Have a “humble bookshelf”? Find free books online.
“I care not how humble your bookshelf may be, nor how lowly the room which it adorns. Close the door of that room behind you, shut off with it all the cares of the outer world, plunge back into the soothing company of the great dead, and then you are through the magic portal into that fair land whither worry and vexation can follow you no more. You have left all that is vulgar and all that is sordid behind you. There stand your noble, silent comrades, waiting in their ranks. Pass your eye down their files. Choose your man. And then you have but to hold up your hand to him and away you go together into dreamland”.
Excerpt from Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s, Through the Magic Door.
I acquired my love of books from my dad, who would take me to the bookstore on weekends when I was a child. He said he chose the bookstore for our outings since it was the one place I couldn’t break anything. Seems I was a bit too curious for stores that displayed more delicate items.
And still today, I visit my local bookstore almost every week and may purchase the latest best-seller or just a cup of coffee. But only online can I find anything like Through the Magic Door. Not because the bookstores are lacking, I am sure you could find a reprinted version. But because I would not have known something like this wonderful book even existed, if it hadn’t been for a casual search for a weekend read on my iphone. Yep, living in the 21st century has its perks!
So, just in time for holiday travel, here are some links to software and online libraries.
Project Gutenberg was the very first free online library and is made up of Public Domain books. Volunteers proofread scanned images and when the process is through the book is then assembled into an e-book for you to download to your desktop, smartphone or e-reader using any of the software as listed here. Or you can download an audio book that is either human-read or computer-generated, even read online as plain text or html document, or download the book — if it’s available — in a foreign language.
Read Print is a well designed site for reading online. You can’t download the books, but its a great way to search and find classics you might be interested in. Although not as convenient as having the book on your phone, computer or e-reader it does have a great selection of books, short stories and poetry.
Bibliomania is another online library not only for readers, but researchers and teachers. It provides study guides along with an extensive library of reference books, biographies, classic non-fiction and religious texts. Search for fiction, drama, short stories and contemporary articles and interviews.
For newly released books why not try reading it via a free email subscription? At DailyLit you register then subscribe to a book and they send installments to your email. Current subscriptions available are for books from authors like John Grisham & Robert Greene and a gift from designer Diane von Furstenberg where she shares the book Madame de Stael. The books are available for a short time and a registered member is limited to 10 subscriptions at a time. This would be perfect for that morning train or bus commute. And if you ever wanted to read War and Peace, they have 663 installments waiting for you!
ManyBooks.net is a free ebook site that you can download a number of free e-books or read online. They seem to offer every format for whatever electronic device you have. Like Project Gutenberg the site offers free public domain classic books, essays and poetry but also has titles referencing computing, business and even offers Creative Commons e-books. Go to the Categories link to see everything they offer.
Feedbooks.com is another site similar to ManyBooks.net and offers downloads of Public Domain and Original Books for free. The site is well designed and the formats available are epub, Mobipocket, Kindle, PDF or you can customize your PDF for your Sony Reader, Cybook Gen 3, iRex iLiad or create your own template. You can also publish your own book as an e-book by using the feedbooks.com web interface. The site does require registration.
Okay, lady geeks everywhere, these sites gather links for free computer e-books. The sites are simple to navigate but the links vary from sample pages only, online versions only, to full pdf downloads. Some even take you to a page where you can buy the book…no free download. But if your looking for something specific these sites may help. onlinecomputerbooks.com , freetechbooks.com and freecomputerbooks.com
If your old school and want to read from the actual pages of rare antique books go to rarebookroom.org. Some 400 books have been digitally scanned in very high resolution for you to view. From Shakespeare Quartos from the British Library to Benjamin Franklin’s Experiments and Observations on Electricity. (Thanks, Patti)
“Come through the magic door with me, and sit here on the green settee, where you can see the old oak case with its untidy lines of volumes. Smoking is not forbidden.”
So what book will you be downloading next?
