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Good Online Sources for Free Books?

Posted by Cliff on from the literature-liberte dept.

hydopower asks: "I recently stumbled upon a collection of online libraries. This was fascinating to me, but too many of them cost money or offer Google Print-like limited functionality. I decided to put together a list of sites that offer free books in a format that would allow a person to actually read through them. As Slashdot readers are known for being well read and for enjoying free things, I figured I'd tap into the knowledge pool here. Any suggestions?"

16 of 64 comments (clear)

  1. specific by same_old_story · · Score: 5, Informative

    a very specific item but, those learning python can use the excellent and free dive into python .

  2. There's one by prostoalex · · Score: 4, Informative

    http://www.techbooksforfree.com/

  3. Obvious: Project Gutenberg by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    Project Gutenberg
    Lots of literature. And most are just straight text so you can read them with anything.

  4. Don't forget by gus+goose · · Score: 3, Informative

    Gutenburg

    http://www.gutenberg.org/

    gus

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    .. if only.
  5. Baen Books by AtariAmarok · · Score: 4, Informative

    Try the Baen Free Library. You are out of luck here if you don't like "sci fi", and the selection is rather small, but the files are nice and unemcumbered and they do have some great ones like Fallen Angels.

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    Don't blame Durga. I voted for Centauri.
    1. Re:Baen Books by eht · · Score: 3, Informative

      In addition to the Baen free library, Baen has also put 7 freely distributable cds containg many books into some of their hardcover books, with the text "This disk and its contents may be copied and shared but NOT sold."

      This site and this site both host the first 6 cds as web browsable books.

      This site contains torrents for all 7 cds.

    2. Re:Baen Books by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Informative

      Additionally there webscriptions service is very nice. It is not $free$ like you requested but it is pretty cheap ($4-6 per book or $15 for a about 6 books published in 1 month). Also the book that are offered there are available in a number of convienent formats and are not encumbered by DRM. As a bonus you can purchase books and start reading them 3 months before the publication date.

      I think it is the next best thing to free as in beer and free as in speech, while still compensating the publisher and the authors.

      As with the free library you are limited to what Baen books publishes (typically military Sci-fi) but you get what you pay for. Also excerpts are available for all the book so you can get a feel for the writers style and if you will like the book before you pay.

  6. Free programming and computer science books by wrenhunt · · Score: 2, Informative

    Tech books for free: ahref=http://www.techbooksforfree.com/http://www.t echbooksforfree.com/>

    Linux Device Drivers: ahref=http://www.xml.com/ldd/chapter/book/index.ht ml/http://www.xml.com/ldd/chapter/book/index.html/ >

    Also some for Samba, Subversion, CVS, etc.

  7. free books by lagerbottom · · Score: 5, Informative

    O'reilly offers a few of their books under an open doc license: http://www.oreilly.com/openbook/

    --
    "He was a wise man who invented beer." - Plato
  8. Creative Commons by Skeezix · · Score: 4, Informative

    How about Creative Commons?

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    Celebrate the finer things in life
  9. I think that you'll like by ADRA · · Score: 2, Informative

    http://www.ibiblio.org./

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    Bye!
  10. OBI by jmac880n · · Score: 4, Informative

    Online Books Page From UPenn.

    THE most complete listing I have seen.

  11. Random suggestions by An+Onerous+Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    Cory Doctorow:

    Eastern Standard Tribe (CC)
    A Place So Foreign (and eight more) (CC)
    Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom (CC)

    Lawrence Lessig:

    Free Culture

    Tech and science books:

    Version Control with Subversion (CC)
    An open source math book
    Light and Matter, a series of physics texts by Ben Crowell

    Lists:
    The Assayer is a place to find and review open books.

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    You want the truthiness? You can't handle the truthiness!

    1. Re:Random suggestions by HeelToe · · Score: 3, Informative

      Good suggestions - I'd add:

      The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect

  12. The Assayer by bcrowell · · Score: 4, Informative

    Try The Assayer. It's a catalog of free books, specializing in modern books that have been set free by their authors (not old public domain books, which you can get on Project Gutenberg). Users can also submit reviews. There are some links here that might also be of interest.

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    Find free books.
  13. 6 sources of some free ebooks and audiobooks by waynegoode · · Score: 2, Informative
    Fictionwise

    Fictionwise sells ebooks, but they also have free novels, short stories and audio books from time to time. Currently they have 26 items available for free, including a lot of sci-fi.

    Audible

    Audible sells audio books, but they have some free items also. There is a new free item every week or so for subscribers.

    ereader

    ereader has a few free ebooks. During December last year, they had a different free ebook each day for a few weeks.

    Audio Books for Free

    AudioBooksForFree has free audio books, but in a very compressed format. You have to pay to get better quality, but for $100 you can buy everything.

    Baen Books

    Baen Books has a free library with sci-fi books.

    Project Gutenberg

    This one has been pointed out a few times, but it is the biggest. It is here and here. I think the first one is the official site.