» Free Books for Everyone

Lots of Free Books for Everyone

What have Sherlock Holmes, Jemima Puddleduck, Peter Pan, David Copperfield and Huckleberry Finn got in common?

If, like me you’re an avid reader you’ll know that the price of filling your bookshelf with new acquisitions is high. Even with low prices from Amazon. eBay and similar sites, you can spend a small fortune feeding your habit. Public libraries are okay, especially for the latest offering from a best selling author if you’re willing to join a waiting list to read it for free.

But maybe you’d prefer a well written classic, or you want to keep the book, to pull it from your bookshelf and read it again, free of the time constraints imposed by a library? Or maybe you’d like your children or grandchildren to enjoy stories that have been loved by the generations before them?

Discover the world of public domain books: a virtual bookshelf of free books that you can download. A free leisure activity with such a range of titles there’s bound to be something to appeal to everyone.

Books enter the public domain when their copyright has expired. This is a slightly complicated procedure that depends on when the author died and where the edition was published, but any website offering public domain books will ensure they don’t infringe the copyright of their own country.

So the free books they offer you to fill your bookshelf aren’t recent titles, but the catalogs are full of classic authors such as Jane Austen, Mark Twain, Beatrix Potter, the Bronte sisters. G.K Chesterton, Arthur Conan Doyle, Charles Dickens and many more, together with masses of non-fiction books and even some magazines and periodicals.

Imagine giving your child or grandchild classic children’s books and fairy tales for free in a format where it doesn’t matter if they get tattered in the process of reading because you can always print another copy…browsing early editions of The Strand magazine…reading 19th century recipes or gardening features…learning about history from contemporary accounts (it may inspire you to write your own novel).

Enjoy free leisure activities with your children or grandchildren where they can draw their own illustrations for the stories they’re reading – without damaging an expensive book.

Some books have been converted to audio so they could be a good gift idea for an older person who struggles with reading print. But as you print it yourself you can choose the type size and give back the joy of reading as well. And for children it’s another free leisure activity where they can personally illustrate the book for their grandparents – what a unique present it could be!

It isn’t just about books: many government publications automatically go into the public domain and there are lots of photographs and images, including NASA space photographs, historical maps of America and contemporary photographs that the photographer has offered for free use. Ever wondered why so many people use that iconic NASA image of earth? – it’s free, that’s why!

I’m a newcomer to these free ‘bookshelves’ but I’ll definitely be making up for my late arrival. And I’ll also be taking up the opportunity to give something back, by transcribing pages. An excellent way to get to know new classic authors.

Try these websites:

Project Gutenberg www.gutenberg.org has over 25,000 books online, sorted into fiction and non-fiction categories including children’s books, crime, pirates, American fiction best sellers 1900 – 1922, short stories, humor, and many more. It takes a little navigating but spend some time on the site and you’ll find many treasures. It has lots of early books and could be an ideal place to do research for your own novel.

Literature.org www.literature.org delivers its books direct on the screen, you don’t have to download them first. They’re presented in an easy to read typeface but there isn’t as wide a range of subjects and titles. You will find classics from the Bronte sisters, Louisa M Alcott, Edgar Rice Burroughs, Lewis Carroll, Bram Stoker, Mark Twain and Jules Verne amongst others.

Pictures you can download and use can be found at www.publicdomainpictures.net and www.public-domain-photos.com and www.burningwell.org while www.photographiclibraries.com is a directory of websites where you can find free images.

GRIN is a source of pictures from NASA, but deserves its own mention. http://grin.hq.nasa.gov has awesome photographs including a hole in the ozone layer over Antarctica, the first picture of the earth and moon together, a 3D view on Mars, and montages of the Saturn system and the full solar system. This site could be the start of an interest in space and astronomy, or provide some amazing prints for your walls or personalized greeting cards. NASA’s main website www.nasa.gov has lots of information about space and science.

Get more ideas for free leisure activities in Cheap and Cheerful Activities for a Wet Weekend