FREE READS
Only on the InterWebs could one find so much free reading material. As a hopeless-case bookworm (since age four), I have long revered word-wrought wonders. As a hopeless-case Net-nerd (since 1989 as a CompuServe member – may it RIP), I have long loved cyberspace’s offerings – especially free reading material! Now cyberspace provides a wealth of free books. [M]oney for nothing, get your *books* for free, to paraphrase the song. Below one will find Websites offering free books; there are many more, I’m sure. Feel free to suggest your own favorite book sites in the COMMENTS section by clicking REPLY at the bottom of this article.
* Google Books: Search and preview millions of books from libraries and publishers worldwide; works out of copyright are free, as are those whose authors have given permission to offer for free; to find free books, search by category and select FULL VIEW – http://books.google.com/
* Internet Public Library: Wide variety of free, full-text sources for literature on the web – http://www.ipl.org/div/subject/browse/hum60.60.00/
* Library of Congress > Digital Collections: Online access to print, pictorial and audio-visual collections and other digital services – http://www.loc.gov/library/libarch-digital.html
|| Featured Digital Collections & Services ||
– American History & Culture: A digital library of historic maps, photos, documents, audio and video from American Memory.
– Historic Newspapers: Enhanced access to America’s historic newspapers through the Chronicling America project.
– International Collections: International materials and bilingual presentations from overseas libraries from Global Gateway.
– Legislative Information: THOMAS provides searchable full text of bills, Congressional Record and more.
– Performing Arts: Collections, articles and special presentations on music, theater and dance materials.
– Prints and Photographs: Catalog of about half of the Library’s pictorial holdings with over 1 million digital images.
– Veterans History: Experience first-person stories of wartime service through personal artifacts.
– Web Site Archiving: Searchable archives of historic Web pages including national elections, 9/11 and more.
|| Additional Digital Collections & Services ||
– Children and Families: America’s Library
– Country Studies/Area Handbooks
– Digital Interlibrary Loan
– Exhibitions from the Library
– Folklife Digital Collections
– Global Legal Information Network
– Hispanic Digital Collections
– Local Legacies: Community Roots
– Manuscript Collections
– Map Collections
– Poetry 180: For the School Year
– Rare Books and Special Collections
– Today in History
– Webcasts from the Library
* DailyLit: Read books online by daily email and RSS feed; many books require a fee (usually quite low) but many books are free – http://www.dailylit.com/find
– Most of the free books are classic literary works by such authors as Austen, Tolstoy and Thoreau
* Paperback Swap: Members Swap, Trade & Exchange Books with each other for Free. In Short: Mail a book. Get a book. Any book you request is yours to keep, share or trade. No late fees. No processing charges. No hidden charges. Every time you mail a book to another member, you can request one for yourself from over 3 Million, including hardbacks and audio books as well – http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php
– Biographies & Memoirs
– Cooking, Food & Wine
– History
– Mystery
– Romantic Suspense
– Children’s Books
– Fantasy
– Home & Garden
– Mystery & Thrillers
– Science Fiction
– Christianity
– Horror
– Thrillers
– Audio Books
– Comics & Graphic Novels
– Libros en Espanol
– Religion & Spirituality
– Westerns
– Contemporary
– Historical
– Literature
– Romance
– Women’s Fiction
– Nonfiction
* Swap Tree: Trade the books you have for the books you want, for FREE. Swap your books for video games, CDs and DVDs. Instantly see all the books you can receive in trade. Print perfect postage right from your computer. Discover new books and authors. Recycle, reuse and reduce your carbon footprint – http://www.swaptree.com/
– Architecture
– Art
– Biography
– Business & Economics
– Children’s Fiction
– Computers
– Cooking
– Crafts & Hobbies
– Education
– Family & Relationships
– Fiction
– Health & Fitness
– History
– House & Home
– Medical
– Nature
– Science
– Self-Help
– Travel
– True Crime
* ZainBooks.com: Largest Free Online Library of Academic Books – http://www.zainbooks.com/
|| Computer Sciences ||
– Introduction to Computing
– Introduction to Programming
– E-Commerce
– Human Computer Interaction
– Visual Programming
– Information Systems
|| Management ||
– Principles of Management
– Project Management
– Organization Development
– Strategic Management
– Leadership & Team Management
|| Accounting and Finance ||
– Fundamentals of Auditing
|| Marketing ||
– Principles of Marketing
– International Marketing
|| English ||
– Business and Technical English Writing
|| Human Resource Management ||
– Human Resource Management
|| Mass Communication ||
– Introduction to Mass Communication
* Project Gutenberg: Free access to thousands of e-books in a wide variety of text and audio formats, including plain text, HTML, PDF, and more; also links to other free book sites – http://www.projectgutenberg.com/
* Fictionwise: Fiction eBooks for all PDAs and PCs by top authors. Palm, PocketPC, Hiebook, eBookMan, Adobe, MS Reader, and WinCE eBooks. Offers about 50 free ebooks – http://www.fictionwise.com/ebooks/freebooks.htm
MilkyWayfarer 