Welcome to Gigapedia

A visiting professor from Indonesia gives us a web address where we can download e-books at no cost at all. He understands that books for higher learning are very expensive to buy, what more if we student need not only one but perhaps two or more books for our reference.

The e-book website, http://www.gigapedia.org/ contains various type of books that covers on almost everything you would ever imagine in your mind. Politics, social sciences, business management, engineering, information technology, history, movies, religions, hobbies and crafts, home improvements, gardening, automobile, fashion or even a simple novel for you to read.... you name it, you got it. If you asked my opinion, I would say this is the best virtual library I've ever found so far.


 If compared to other e-books website, Gigapedia is still the best because downloading  is free of charge.



It's even better than the biggest bookshop in Kuala Lumpur, the Kinokuniya KLCC.
Kinokuniya might have complete title of everything, but the books there are way
tooooooo expensive!


I am eager to try to get hold of a book that specifically discusses on the application of SPSS (a statistics textbook) for my data analysis. The book costs around MYR128.00 (about USD39.00) and need to be ordered from the University Bookshop and will take about a month to wait before it is available for collection. I try search Gigapedia for the first time and to my surprise, it's there!!! Yabedabedoo!

Since then, I download more e-books from Gigapedia. All I have to do is become a member by registering my details (once only), then I am free to search for the books I need whenever I wanted. As a member, apart from downloading some reading materials from the site, I am also encouraged to contribute by either posting (uploading) new reading materials to the site or by donating some amount of money (as small as 10 Euro) to keep it running. Of course, I am bound to some rules and regulation. 10 simple rules, to be exact. The rules are the normal ones you would usually come across as an online member of a site: some stuff on privacy of members, spam, respect, accuracy of information, sensitivity, but the last one that really interest me is on LEECHING!

Rule no 10 says:

"No leeching! If you are one of the heaviest users and show no intent of helping out by posting/reporting etc. and just leech then your account maybe removed, we expect users to help out and get involved"

Owh! Everytime I read this last rule, I feel like someone is slapping my face. So far I have downloaded  dozens of e-books from the site but never contribute anything in return. My book collection at home are dusty and outdated. And 10 Euro equals USD1,000 to me....(Oh! what a bad reasoning!!)

Another thing that attracts me so much is 'the staff' that run this website.  Even though I do not know who they are and where they come from, I do sense that they are hard working people who try to satisfy the needs of every member: members with 1001 behaviour! Well, if not, then can you tell me why they put up this message on site?

"This site only has 10 short rules. Read them, understand and follow them, or else...."

and when you click on the 10 short rules,  the last paragraph indicates that they are really serious in their business:

"if you have an issue with any of the rules, contact us (contact link at bottom of all pages)



Staff might contact you from time to time and/or leave feedback, you are expected to listen to staff and follow any advice/warnings given. Ignoring staff is not a good idea and will lead to a voodoo doll being created in your image and poked with needles."

So, out of curiosity I check my account, in case 'the staff' left a message for me. There's this general  message that says:

"staff have left no feedback on your account, you have been a good boy/girl."

Phew!  That's a relief!!!

And so I happily read the newly downloaded statistics e-book, until I come to this paragraph at page two of the book where the author writes this...

"You're probably wondering why you have bought this book. Maybe you liked the pictures, maybe you fancied doing some weight training (it is heavy), or perhaps you need to reach something in a high place (it is thick). The chances are, though, that given the choice of spending your hard-earned cash on a statistics book or something  more entertaining (a nice novel, a trip to the cinema, etc.) you'd choose the latter. So why have you bought the book (or downloaded an illegal pdf of it from someone who has way too much time on their hands if they can scan an 800-page textbook)?"

Ahak! That statement choked me!!! Does this means the author knows that I am reading from the downloaded version of his book? Is he aware of Gigapedia existence? Is he actually referring to Gigapedia when he writes this? And he is labelling it ILLEGAL? If Gigapedia IS illegal, then how does it obtain consent to continue operation till this very day? These questions puzzle me. Anyway, eventually, I still buy the statistics book from the University Bookshop. Whether the action of buying it has anything to do with the statement by the author, wallahu'alam. I dont know.

I still visit Gigapedia once in a while when there's some information I need to get hold of really fast and there's not enough time to spend on a journey to the bookstore and searching for the real book to refer to. But the best I can, I will always make sure there's no doll being made that replicate myself and poked with needles... Ouch!