Buondì.
Today’s topic: did Leonardo da Vinci invent the ebook?
Let’s weigh the evidence.
Ebooks are convenient to carry around, don’t require the destruction of trees or the use of toxic inks, and can be delivered anywhere in the world without recourse to the appalling Italian postal service.
They’re clearly a genius idea.
That said, Leonardo had many great ideas that never made it off the drawing board, as I’m sure you remember from school.
So perhaps, even if he WAS the first to imagine that a text could be reduced to electrons and carried around on a Kobo or a Kindle, he would have been too busy painting, drawing, sculpting and so on to implement the idea.
On balance, then, ‘probably not’.
So why am I asking?
Because the man himself is the subject of this week’s half-price ‘Ebook of the Week’ offer.
Normally £7.99, for the next few days you can grab ‘Leonardo in riva all’Adda‘ for just £3.99.
Check out the free sample chapter (.pdf) to get an idea of the level and length of the material.
And, and…
… as of today, ‘Leonardo’ is available in three different ebook formats.
Like, WOW!
Bet you didn’t even know there WERE three different ebook formats, right?
Until now we’ve used .pdf as standard, because we can control the way it looks on your device and because it can be printed.
But I’m experimenting with .epub, which is the open standard for ebooks, and can be read on most ebook readers (EXCEPT the Kindle).
And with .mobi, which IS readable on a Kindle.
(I’m expecting a call from Jeff Bezos later today as I’m sure he’ll want to thank me personally for the free publicity.)
The formatting isn’t absolutely perfect in either of the new formats, partly because ‘Leonardo’ also has pictures, which are hard to format (and I ran out of time.)
But they’re good enough.
So, if you want ‘Leonardo’ but would prefer to read it on an ereader, then just say so by adding a note to the order form. Or email me separately.
You’re buying the .pdf – the other formats are an extra, given that I’m still perfecting them.
Così.
That’s more or less it for today.
A mercoledì, allora.
Buy ‘Leonardo in riva all’Adda‘, just £3.99 | free sample chapter (.pdf) | Browse our Catalog
P.S.
Did you remember to listen to Saturday’s EasyItalianNews.com bulletin?