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World's Largest Online Library of Books Announces August "Best Read eBooks List"
HOUSTON (September 5, 2002) - What do domestic violence, witchcraft, and the history of computers have in common? Nothing except they all appear on the August list of the Top 20 Best Read eBooks published by Questia Media. The list, available at www.Top20eBooks.com, shows a diverse range of reading material most popular with users of the Questia service, the world's largest online library of books. The pragmatic nature of some subjects is not surprising given the time of year and back-to-school mode, evidenced by books on effective studying techniques and expository writing. However, other books hint at deeper levels of introspective analysis such as domestic violence and religious inquiry.
"We continue to be fascinated by the diversity and gravity of the topics most popular with our readers. For the majority, these books represent topics of serious social and ethical consequence," said Troy Williams, Questia Media Inc.'s President and CEO. "The aggregate reading patterns shown by our weblogs is of great interest to many audiences: publishers, academics, libraries, and educational institutions. Never before has there been a way to determine the total number of patrons who checked out a given book, let alone identify the number of pages read within that book. This type of data is invaluable to publishers and libraries who have often wondered how frequently or how much their books are being read."
The best read list provides a snapshot of the most active titles and subjects on Questia. The Top 20 Best Read eBooks list is derived from usage data from all of Questia's users on an aggregate level. Ranking is based primarily on page views (each time one person looks at a page results in one "page view") and the overall number of unique users who accessed that title. Secondarily, book length is factored in to correct for the fact that shorter books, even if read in their entirety, would have fewer page views. The September Top 20 Best Read eBooks will be published on October 3, 2002 at www.Top20eBooks.com.
The Questia service offers subscribers unlimited simultaneous access to every title within the 70,000 title Questia collection, enabling all users to read any book or journal article regardless of how many other users are reading the same book or journal article. In addition, Questa offers research tools to help organize, highlight, cite, and store a user's work on their personalized virtual bookshelf in the Questia library.
Questia Top 20 Best Read eBooks
August 2002 |
| 1. | Motivation and Learning Strategies for College Success: A Self-Management Approach, by Myron H. Dembo. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2000. |
| 2. | Buddhism: A Very Short Introduction, by Damien Keown. Oxford University Press, 1996. |
| 3. | Theses and Dissertations: A Guide to Planning, Research, and Writing, by R. Murray Thomas & Dale L. Brubaker. Bergin & Garvey, 2000. |
| 4. | How to Read a Book: The Art of Getting a Liberal Education, by Mortimer J. Adler. Simon and Schuster, 1967. |
| 5. | Domestic Violence: Facts and Fallacies, by Richard L. Davis. Praeger Publishers, 1998. |
| 6. | Sin Boldly! : Dr. Dave’s Guide to Writing the College Paper, by David R. Williams. Perseus Publishing, 2000. |
| 7. | The Origin of Everyday Moods: Managing Energy, Tension, and Stress, by Robert E. Thayer. Oxford US, 1997. |
| 8. | Hinduism: A Very Short Introduction, by Kim Knott. Oxford University Press, 2000. |
| 9. | Regulating Workplace Safety: System and Sanctions, by Neil Gunningham & Richard Johnstone. Oxford University Press, 1999. |
| 10. | Computer: A History of the Information Machine, by Martin Campbell-Kelly & William Aspray. Basic Books, 1996. |
| 11. | Analyze, Organize, Write: A Structured Program for Expository Writing, by Arthur Whimbey & Elizabeth Lynn Jenkins. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 1987. |
| 12. | The Industrial Revolution, by Arnold J. Toynbee. Beacon Press, 1956. |
| 13. | Handbook of College Reading and Study Strategy Research, by Rona F. Flippo & David C. Caverly. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2000. |
| 14. | Capital Punishment in the United States: A Documentary History, by Bryan Villa & Cynthia Morris. Greenwood Press, 1997. |
| 15. | Witchcraft, by Charles Alva Hoyt. Southern Illinois University Press, 1981. |
| 16. | The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States of America. United States Government Printing Office, 1979. |
| 17. | A World in Flames: A Short History of the Second World War in Europe and Asia, 1939-1945, by Martin Kitchen. Longman, 1990. |
| 18. | International Handbook on Gender Roles, by Leonore Loeb Adler. Greenwood Press, 1993. |
| 19. | Dictionary of Religion and Philosophy, by Geddes MacGregor. Paragon House, 1989. |
| 20. | Women and Men in Organizations: Sex and Gender Issues at Work, by Jeanette N. Cleveland, Margaret Stockdale, & Kevin R. Murphy. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, 2000. |
| Rankings reflect total page views and unique users on the Questia service for August 1 through August 31, 2002, statistically weighted to factor in book length. |
About Questia
Founded in 1998, Questia Media, Inc., launched its revolutionary online library with powerful search and writing
tools created specifically to help students write better papers in January 2001. Questia provides unlimited access
to the full content of an extensive collection of books and journal articles, as well as a wide range of tools
including highlighter, markup, automatic footnotes and bibliography builder. For millions of students and researchers,
the Questia SM service will enable them to efficiently research and compose papers at any time, from virtually
every connected corner of the world. Based in Houston, Questia is delivering on the true promise of the Internet
by providing access to a wealth of human knowledge. Visit www.questia.com for
more information.
CONTACTS:
Helen Wilson
Questia Media, Inc 713-358-2551
hwilson@questia.com
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