Availabile Now on the AppStore:

BookShelf v1.0 - In order to reduce confusion with the OpenSource version, my rewrite of Books has been renamed to BookShelf, and it's available now for $9.99 on the AppStore. I hope you'll agree that the small fee is a worthy price for the improvements in BookShelf. The full list of features and improvements is available on http://www.iphonebookshelf.com, but to name a few:

• BookShelf loads huge files in seconds. I've tested up to 7.6MB with no problems.
• Support for FB2 (FictionBook) files, including images. Also, images in Plucker files.
• Much improved performance - opening a multi-megabyte file for the first time takes 5-6 seconds. Subsequent opens are faster once the file is indexed.

BookShelf has taken several months of hard development work. I hope you'll give it a try!

-Zachary Bedell

(Not to be confused with Zach Brewster-Geisz, the original author of Books.app who has my sincere thanks for creating Books, and also for tolerating my shameless plug of BookShelf here.)

(And for the record, having two guys named Zachary on one project? Yeah, that's confusing....)

What is Books?

Books.app is a simple eBook reader for the iPhone. It reads HTML and text files stored in your ~/Media/EBooks folder, and is smart enough to enter subdirectories, if for instance, you've broken a book down by chapters.

First time using Books.app?

You'll want to learn: * How to install it (grab it from Installer!) * How to get eBooks onto your phone (SCP or iPhuck) * Visit KnownIssues or Books Tech Support if you have a problem * Visit TODO to find out what's coming next

Getting Help

If you have problems using Books, especially after upgrading your iPhone or iPod firmware version, please visit the Books Tech Support Google group. Please only post issues in the Issue tab if you have a genuine reproducible bug.

Screenshots

| Reading | File browser | |:------------|:-----------------| | | |

(More shots below)

Future

Eventually, this project will include a simple method of syncing eBooks to your iPhone. At the moment, that's handled by iPHUC and a shell script called copybookdir.sh. As of v. 0.4.2, this script is a separate download.

Getting Content

Books.app is recommended for use with Project Gutenberg texts, in conjunction with GutenMark, a fantastic PG markup tool by Ronald Burkey, which makes pretty HTML out of Gutenberg .txt files, and splits them by chapter using a second tool. I have, for the hell of it, included a copy of Tarzan of the Apes by Edgar Rice Burroughs, which you can download here and expand into your Media/EBooks directory on your iPhone, so you can easily judge the reading experience. Unlike the earlier copy of The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (which is still available in the Downloads section), this directory and its files will work with copybookdir.sh.

Another option is manybooks.net, where you can download HTML-ized Gutenberg and other Creative-Commons licensed texts. The site's maintainer has created a preset for download that will work well with Books.app (thanks, Matt!). Select a book and choose the "iPhone Books.app" option.

Thanks!

Books.app stands on the shoulders of giants, most notably iphonenes, mobileterminal, and Erica Sadun's first "word processor."

Books.app was created by Zach Brewster-Geisz who can be reached at zach AT brewstergeisz (dot) cjb DOT net. Primary coders include Zach Brewster-Geisz, Chris Born, Zachary Bedell, and BCC, with contributions from Stephan White and suggestions from all over the Webernets. If you have patches or feature suggestions, please send them to the Books Tech Support Google group. Bug fixes are quite welcome and will be committed to SVN with our sincere thanks!

Books.app is not at all related to the book organization software of the same name, which I didn't even know existed until recently!

More Screen Shots

| Preferences | | | | |:----------------|:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|:------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------| | Toolbar | | | | | Dark view | | | |