Rudy Rucker has released a new book, and has made it possible to download half the book. I read his Fourth Dimension many years ago. Hopefully his new book will be as enjoyable.

He is joining many authors who have released work as free downloads:

Sam Williams' Free as in Freedom is available under the GFDL.

Neal Stephenson's In the Beginning was the Command Line.

Dave Thomas of Pragmatic Programmers' recently released Agile Web Development with Rails was available as a beta. Their first edition Ruby book was also completely free.

Has the fact these authors provided free downloads meant lost revenue? I don't think so. If someone wasn't going to buy the book anyway, then they will borrow it from the library, a friend, or steal it. By providing a free download, they get media coverage, and a potential customer.

I believe most people will end up buying a hard copy because of the simple fact that you can take it anywhere. You don't need a computer/PDA to read it.

I hope more authors follow suit.

(via Boing Boing)