Miland found and posted this link, but gave it, in my opinion, a far too subdued and humble thread heading. So I'm reposting it with all the flag-waving I can.

Miland:Here's a link to David Jordan's Being colloquial in Esperanto. I don't know whether there's a link to a pdf.

The link is to a set of pages in html apparently containing the complete book. I didn't see any link to a PDF file. It seems that the author David Jordan has decided to make his wonderful and valuable book available in an on-line format to users and learners of Esperanto in much the same way that Bertilo Wennergren has made his Plena Manlibro de Esperanta Gramatiko (PMEG) available on-line: http://bertilow.com/pmeg/ .

Quoting from Being Colloquial in Esperanto's on-line introduction http://weber.ucsd.edu/~dkjordan/eo/colloq/colloq...

"Like any other reference work, Being Colloquial in Esperanto is likely to be more useful in electronic format than in paper. The on-line rendering of this book still requires proofing, and active links among its many parts have yet to be developed."

(anfu's note: note that it will have active clickable crosslinks: "...active links among its many parts have yet to be developed.")

"The web version differs from the paper one in that a small number of proof errors have been corrected and a few minor additions or minor modifications have been included. The full paper version is still in print and available at $15 from the book service of Esperanto USA"

As a plug for the paper book, $15 USD for this clear, informative, funny, entertaining, and delightful-to-read book in hardbound form and new is a bargain. To boot, Esperanto USA has very low shipping charges.

Jordan's book is absolutely excellent. Anyone who hasn't read it should. Now.

I've read my bound copy front to back at least three times, and referred to it countless other times.

My only criticism is that it isn't longer.

I wasn't previously familiar with this book, but now having glanced through some pages (using the link) I have to say that I am very impressed. It seems to me not only surefooted, but also very pleasingly written.

In short a most intelligent account of Esperanto.

I particularly liked the layout with the side footnotes, and the discussions of some of the finer points.

It's the single most valuable book on the really key points of Esperanto usgae that I've ever seen. It systematically addresses virtually all of the points that trip us up as we try to get to the next level. I count myself very fortunate to have had David Jordan as one of my teachers at NASK, in 1986.

That this book is now available online is a great gift to the Esperanto community.