Project Gutenberg - User Tips?

Bob Russell · 05-11-2007, 04:28 PM

We probably all know about the wonderful Project Gutenberg source of public domain books (and maybe more). But like me, you might not be a Gutenberg master, and still wonder about comments referring to things like various custom CDs available for various topics (like science fiction), or comments about browsing a mystery section. I don't doubt that a little digging will turn up the goldne nuggets, but maybe there's a better way for everyone to gain the knowledge...

Anyone care to give a short and simple guide to finding your way around Gutenberg and what is to be found there?

Robert Marquard · 05-12-2007, 12:52 AM

Huh? The SF CD is linked directly from the main page. The link "Project Gutenberg BitTorrent Tracker" directly leads to the page where you get the .torrent file for feeding to a BitTorrent client. http://ebooks.thefifthimperium.com kindly hosts it as a single download for those without BitTorrent access.

The Bookshelf area is a wiki where volunteers create pages linking to books in various categories. The "Bookshelf" link in the left sidebar takes you there.

All other important links for navigating the website are below the title "The Online Book Catalog". Browsing the catalog, advanced search, popular downloads etc. You can also enter author or title of a book in the search fields in the lest sidebar.

Do you have ideas for a better main page? We are currently experimenting with other layouts. http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_P...n-page-sandbox
Feel free to volunteer and help with the design.

Bob Russell · 05-12-2007, 08:13 AM

The SciFi CD prominently on the front page is nice. I didn't realize it as there. Maybe it's a new addition? I guess my initial reason for this was my hope to make five things easy to find and clear to all our readers, based on information present, but buried in PG:

1) What is PG, and what books can you find there?
2) How do I find the SciFi collection?
3) How do I find the bookshelves?
4) In general, what ways can I search or browse the books?
5) At a "For Dummies" level - what's the basic idea with respect to copyright, and rules for using/reformatting/distributing books from PG?

I guess that also just happens to be closely related to what I think should be easily accessible in general from the main site page, so while I guess you are right - I'm really sort of making suggestions about the home page. I just didn't realize it because I was only interested in the site more accessible to MR readers, plus wondering where these mysterious Bookshelves were (that link is included below, but I didn't try to put in all the relevant links because this is just a sketch).

Okay, in rough terms, let me lay out the basic elements that I think a newer user might want to see on a front page. Not sure if it's better or worse than the current front page topics, but I guess it's the info I looked for there in the past. Specifically, the "Getting Started" part was really what I felt I would like to see and that others would also want to see. But again, this is just one person's perspective, so I may be way off base for the general population of visitors. But I think that it's possible some people are giving up or missing out partly because it's not very clear to the newcomer. And that would be a real shame because it's one of the most awesome resources on the web!

Introduction
Project Gutenberg offers e-books available for free download - over ### at last count. The e-books are offered by permission or freely due to expired copyright restrictions. They are often available in a number of formats including... txt, html In most cases they are converted from printed form by volunteers from the Distributed Proofreaders project.

Getting started

There are many ways to find e-books by searching or browsing. Users have also created quite a few collections by author or subject. Here are some of the most common places you will want to look.

Book searches...

* Simple Book Search See the left-hand side of the page for the basic book search engine. You can search by title, author or the Gutenberg e-text number if you already know it.

* Advanced Book Search

* Gutenberg Database and Full Text Search

* Other search engines (e.g. Yahoo and Google)

Browsing the books...

* Browsing books by first letter of title or author

* Gutenberg Bookshelves The perfect way to browse for a particular type of book - Science Fiction, Children's books, Plays, Mystery of some other book category. And be sure to look for the yellow stars to find "Editor's Choice" picks.

* Top 100 - Multiple lists of the most popular books and authors

* Recently Added Books

* Browse by language

Even more books and non-books...

* Project Gutenberg Partners, Affiliates and Resources (over 100,000 additional book titles!)
* Offline Catalogs: handy ebook Listings to consult offline.
* Audio Books, both human-read and computer-generated.
* CD and DVD Project. "Best Of" selections on CD and DVD.
* Digitized Sheet Music.

Downloading book collections

Using books with PDAs or e-book reader
Using books on your computer or laptop
Gutenberg CDs and DVDs
Offline book catalogs

Other popular links
...
Full Site Map
Other Gutenberg sites (like PG Australia, etc)

Project Information

The book collection
Contributing to the project
Project Gutenberg Wiki
Distributed Proofreaders
Copyright and license information
FAQs

Site Information

About Us
Full Site Map
Site Search
RSS Feeds

So... any thoughts? Is there any part of this that might be helpful to the average site visitor? Is it even helpful, maybe, to some of our MR readers to get another view of what's there at PG?

Bob Russell · 05-12-2007, 08:17 AM

Oh, somehow I missed the new page you are working on. Wow, I love the visual look you are going with! It also highlights the bookshelves, catalog and search very well.

I haven't done a match with what I was suggesting, but my original concerns about things that just couldn't really be found at first glance seem to already be handled. Very nice improvement!!!

mogui · 05-28-2007, 08:45 AM

Sadly, China doesn't like gutenberg.org, so I can't bring it up. I had the foresight to download a Gutenberg CD about four years ago before I came here, so I will never run out of books (maniacal grin).

But for those of you in China, there are a couple of FTP sites that work: Swedish University Network SUNET and Poznan Supercomputing & Networking Center. From here you can find more FTP sites. I stopped looking when I found the two above. Oddly, the ones listed for China do not work for me.

The following info is from here.
Using an FTP client:
ftp ibiblio.org (or your favorite Gutenberg FTP site)
login: anonymous
password: yourname@your.machine
[this is your email address where you are]
cd pub
cd docs
cd books
cd gutenberg
cd etext02
[or 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 91 or 90. 70's and 80's are in /etext90]
ls or dir for a listing of files
get filename (be sure to set bin, if you get the .zip files)
get more files
quit
get GUTINDEX.??
[?? = 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 91 or 90 New files in 02, of course, all files in GUTINDEX.ALL]

Sparrow · 01-04-2008, 10:08 AM

When browing the PG catalogue, how does one distinguish texts that have been through Distributed Proofreaders?

If I wanted to create a new ebook for download from MobileRead, I think I'd try and get a DP one as it is likely to already be in pretty good shape.

HarryT · 01-04-2008, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparrow

When browing the PG catalogue, how does one distinguish texts that have been through Distributed Proofreaders?

If I wanted to create a new ebook for download from MobileRead, I think I'd try and get a DP one as it is likely to already be in pretty good shape.

I think that you can reasonably assume that any book released in the last two or three years comes from DP - or at least the vast majority of such. The release date is shown at the start of the book.

The problem, of course, is that the best-known books were the first to be input to PG, and they were typically typed in by hand with many errors. I've just finished reading PG's "Oliver Twist" and have corrected literally hundreds of errors in it.

Sparrow · 01-04-2008, 11:40 AM

Thanks Harry, I guess the release date will be the best initial indication (although I'm surprised DP can keep up with the rate of arrivals, but maybe incoming traffic is less now than in the early days.)

The actual texts contain confirmation along the lines of:
"Produced by X, Y, Z and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team."

The DP site itself seems a nightmare to browse (unless I'm overlooking something)

.

It's a shame they don't revisit some of the popular classics to tidy them up - rather than some of the more esoteric texts that come out.

(I've started doing a bit of proofing there, but am far to junior to start ordering them to work on certain books just yet

)

DMcCunney · 01-04-2008, 11:41 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparrow

When browing the PG catalogue, how does one distinguish texts that have been through Distributed Proofreaders?

If I wanted to create a new ebook for download from MobileRead, I think I'd try and get a DP one as it is likely to already be in pretty good shape.

I don't believe the PG catalog makes that distinction.

I'd look up the PG title on the Distributed Proofreader's "Gold" list, which is titles completed and posted to PG, with PG links: http://www.pgdp.net/c/list_etexts.php?x=g&sort=5
______
Dennis

HarryT · 01-04-2008, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparrow

It's a shame they don't revisit some of the popular classics to tidy them up - rather than some of the more esoteric texts that come out.

I entirely agree with you; releasing properly proofed version of the classics would be beneficial to far more people (IMHO) than much of the current releases.

Xenophon · 01-04-2008, 12:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I entirely agree with you; releasing properly proofed version of the classics would be beneficial to far more people (IMHO) than much of the current releases.

So head over to DP and suggest it! What gets produced is really pretty much up to the volunteers who do the work... so putting some volunteer-time where your idea is would go even farther!

Xenophon

HarryT · 01-04-2008, 12:19 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Xenophon

So head over to DP and suggest it! What gets produced is really pretty much up to the volunteers who do the work... so putting some volunteer-time where your idea is would go even farther!

Xenophon

I'd like to think that I already do my fair share of "volunteering" in the eBook world in producing eBooks

. I take your point, however.

ricdiogo · 01-04-2008, 02:06 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sparrow

When browing the PG catalogue, how does one distinguish texts that have been through Distributed Proofreaders?

You can use the Advanced Search and type in "pgdp" or "distributed proofreading" or "distributed proofreaders" in the "Full Text" field. Refine you search or you can get thousands of files.

(I take this chance to sadly inform you that Robert Marquard, who has posted above, is no longer with us.)

HarryT · 01-04-2008, 02:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ricdiogo

(I take this chance to sadly inform you that Robert Marquard, who has posted above, is no longer with us.)

Do you mean that he's died? If so, that's awful news; he was a very valued contributor to MR and an all-round "nice guy"

.

ricdiogo · 01-04-2008, 02:33 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

Do you mean that he's died?

Yes.

05-11-2007, 04:28 PM	#1
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	Project Gutenberg - User Tips? We probably all know about the wonderful Project Gutenberg source of public domain books (and maybe more). But like me, you might not be a Gutenberg master, and still wonder about comments referring to things like various custom CDs available for various topics (like science fiction), or comments about browsing a mystery section. I don't doubt that a little digging will turn up the goldne nuggets, but maybe there's a better way for everyone to gain the knowledge... Anyone care to give a short and simple guide to finding your way around Gutenberg and what is to be found there?

05-12-2007, 12:52 AM	#2
Robert Marquard Delphi-Guy Posts: 285 Karma: 1151 Join Date: May 2006 Location: Berlin, Germany Device: iLiad, Palm T3	Huh? The SF CD is linked directly from the main page. The link "Project Gutenberg BitTorrent Tracker" directly leads to the page where you get the .torrent file for feeding to a BitTorrent client. http://ebooks.thefifthimperium.com kindly hosts it as a single download for those without BitTorrent access. The Bookshelf area is a wiki where volunteers create pages linking to books in various categories. The "Bookshelf" link in the left sidebar takes you there. All other important links for navigating the website are below the title "The Online Book Catalog". Browsing the catalog, advanced search, popular downloads etc. You can also enter author or title of a book in the search fields in the lest sidebar. Do you have ideas for a better main page? We are currently experimenting with other layouts. http://www.gutenberg.org/wiki/Main_P...n-page-sandbox Feel free to volunteer and help with the design. Last edited by Robert Marquard; 05-19-2007 at 08:32 AM.

05-28-2007, 08:45 AM	#5
mogui eNigma Posts: 503 Karma: 1335 Join Date: Dec 2006 Location: The Philippines Device: HTC G1 Android FBReader	Getting Gutenberg books by FTP Sadly, China doesn't like gutenberg.org, so I can't bring it up. I had the foresight to download a Gutenberg CD about four years ago before I came here, so I will never run out of books (maniacal grin). But for those of you in China, there are a couple of FTP sites that work: Swedish University Network SUNET and Poznan Supercomputing & Networking Center. From here you can find more FTP sites. I stopped looking when I found the two above. Oddly, the ones listed for China do not work for me. The following info is from here. Using an FTP client: ftp ibiblio.org (or your favorite Gutenberg FTP site) login: anonymous password: yourname@your.machine [this is your email address where you are] cd pub cd docs cd books cd gutenberg cd etext02 [or 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 91 or 90. 70's and 80's are in /etext90] ls or dir for a listing of files get filename (be sure to set bin, if you get the .zip files) get more files quit get GUTINDEX.?? [?? = 04, 03, 02, 01, 00, 99, 98, 97, 96, 95, 94, 93, 92, 91 or 90 New files in 02, of course, all files in GUTINDEX.ALL] Last edited by mogui; 05-28-2007 at 08:54 AM.

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05-12-2007, 08:13 AM	#3
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	The SciFi CD prominently on the front page is nice. I didn't realize it as there. Maybe it's a new addition? I guess my initial reason for this was my hope to make five things easy to find and clear to all our readers, based on information present, but buried in PG: 1) What is PG, and what books can you find there? 2) How do I find the SciFi collection? 3) How do I find the bookshelves? 4) In general, what ways can I search or browse the books? 5) At a "For Dummies" level - what's the basic idea with respect to copyright, and rules for using/reformatting/distributing books from PG? I guess that also just happens to be closely related to what I think should be easily accessible in general from the main site page, so while I guess you are right - I'm really sort of making suggestions about the home page. I just didn't realize it because I was only interested in the site more accessible to MR readers, plus wondering where these mysterious Bookshelves were (that link is included below, but I didn't try to put in all the relevant links because this is just a sketch). Okay, in rough terms, let me lay out the basic elements that I think a newer user might want to see on a front page. Not sure if it's better or worse than the current front page topics, but I guess it's the info I looked for there in the past. Specifically, the "Getting Started" part was really what I felt I would like to see and that others would also want to see. But again, this is just one person's perspective, so I may be way off base for the general population of visitors. But I think that it's possible some people are giving up or missing out partly because it's not very clear to the newcomer. And that would be a real shame because it's one of the most awesome resources on the web! Introduction Project Gutenberg offers e-books available for free download - over ### at last count. The e-books are offered by permission or freely due to expired copyright restrictions. They are often available in a number of formats including... txt, html In most cases they are converted from printed form by volunteers from the Distributed Proofreaders project. Getting started There are many ways to find e-books by searching or browsing. Users have also created quite a few collections by author or subject. Here are some of the most common places you will want to look. Book searches... * Simple Book Search See the left-hand side of the page for the basic book search engine. You can search by title, author or the Gutenberg e-text number if you already know it. * Advanced Book Search * Gutenberg Database and Full Text Search * Other search engines (e.g. Yahoo and Google) Browsing the books... * Browsing books by first letter of title or author * Gutenberg Bookshelves The perfect way to browse for a particular type of book - Science Fiction, Children's books, Plays, Mystery of some other book category. And be sure to look for the yellow stars to find "Editor's Choice" picks. * Top 100 - Multiple lists of the most popular books and authors * Recently Added Books * Browse by language Even more books and non-books... * Project Gutenberg Partners, Affiliates and Resources (over 100,000 additional book titles!) * Offline Catalogs: handy ebook Listings to consult offline. * Audio Books, both human-read and computer-generated. * CD and DVD Project. "Best Of" selections on CD and DVD. * Digitized Sheet Music. Downloading book collections Using books with PDAs or e-book reader Using books on your computer or laptop Gutenberg CDs and DVDs Offline book catalogs Other popular links ... Full Site Map Other Gutenberg sites (like PG Australia, etc) Project Information The book collection Contributing to the project Project Gutenberg Wiki Distributed Proofreaders Copyright and license information FAQs Site Information About Us Full Site Map Site Search RSS Feeds So... any thoughts? Is there any part of this that might be helpful to the average site visitor? Is it even helpful, maybe, to some of our MR readers to get another view of what's there at PG?

05-12-2007, 08:17 AM	#4
Bob Russell Recovering Gadget Addict Posts: 5,381 Karma: 676161 Join Date: May 2004 Location: Pittsburgh, PA Device: iPad	Oh, somehow I missed the new page you are working on. Wow, I love the visual look you are going with! It also highlights the bookshelves, catalog and search very well. I haven't done a match with what I was suggesting, but my original concerns about things that just couldn't really be found at first glance seem to already be handled. Very nice improvement!!!

01-04-2008, 10:08 AM	#6
Sparrow Wizard Posts: 4,395 Karma: 1358132 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: UK Device: Palm TX, CyBook Gen3	When browing the PG catalogue, how does one distinguish texts that have been through Distributed Proofreaders? If I wanted to create a new ebook for download from MobileRead, I think I'd try and get a DP one as it is likely to already be in pretty good shape.

01-04-2008, 11:40 AM	#8
Sparrow Wizard Posts: 4,395 Karma: 1358132 Join Date: Nov 2007 Location: UK Device: Palm TX, CyBook Gen3	Thanks Harry, I guess the release date will be the best initial indication (although I'm surprised DP can keep up with the rate of arrivals, but maybe incoming traffic is less now than in the early days.) The actual texts contain confirmation along the lines of: "Produced by X, Y, Z and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team." The DP site itself seems a nightmare to browse (unless I'm overlooking something) . It's a shame they don't revisit some of the popular classics to tidy them up - rather than some of the more esoteric texts that come out. (I've started doing a bit of proofing there, but am far to junior to start ordering them to work on certain books just yet )

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