How to find my way through the free books?

LandSurveyor · 08-06-2012, 07:55 PM

I like to read a lot of the old, out-of-copyright books, such as ancient philosophers, plus other stuff, mostly nonfiction. I used to get this from Memoware back in my Palm days in PDB format and enjoyed it very much (back when I had better eyes).

I now understand that it's freely available from a number of sources, including Kindle and B&N, Project Gutenberg, etc. but my experience, especially with Gutenberg, is like being loosed in a warehouse with no good way of knowing where to find what I want.

Am I just a dunce? It just seems that the content could be better indexed than it appeared to me.

MidnightBlue · 08-06-2012, 08:16 PM

Try looking at the "people who bought this also purchased" on the Amazon reviews. People with similar tastes might be a guide for you. Even if Amazon charges for a PD book, you might find elsewhere free.

Giggleton · 08-06-2012, 08:19 PM

Every collection needs a curator or two or three thousand. What kind of indexing are you looking for, by theme? That would require some human intervention, and those humans have to eat after all...

BWinmill · 08-06-2012, 08:34 PM

This should help you find an entry point into Project Gutenberg:

http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Category:Bookshelf

I don't know how to access it via the main website, but on the mobile website you get information on similar books. As an example:

http://m.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9551.mobile

You will notice it has what other readers downloaded, with the number of downloads of each title; other books by the same author; and other books in the categories that it is filed under.

Now if there were only ways to combine the two approaches.

LandSurveyor · 08-06-2012, 10:47 PM

Thank you all for your helpful replies.. IIRC, MB, that's how I came across my copy of the Iliad.. Squirrel secrets?

For me, general subjects are history, philosophy, religion and even politics.

And thank you for the Gutenburg link. When I clicked on it, my tablet added Gutenberg as a search engine.

JeremyR · 08-07-2012, 01:50 AM

Don't forget the books here. They're generally much better formatted than those at other sites and they at least have genre tags.

LuvReadin · 08-07-2012, 07:48 AM

Manybooks.net is quite a good site for searching - usually has reviews, or at the very least, fairly good descriptions. Unfortunately, the many books come from many sources, and some are really quite appallingly formatted, so it's often better to go elsewhere for the downloads; however, the PG ones are quite clearly marked now.

08-06-2012, 07:55 PM	#1
LandSurveyor infrequent visitor Posts: 20 Karma: 502444 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Southeastern USA Device: Samsung smartphone, HP Touchpad, searcing for the best e-ink device	How to find my way through the free books? I like to read a lot of the old, out-of-copyright books, such as ancient philosophers, plus other stuff, mostly nonfiction. I used to get this from Memoware back in my Palm days in PDB format and enjoyed it very much (back when I had better eyes). I now understand that it's freely available from a number of sources, including Kindle and B&N, Project Gutenberg, etc. but my experience, especially with Gutenberg, is like being loosed in a warehouse with no good way of knowing where to find what I want. Am I just a dunce? It just seems that the content could be better indexed than it appeared to me.

08-07-2012, 07:48 AM	#7
LuvReadin Addict Posts: 372 Karma: 1925568 Join Date: Oct 2011 Location: England, UK Device: Sony PRS-T1 and Cool-ER	Manybooks.net is quite a good site for searching - usually has reviews, or at the very least, fairly good descriptions. Unfortunately, the many books come from many sources, and some are really quite appallingly formatted, so it's often better to go elsewhere for the downloads; however, the PG ones are quite clearly marked now. Last edited by LuvReadin; 08-08-2012 at 04:57 AM.

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
using search/GET BOOKS can I find books I haven't got?	johnwhelan	Calibre	7	06-03-2012 01:53 PM
are you able to find books you want for free?	syrianrue	General Discussions	24	06-23-2011 04:04 AM
How do you find books?	AgentBEATS	Reading Recommendations	38	03-14-2010 04:14 AM
Classic Easy way to find the free books with your Nook	mos	Barnes & Noble NOOK	4	02-09-2010 02:59 PM
Can't find 500,000 free books at Sony; can you?	epubreader	Sony Reader	12	06-06-2009 05:11 PM

08-06-2012, 08:16 PM	#2
MidnightBlue écureuil secret Posts: 41 Karma: 1851776 Join Date: Jul 2012 Location: London but traveling Device: iPad Kindle Touch	Try looking at the "people who bought this also purchased" on the Amazon reviews. People with similar tastes might be a guide for you. Even if Amazon charges for a PD book, you might find elsewhere free.

08-06-2012, 08:19 PM	#3
Giggleton Banned Posts: 1,687 Karma: 4368191 Join Date: Jan 2011 Location: Oregon Device: Kindle3	Every collection needs a curator or two or three thousand. What kind of indexing are you looking for, by theme? That would require some human intervention, and those humans have to eat after all...

08-06-2012, 08:34 PM	#4
BWinmill Nameless Being	This should help you find an entry point into Project Gutenberg: http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Category:Bookshelf I don't know how to access it via the main website, but on the mobile website you get information on similar books. As an example: http://m.gutenberg.org/ebooks/9551.mobile You will notice it has what other readers downloaded, with the number of downloads of each title; other books by the same author; and other books in the categories that it is filed under. Now if there were only ways to combine the two approaches.

08-06-2012, 10:47 PM	#5
LandSurveyor infrequent visitor Posts: 20 Karma: 502444 Join Date: Jan 2010 Location: Southeastern USA Device: Samsung smartphone, HP Touchpad, searcing for the best e-ink device	Thank you all for your helpful replies.. IIRC, MB, that's how I came across my copy of the Iliad.. Squirrel secrets? For me, general subjects are history, philosophy, religion and even politics. And thank you for the Gutenburg link. When I clicked on it, my tablet added Gutenberg as a search engine.

08-07-2012, 01:50 AM	#6
JeremyR Guru Posts: 973 Karma: 2458402 Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: St. Louis Device: Kindle Keyboard, Nook HD+	Don't forget the books here. They're generally much better formatted than those at other sites and they at least have genre tags.

Advert

Advert