While readers around the world keep the bytes vs. paper debate alive, anyone who owns a reader for electronic books surely wants to fill it with something interesting right now. There are dozens of platforms ready to sell content at very varied prices, but if the underlying plan is to read free books, the Web offers extraordinary resources. Here we recommend five of them.
Any discussion about books and their distribution on the Web has very complex appendages, starting with intellectual property and the public domain. A recent and definitely valid example to describe this situation is The Little Prince, an unforgettable classic by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry. In a large part of the world, this book is already part of the public domain (not so its characters and illustrations), but in places like France and the United States, there are still several decades of waiting. So, is it possible to download a copy? Until the most important references, and those with the power to modify intellectual property laws, act as they should, the answer will remain "it depends". Under that "it depends" we move today. Here we present a total of five portals full of free electronic books. Some can be downloaded immediately, and others... walk a grayer path. The rest depends on each reader. That said, let's start.
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive and its virtual library Open Library are an excellent starting point. In the former we will find more than eight million texts to explore, and in many cases download without restrictions. Not all of them are books, however, it is too large a source of information not to take a look. Open Library works more formally: You withdraw a “virtual copy” that you can read online with a browser, or on compatible devices through the Adobe Digital Editions platform. It requires registration.
Project Gutenberg
With more than 49,000 books under its wings, Project Gutenberg is another solid portal where we can download old novels, classic science fiction stories, travel texts, and of course, eternal classics like Moby Dick, A Tale of Two Cities, Dracula, Les Misérables, The Divine Comedy and The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, among others. Project Gutenberg does not demand registration from its users, but it does ask for small donations to stay online.
Survivor Library
When the (inevitable) zombie invasion is upon us and we have no choice but to flee for our lives, we will probably find ourselves wishing for a digital reader loaded with thousands of books on repairs, making things like clothing and tools, cooking, medicine, and a long etcetera. If we can look beyond the language, Survivor Library should have everything we need until we grow old... or end up as part of the horde. 100 gigabytes of books, at no cost. We can't complain.
NASA and FreeTechBooks
Yes, in this case they are two portals and not one, but if the keyword for your reading cravings is “science”, you need to visit them as a single resource. The space agency’s site offers several titles ranging from the performance of the X-15 prototype to the history of the Hubble telescope, including pressure suits and theories about space commerce. Meanwhile, FreeTechBooks also covers aspects like mathematics and software, including operating systems, programming languages, and the open source movement.
Genio Maligno
Well, we have reached the minefield of the day. I assume that if you already have the physical copy of a book, downloading its digital equivalent shouldn't cause problems... but as Morpheus told a confused Neo, "I can only show you the door." There are dozens of sites in the same “situation” as Genio Maligno, however, this one has been online for years, and if they haven't taken it down yet, there must be a reason.
This article places me under the obligation to make special mentions for The Rosetta Project with its children’s books, and other classics in the style of Librodot. In English, Spanish, and both at once. If it refers to free electronic books, we are barely scratching the surface, and it is a phenomenon that will hardly stop. Enjoy your reading, and as always, good luck!
