History of downloaded iBookstore samples?

Solution 1:

I'm afraid no such log or history exist.

Apparently either restoring a device, as iTunes does not make a backUp of your sample books, or upgrading to the lastest version of iBooks, will make your samples to dissappear.

Solution 2:

I was able to recover the list of all books in iBooks, including sample chapters, with the following steps:

• Select a tool to parse iPhone/iPad backups on your hard drive. Google for "iphone backup extractor", there are various.

• Select a recent iPhone/iPad backup from the list presented by your extractor software.

• Select iBooks as the app you wish to extract.

• Search for a file called iBooks_v10252011_2152.sqlite, or something like that.

• Use a SQLite viewer (such as Base on the Mac) to view the ZBKBOOKINFO table.

• Look for the ZBOOKTITLE field - this should contain a list of all your books, including sample chapters, from the time of the backup!

• If you want to get fancy, try sorting on the ZSAMPLECONTENT field.