A very interesting review at http://www.teleread.org/blog/2008/12/24/teleread-book-review-the-public-domain-enclosing-the-commons-of-the-mind-by-james-boyle/ about a new book that's out. The book is called "The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind" by James Boyle. The term "Public Domain" is often undervalued in comparison to other concepts such as copyrights, patents, etc. The book is available as a free download from http://feedbooks.com/book/3471.

From the write-up:

As it stands I can’t share a Kindle book, or a Kindle-ized book like The Public Domain. (Ironic, isn’t it, that this free book about free culture is now locked up on a proprietary device?) Turns out I don’t actually own my Kindle books. Evidently Amazon does. I just own the ability to view it. Basically I’ve given Amazon $400 for a book cover with a lock on it.

Funny isn't it? To read a free book on a Kindle, one has to "kindle-ize" it first, meaning, lock it up in a proprietary format so that one can read it in a $400 gizmo that doesn't do much more than, well, display locked books. My suggestion? Buy an XO instead! In fact, for $400, you'll be buying two, and one will get shipped to you, while the other will go to some child some place. Maybe she'll discover the wonderful world of unlocked books

XOs do a ton more than just read books. Read on at http://laptop.org/en/laptop/index.shtml I'm downloading the book as I write this and will put it on my XO. If it turns out to be a good read over Christmas, my students will hear about it in the multimedia class next semester!

Note: James Boyle is a Professor of Law and co-founder of the Center for the Study of the Public Domain at Duke University School of Law in Durham, North Carolina. He was one of the founding board members of Creative Commons, and currently chairs the board.