One-Click Kindle Ebooks You Do *NOT* Want to Accidentally Buy

While Amazon's one-click features is handy at times, there are some awfully expensive ebooks in the Kindle Store. I was hunting for some suitably geeky books on steam power, and I came across a $500 ebook. I decided to delve a little deeper and see what other kinds of super expensive ebooks were out there. Scroll down for the $6,000 one!

$431.20 (down from $500+!)

Extended IAPWS-IF97 Steam Tables : Interactive Software for the calculation of thermodynamic and transport properties of water and steam - DLL for user ... und Wasserdampf (English and German Edition) [Kindle Edition]

Boring cover art for a $500 ebook, but at least it comes in two languages....

$6,232.00 (down from nearly $8,000!)

Nuclear Energy

The reviews are great. Lots along this line:

After all this time, Amazon and the publishers are listening to our $6999.99 boycott! To show my pleasure and to reward them for doing so, I purchased this book.

The first couple of chapters were slow and went over the basics of nuclear energy that I learned in the 4th grade. However, by chapter 3, the pace really started to pick up and I could. not. put. it. down! The suspense was killing me!

I now have about half a reactor built in my backyard and am waiting a delivery from Home Depot and Bed, Bath and Beyond to finalize the construction. 

$4,960.00 

(don't worry: "includes free wireless delivery via Amazon Whispernet")

Selected Systems from Al-Fe-V to Al-Ni-Zr

All I can say is you have to be a super geek to buy any of these! The good news: these are all cheaper as ebooks than as paper versions. Thank goodness you bought a Kindle!

DragonLance Dragons of Autumn Twilight: Chronicles, Volume One

If it's been so long since you read that original DragonLance trilogy that you've long since lost the books, then you may be a candidate for downloading it for the Kindle. Published a few days ago, Dragons of Autumn Twilight: Chronicles, Volume One costs less than buying it as a new paperback (as ebook prices should be!).

Think of it as A New Hope for the world of Dragonlance: Sure, maybe it's a little rough around the edges, maybe it's got one cliché too many, but this baby is pure magic. The first volume in the Dragonlance Chronicles series, this classic from Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman started it all for Krynn, eventually spawning a bestselling 90-plus book series. (And, frankly, you'd do well to stick to the Weis-Hickman titles.) All the heroes that you've likely heard of already--the creepy, hourglass-eyed Raistlin, the noble half-elf Tanis, the comic relief Tasselhoff Burrfoot, the curmudgeonly dwarf Flint Fireforge--they're all here, starting the good fight against the Dark Queen Takhisis as the War of the Lance begins. Pick up Dragons of Winter Night when you're done. --Paul Hughes

Original Blurb

Lifelong friends, they went their separate ways. Now they are together again, though each holds secrets from the others in his heart. They speak of a world shadowed with rumors of war. They speak of tales of strange monsters, creatures of myth, creatures of legend. They do not speak of their secrets. Not then. Not until a chance encounter with a beautiful, sorrowful woman, who bears a magical crystal staff, draws the companions deeper into the shadows, forever changing their lives and shaping the fate of the world.

This has nothing to do with the Kindle, but if you become a Raistlin fan, you might enjoy the Lake of Tears song Raistlin and the Rose:

Gauntlgrym: Neverwinter, Book I by R.A. Salvatore

Whether you grew up reading R.A. Salvatore and those scads of Forgotten Realms & DragonLance books (hand raise), or you've only discovered his work recently, you'll want to check in with legendary dark-elf swordmaster Drizzt Do'Urden in his latest book: Gauntlgrym: Neverwinter, Book I.

Drizzt joins Bruenor on his quest for the fabled dwarven kingdom of Gauntlgrym: ruins said to be rich with ancient treasure and arcane lore. But before they even get close, another drow and dwarf pair stumbles across it first: Jarlaxle and Athrogate.  In their search for treasure and magic, Jarlaxle and Athrogate inadvertently set into motion a catastrophe that could spell disaster for the unsuspecting people of the city of Neverwinter—a catastrophe big enough to lure even the mercenary Jarlaxle into risking his own coin and skin to stop it. Unfortunately, the more they uncover about the secret of Gauntlgrym, the more it looks like they can’t stop it on their own. They’ll need help, and from the last people they ever thought to fight alongside again: Drizzt and Bruenor. 

If you've never picked up an R.A. Salvatore "Drizzt" book before, it'd be best to start way back at the beginning with Homeland, which is also out on the Kindle now.

Stories Inspired by the Periodic Table of Elements (Kindle)

You don't have to be a science geek to check out The Disappearing Spoon: And Other True Tales of Madness, Love, and the History of the World from the Periodic Table of the Elements. In fact, you may enjoy this fun approach to science even if you weren't the star of your (mandatory) chemistry class.

Science magazine reporter Kean views the periodic table as one of the great achievements of humankind, "an anthropological marvel," full of stories about our connection with the physical world. Funny, even chilling tales are associated with each element, and Kean relates many. The title refers to gallium, which melts at 84ËšF, prompting a practical joke among "chemical cognoscenti": shape gallium into spoons, "serve them with tea, and watch as your guests recoil when their Earl Grey ˜eats™ their utensils." Along with Dmitri Mendeleyev, the father of the periodic table, Kean is in his element as he presents a parade of entertaining anecdotes about scientists (mad and otherwise) while covering such topics as thallium poisoning, the invention of the silicon transistor, and how the ruthenium fountain pen point made million for the Parker company. With a constant flow of fun facts bubbling to the surface, Kean writes with wit, flair, and authority in a debut that will delight even general readers.

Though at $12 it's a pricey ebook, reviews are mostly positive, and it sounds like a fun read (or a great gift for a geek!).

The Disappearing Spoon