Welcome to Gaia! ::

Let's face it, most of us who have started off on the path are somewhat broke. I didn't buy my first Wicca related book until a few weeks into the craft, and that softcover beauty left me pretty broke afterward (I was 15 or 16? and my job sucked). Books dont come cheap, and are also often the only means some of us have to study (aside from dubious info on the internet).

I stumbled across this little idea back when it first started out, and it wasn't much. Google has a new-ish program running now that offers at the very least the covers of whatever books they can get their savvy little hands on. My English prof suggested that if we could not make it to the library, or were strapped for cash, that we get our sources from Google Books. Checking back on it now, the project has grown significantly.

Bascially, type in whatever author you're looking for, and you'll get a list of their books (just like a search result). While some books only offer covers, others offer "limited" previews, which means every few pages or so, one is missing. I've noticed in the case of Cunninghams books, they try to keep the "missing" pages restricted to blank, or pages with few words. Its never anything drastic, or that you couldn't easily pick up on what ideas were mentioned. If the books are classics however (and any Pagan knows that there are much to be learned from "Classics"), often full versions of the text are available.

Another good point, you can preview the books you may potentially buy. Nothing is more disappointing than cranking out $15 some on a book you had high hopes for. Also, if you are publicly embarrassed to even touch a book by Silver Ravenwolf but are still curious...well...This way, you can get a little taste, and buy them later if you're sick of having a laptop on every time you want to know what planet mugwort is ruled by.

Best part, if you've got a Ggmail account, you can save them all in your own library for later use. Currently, I've been going click crazy with some of the harder to find books on Paganism...Anyways, if you havent tried Google books, I highly suggest it. It might just save you time, or best of all, $15.

Not only those things but Amazon.com sometimes give you the pleasure of "browsing" through a book. I was able to look at the Grimorie for the Green Witch, by Ann Moura. There have been other books I have looked at as well. biggrin

www.amazon.com

Also, could we make another section, perhaps in the library?

Situation: Person1 has a book that person2 would like to delve into more, perhaps person2 could ask for a few pages or sections that person1 could type up.

[I don't know anybody's stance on this, but it would save money and it's not like we're selling copies illegally.]

Yea. It's worth it to check out those sites. Although ren, I do believe it'd be easier to paraphrase the pages then actually type them out. It'd save the person typing time, and then as long as credit is given to the original author, it should be no worries.

Charts, symbols and pictures couldn't be paraphrased, but the text could be paraphrased easily, is what I was getting at.