copy of programming books?

Question

Hi all,

I have quite a few programming e-books, and while they're useful, I don't find myself using them very much. I think this is because they are in digital format and take up my screen, and overall I would prefer a physical book.

Are there any services out there that will print a pdf file for me in a nice book-ish fashion? I suppose I could print out 400+ sheets of paper per book myself, but I'd rather have it done professionally so it turns out a little bit better (namely I'd like bindings on the books).

Thanks!

Answer 1

Ever heard of "Kinkos"? Although they may refuse to do it as a copyright violation.

Answer 2

Probably not, since there are issues of copyright. Places like LULU will allow to to publish your own works but not those of others.

I doubt a professional printing house would do it either, too much risk of legal trouble. You may find a fly-by-nighter mob that'll do it but I wouldn't suggest this.

If you really want to do it, just print it out yourself and get a book binding kit from somewhere. Although, honestly, I just push 'em into a hole punch then put them in a two- or three-ring binder.

Answer 3

You can try LuLu.com...

You can print your own books, but I'm not sure if you can print other' people's eBooks. I don't see how they would know the difference, as long as you didn't put the results online for others to see.

Answer 4

why not just get the actual books from amazon or ebay? i cannot imagine you'd save all that much and avoid a mess of hassle

Answer 5

There are a lot of companies that will print copies of books for you. They're called publishers. Try used books on Amazon.

Answer 6

Most of the books you have in e-form can had easily in paper form from your local bookstore. That's going to be the best printing and binding you can get. You should look on Amazon and Half.com to see if you can get them used. Often times great deals can be had on 2nd hand copies of programming books.

BTW, I agree that there is still something about paper that books in pdf format just don't capture.

Answer 7

Go to Kinko's or another "instant print" shop. They can print the book double side on standard paper, and then drill and bind it with a spiral binding, or "perfect binding" (i.e. glued to a binding), or other things.

The spiral binding is great for reference, as it lies flat, and can be folded on its back, but the book isn't as "stable" when read normally, there's just a bit too much flex in the binding for me, personal taste.

The biggest problem you may encounter is simply page size as many books don't normally come published for A4/8.5x11 paper.

But this process works, works well, and I do it often.

Don't forget a card or plastic cover. The binding costs a couple of bucks, the printing will cost more.

Answer 8

A completely different solution that I've found works for me is to have a second screen. I've found that having my code on one screen and all the documentation on the other can be very useful to me. For the price of printing out a few books I'm sure you could get a second monitor.

Answer 9

Used books from Amazon have significantly higher shipping charges, per book, especially if you are outside the USA. I recommend buying books via ABE Books instead as most of the companies listed there have a price for the first book and lower price for the subsequent books.

Also consider investing in a separate device for reading ebooks. An XO Laptop from OLPC works reasonably well, can be read in reflective mode in bright sunlight, and is about half the price of an iRex Iliad or less (depending on buying via a Give1Get1 program or off eBay).

Answer 10

Kinkos. But you could buy the book for cheaper. I also like the idea of printing it off at your work printer as it is sorta work related :D.

Answer 11

Buy a Kindle from Amazon.

Answer 12

the problem is that some books are out-of-print and the remaining used ones are expensive as hell... therefore the authors release their books for free. and if you want to really read it then you have to print it, otherwise you won't be able to read it 300 pages.

on the other hand there are some large manuals that you might want to print.

therefore you can't always buy printed books. this is why I'm looking for a print shop, print-on-demand, etc. store.