Free eBooks

Sat, 08 Jul 2006 02:39:33 GMT

I am a hoarder. Ask anyone who knows me. I used to buy “things” for which I had absolutely no immediate use simply because they looked like something I should have on hand “just in case.” This was reinforced just often enough that it became a strongly ingrained habit. Examples would be a family member breaking a lamp and me just happening to have exactly the right part to fix it or a noise appearing somewhere in one of the cars’ engine compartments and me having a cheap stethoscope and making a metal attachment for it so the noise could be pinpointed to a single engine valve, rocker arm, or pushrod. This will, no doubt, lead to a great deal of tears and dismay when I move to smaller housing and have to part with it, but I have found another way to collect “stuff” that is free and takes up very little space; eBooks. Project Gutenberg led the way a few years back and has now been joined by many others who have both free and paid offerings. Currently there is a one-month period of free downloads from a consortium of eBook publishers that is too good to miss. Classic literature, various cultures, languages, and religions are included. Also included are government publications from the Government Printing Office, CIA, NASA, DOC, DOE, GAO, textbooks, children’s books, law, medicine, military, conservation and energy, poetry, technical books, sheet music, and talking books in MP3 format. Over 330,000 eBooks can be found for one month, free, at http://worldebookfair.com/ When you get to the opening page, you can either search for a specific text or click “browse” to see the various collections and variety that is offered. I’m headed for CELT, which has texts in various languages dating from the 15^th century to the present.

Happy hunting. I think I have to get my burner on this laptop heated up.

Peace, Doc

Doc's Place: Books

Free eBooks