As of 8/30/2006 [tag]Google[/tag] is now allowing you to download non-[tag]copyrighted[/tag] [tag]books[/tag] for free!

Picture of [tag]Google Book Search[/tag]:
googlebook

Google started a huge controversy when they first announced, to the world, they would be scanning books and making them available to the public. When [tag]Adam Smith[/tag] (the Google project manager for this venture) was questioned about whether or not publishers would want to do this he stated, “We think most [tag]publishers[/tag] and authors will choose to participate in the publisher program in order (to) introduce their work to countless readers around the world.”

Well, whether or not the publishing world is ready, Google has opened the floodgates by launching this first step. Although Google is not posting materials that are copyrighted or even currently being allowed to be printed by publishers, they have released the non-copyrighted or “out of copyright” materials to the public.

Using Google Book Search, you can find many extraordinary old books, such as:

* Ferriar’s The Bibliomania
* A futurist from 1881’s 1931: A Glance at the Twentieth Century
* Aesop’s Fables
* Shakespeare’s Hamlet
* Abbott’s Flatland
* Hugo’s Marion De Lorme
* Dunant’s Eine Erinnerung an Solferino
* Bolívar’s Proclamas
* Dante’s Inferno

Many of these books can be found in their original language as well as translations. These books are actual “scans” and you will see the original pages and fonts (print type set) as you view them.

You will need Adobe Reader to view and print the downloadable [tag]pdf[/tag] files.

Get [tag]Adobe[/tag] Reader:

get adobe reader[1]

College students everywhere will be returning purchased reprints of public domain books, bought for their classes, as they can read and print many of them from online. Too bad Google didn’t release them a couple of weeks ago it could have saved them the hassle! Happy readings!

                                        ~J. Pisano

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