ebookTrans

how can I transfer books from my mac mini to my iPad?

What ebook reader? If it's the Apple app, then iTunes will transfer them. If Kindle, you can re-download them from Kindle.

iTunes it is then. Thanks.

Actually this is now handled by the iBooks app, available free from the Mac App Store (for Mac) and the iOS App Store for iOS devices.

chas_m, If you connect your iDevice and open iTunes, then select that device in the sidebar, one of the items in the bar above the device information is "Books." Clicking that will show all your books that are being synced. Yes, iBooks opens them on the iDevice, just as Podcasts plays podcasts, but iTunes is the mechanism for the syncing, AFAIK. When iBooks first came out, I had to make sure iTunes had the "Sync Books" box checked to get books to the iPad.