Ever wish you could preview books the way you preview movies?

Now you can.

LiveREADS is an innovative publisher providing free digital “book trailers” in PDF form for you to download and read before buying any of their titles.

Take, for example, “Farther than Any Man,” a new adventure biography of the 18th century explorer, Captain James Cook. Its LiveREAD book trailer includes a free chapter; a five minute video featuring a replica of Cook’s ship, the Endeavour; a timeline of Captain Cook’s life and adventures; and an interview with the book’s author, Martin Dugard.

Take a look at this innovative new way to browse for books online.

Two friends without any experience in filmmaking or computerized special effects have created a dazzling short science-fiction film rivaling the best that Hollywood is churning out these days. Dave Macomber and Mark Thomas produced “Duality” in their spare time, learning the ins and outs of editing and special effects software as they went along.

In this feature article, learn how they worked together to create “Duality” using off-the-shelf products and a lot of determination. Links in the article allow you to view a QuickTime video of the movie itself as well as QuickTime VR images of models created for the film.

Spend a Night at the Opera
Did you know that there ain’t no Sanity Claus? Give yourself a well-deserved humor break by viewing one of eleven clips from the classic Marx Brothers romp, “A Night at the Opera,” including the famous stateroom scene. You don’t even need to know the magic woid.

How far are you willing to go to help your daughter become a pop star?

Jean Vereecken, an inept Belgian factory worker, is convinced that his unattractive and untalented teenaged daughter will ultimately become rich and famous if she tries hard enough. But when Jean accidentally runs into one of the top female pop idols in the country, he decides to help things along a bit: He kidnaps the star and holds her hostage until the music industry agrees to give his daughter her debut.

”Everybody’s Famous!”, which was nominated for a 2000 Academy Award for best foreign film, is a wacky ode to showbiz and to stage parents. It opens in U.S. theaters on June 29.

Please Don’t Scare the Monsters
Now that we’re in the thick of the hot summer blockbuster season, it’s time to start looking ahead to the cool films coming out this fall.

Monsters may lurk under our kids’ beds and in their closets, but don’t be angry with them — it’s just their job. In “Monsters, Inc.,” we find that the critters in the closet have another deep, dark secret: They are more afraid of kids than kids are of them.

This new animated comedy is being developed by Walt Disney and Pixar (“Toy Story,”) and features the voices of John Goodman, Billy Crystal, Steve Buscemi, and many others. It appears in U.S. theaters on November 2, but you can take a peek at the new trailer today.

If you’re interested in building such things as custom Internet applications, advanced CD-ROM-Internet hybrids, or Internet kiosks, you’ll want to know that Tribeworks has just released iShell 2.2, an enhancement to its popular cross-platform multimedia authoring program.

New features include HTML 2 support, improvements to the smart caching mechanism, enhancements to iShell’s template features, and updated support for QuickTime 5.

Download a free demo version of iShell 2.2 at the Tribeworks website.

If you create graphics for the web, you know that Adobe’s Live Motion and Macromedia Flash are two terrific products for creating interactive web animations. And both work beautifully with QuickTime 5.

To highlight some of the key differences between these products, Adobe has created a series of informative QuickTime movies that walk you through everything from basic to advanced techniques for creating interactive animations.

The movies are a great way for those unfamiliar with web animation to learn some of the amazing things you can do using these products.

If you’re one of the many fans who meander “Dawson’s Creek,” you may have heard Kelly Brock’s “Sacred” featured in a past episode. The pop/rock singer/songwriter has just released her new music video for “A Lot of Little Things,” one of the selections from her latest CD, So Close. The 1970s-inspired video stars Kevin Farley of MTV’s “2gether.”

The Low-Down on O-Town
You watched them get picked and polished on “Making the Band,” ABC’s reality show. Now see how far the pop group O-Town has evolved after a year in the public eye. Hear interviews with the band, get a guided tour of their bus, view their “Liquid Dreams” music video, and listen to five singles from their debut CD, “O-Town.”

And check out the custom QuickTime Media Skin the band created for their O-Town player.

Don’t Blink
Last May, their production company gave Blink 182 money to shoot a music video for their new single, “The Rock Show.” See the result, including all the crazy stuff they did with the leftover cash.

No Rough Edges Here
“We dug deep on these songs,” says Kyle Norman of the R&B quartet Jagged Edge. “We made a vow that we’d make songs that are reality, edgy, and not just funky or on the vibe of the moment.”

Kyle’s talking about the band’s just-released third CD, Jagged Little Thrill, which features songs addressing such issues as domestic abuse and promoting personal responsibility and family values. Watch a selection of music videos from the CD, and hear how the band deftly combines the soulfulness of R&B with hip-hop.

An Evening with
The Fiery Angel
Set in 16th century Germany, Prokofiev’s opera “The Fiery Angel” is a melodramatic tale of passion, deceit, and the supernatural. Valery Gergiev conducts the Kirov Opera in an imaginative and daring production, recorded live in 1993 at the Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg. Thanks to GMN.com’s Classicalplus, you can watch the opera in its entirety until Friday, July 27.