Who wants a FREE FREE textbook on lasers?

I apologize in advance if this is old news, but I did a search of the forums and couldn't find this posted anywhere, so I thought I would share in the good wealth.

Aaaanyways, I went down to the library today to find a textbook on lasers. I was basically looking for as much info as i could get, and as current as possible. I hit a jackpot:

This book was published in 2007. It's 1000+ pages on the physics and engineering of lasers, as well as some current applications of laser technology.
Here is a link to the publishing company's page on the book: http://www.springer.com/physics/optics/book/978-0-387-95579-7

I turned it over and on the back it mentioned the book comes with a CD which has the entire text of the book saved in .PDF format. I crossed my fingers and opened the back cover. Success! The CD was there, and after pulling out my computer and burning it, I can now provide it to you.


update: http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/1000921/text.ISO

There is an online Table of contents (close to the link you posted)
http://www.springer.com/physics/optics/book/978-0-387-95579-7?detailsPage=toc

And it appears you can also download the chapters if you have access to SpringerLink "via your institution having a subscription or being a member of a consortium."

cool. The torrent link doesn't work yet. I tried uploading the torrent again only to be told that the torrent already exists, yet you can't search for it. We'll see. Also, it should be noted that you'll need an understanding of calculus if you want to get through this book.

It would be fantastic if we had access to the text. I have been searching everywhere for info on how to mount a FAC lens.

Unfortunately it looks like there is still a problem :'(

"Invalid Torrent ID! Try using the search."

Set up a FTP or free online storage. Then just post the password.

Calc? No way! Finally! A useful application for my last semester of math!

Yes try an FTP folder. That way only users who found this post will have access to the password. I've had bad experiences with bit torrents...

Yay for textbook piracy!

You realize textbook authors/professors aren't generally all that wealthy, right? And that they put huge amounts of time and effort into writing textbooks, and they actually deserve some compensation for putting such effort into such a book? That there's a reason textbooks are hella expensive, and that pirating them makes them more expensive for everyone who actually buys the books?

Sure DRM and copyright laws surrounding music and software are stupid, <insert other piracy advocating arguments, here, yada yada yada>, but this is a different thing. The scientific community is very open with its intellectual property, it gets shared a LOT more than other media. But the scientific community does charge for certain kinds of media, and they do so for a reason. They release a lot, but what they charge for, I think they deserve to be compensated. A scientist doesn't get paid for writing papers, but they deserve some compensation for textbooks they write. I think paying for textbooks is a very good way to balance out the fact that so many scientists give away the results of their research for free.

Do what you want, but I'm not downloading it.

Knowledge should be free.

But then again they didn't exactly make any money off fretless when he took the book out of the library....

Always support the authors of books, software, and other content that you use and/or enjoy.

Use Dropbox, it's incredibly easy.

FireMyLaser said:

Knowledge should be free.

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Knowledge is free, you're paying for the convenience of the fact that all the knowledge is in one, easy, convenient book format. All the knowledge in this book is out there, free of charge, for you to go discover and learn as you see fit. But instead of going and finding knowledge on your own, in all its free glory, you're downloading a book that someone else put time into writing. Some people spent a lot of time and effort putting that knowledge into an easy, convenient book format, and they should be compensated for that effort. Sure, you can do find all the information in that book yourself, but you pay for the convenience of the fact that it's all in one place and all explained to you.

spyrorocks said:

But then again they didn't exactly make any money off fretless when he took the book out of the library....

Always support the authors of books, software, and other content that you use and/or enjoy.

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Someone bought the book, and allowed the library to loan it out to individuals for short periods of time. fretless borrowed the book, had the right to use the book for that short period of time, and then has to return it for other people to borrow and use; but the book was bought and paid for, for the purpose of letting people borrow it for short periods of time. Now, he is distributing that book to many people, allowing them to keep it and use it indefinitely free of charge. You see the difference, right?

But I do agree, you should always support the authors of books, software, and other content that you use and/or enjoy. Seriously, scientists write research papers free of charge, only hoping to get it published, and that's the main method of spreading the results of scientific advancement for the entire world. Most choose to willingly give away their knowledge in the form of papers, without compensation at all. The LEAST we can do is compensate them for other works that their put their work into.

Well, the thing is this CD came with the book, it's part of the actual package you get when you buy the book, which I found at my school's library, and the book was released about two years ago. On top of all of this, the book isn't written for someone with a casual interest in lasers. The book was written for professors in the field of lasers by the same, people who have a committed interest in laser study. All of this tells me that the authors main concern was far from the amount of money they could get from making this book when they put it together, or that the money they were getting wasn't based on the number copies sold.

I understand that I am technically taking money away from people who don't have alot of money to begin with. but for the most part what I have taken isn't new knowledge, it's knowledge that has been rewritten in one spot, most of which was given freely to the world in the hopes that someone could not only improve on it but take it even further. I only put it up as a torrent for all of you because I didn't know any other way to put 125 MB on the internet, though I suppose even trying to do that will still take some thousands from the authors...do they get most of the money, or do the publishers? Normally I would think it's the authors, but this is a group which puts out books on different topics in science.

Of course they should deserve some compensation for what they do, but they're in a business where money isn't the main focus. On top of all this, it's not like they're losing millions. Thousands maybe, but somehow I just think the publishing company will be far more put off.

Alright, whatever you have to tell yourself.  It really matters not the audience, it really matters not that the writers are in a business where money isn't the main focus, it really matters not when the book was written, or what library you found the book in, or even if money was the main concern of the writer.

If the writer wanted to give it away, they would have given it away.  Even if getting money wasn't their MAIN concern, it was still a concern, or else it already would be posted for free on the internet anyway.  

They didn't WANT to give it away freely, it's as simple as that.  And if any of you have no problem with the stealing, there's nothing I can do to convince you, so do whatever you were going to do anyway, just realize that you're stealing directly from the people who are DIRECTLY responsible for the fact that this hobby even exists.

And again, these guys and gals already GIVE AWAY almost all of their work, why steal the one thing they're actually trying to make a buck off of?

And I'm glad it makes you feel better that you surmise you're only costing people THOUSANDS of dollars, and not millions; whatever it takes to sleep at night, I guess.

I've said all I'll say on the subject, so do as you wish.

fretless said:

cool.  Also, it should be noted that you'll need an understanding of calculus if you want to get through this book.

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If I try to do Calculus my head might explode. That part of my brain became eroded in the 70's.
Integrate? Differentiate? Icantwait......

The book and cd is also available for $99 (it's usually $215) if you don't want to fool around with a torrent.

This service only allows you to download the first link after which you have exhausted your maximum aggregate free download. Thanks, Bill

I thought this another spam link that has been popping up lately. Nothing in this world is free. You realize to read a book like that you would have to print it first? Ask a local library to order the book. A textbook PDF file would be a nightmare.