If you like collecting the classics, you're in luck: now you can do it for free (or very inexpensively).
A classic book on drawing, available as a free PDF file
A number of organizations are busy as beavers these days, building online digital libraries of books (and sometimes other works) in the public domain. You can take advantage of this wealth of free online material, and use them to build your own private library. Although the digital books are accessible in different formats, I'll refer to them all books available online or in digital format as "eBooks". (see also my earlier post: EBooks and the Virtual Library)
WHERE TO FIND PUBLIC DOMAIN EBOOKS
So where do you find eBooks in the public domain? Some places to begin browsing or searching for titles are:
Google Book Search (10,000+ public domain titles)
Google has been working with some large libraries (including the University of Michigan Library) to scan their collections, allowing the public to search not just for titles but to search inside virtually any book. If you do a search on Google Book Search (currently in Beta test), you will see the results labeled based on how much you can peek inside: either it is a "Full view," a "Limited preview," "No preview" is available or you can get a "Snippet view" of the book. To find public domain books you can download or view online, uust filter out your results to see only the "Full view," books. You results will look like this:
Full view means this book can be downloaded or read online
The Google online reader is fairly easy to use, and is rich in its links to related resources (such as where to buy the book or borrow it locally if you prefer a print version). Google also allows you to save your eBooks to a personal, online library, eliminating the need to download large files.
The Google online reader
Internet Archive (270,000+ public domain titles)
The Internet Archive has a grand vision to archive virtually all media, from old web sites to moving images and software. The public domain books in the Internet Archive's Open Library can be accessed either by reading them online in a "Flip Book" format, by downloading the eBooks as PDF files, or by opening them in the Internet Archive's proprietary book browser.
I like the Flip Book experience for the way it simulates the online reading experience in a fun, simple way. If you're looking for more functionality, try the proprietary (DjVU) browser.
Project Gutenberg (20,000+ public domain titles)
Options for eBooks here include read books online as "pure text" (very fast, but no graphics), downloading text files, downloading "Plucker" files for reading on a Palm organizer, and
Gutenberg Partners, Affiliates and other Resources combined have list of 100,000 titles
World Public Library (500,000+ titles)
Every now and then this group opens access to their titles, but at other times (like now) you need to join. But not to worry - it's still pretty cheap ($8.95 annually) to
get access to their large selection in 125 different collections. In addition to classic literature, classic children's books, and science fiction, the World Public Library subscription also includes access to audio Books in MP3 format, technical reference books, and government publications. So...plenty of stuff to look at or listen to for less than $10 a year.
BUILDING YOUR OWN DIGITAL LIBRARY
You now know where to get hundreds of thousands of public domain eBooks. So where are you going to store these books, and how do you build a personal library of your favorite titles? Should you download the eBooks, or read them online?
Some things to consider are:
- Type and size of each eBook
- How frequently you will use the title
- Your reading preferences
Type and size of the file is probably the biggest consideration. Some older titles in the public domain have been scanned in from old volumes, and are basically a series of pictures of the actual pages. For example, a PDF of the original classic "Bambi," which, while very pretty to look at, also takes up nearly 15 MB of hard disk space. Eeek. More than about 10 of those titles, and you'll have to start thinking about an external hard drive.
On the opposite end of the spectrum, anything stored strictly in text format (.txt files)- with no pictures will occupy only a tiny amount of space. For example, the "Plain Vanilla Electronic Text" version of Sir Walter Scott's "Lady of the Lake" which I downloaded from Project Gutenberg takes up a mere 472 K of hard drive space.
Suffice it to say you can feel free to download classic titles in "Plain Vanilla Electronic Text" format pretty much willy-nilly. Not only will hundreds or even thousands of these fit on your hard drive easily, they can also be downloaded onto a hand-held device with little concern.
How frequently will you use the eBook? If you will want to refer to the book frequently, or if it's a favorite author or book of poems, you may want to keep it on your computer. A one-time read could be something you want to read online and not keep on your drive.
Finally, what is your reading preference? After you try the digital online readers on the various "library" sites, you will know if you like their different proprietary online readers - or not. If you don't want to have to be on the Internet when you read your eBook, you can use your favorite digital reader such as Adobe Acrobat Reader or Adobe Digital Editions, and just read it on your computer (or hand held, if you prefer small screens). These each have their own trade-offs in functionality and ease-of-use.
You need to experiment to find what you like. For my part, I have been taking the Smorgasbord approach: storing what interests me (and fits) on my hard drive, bookmarking "found library" of materials on Google Book Search, and bookmarking the other archives mentioned above, for reference. Now, I just really have to read all this stuff...
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