# Scholarly Books Online **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 25, 2002, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scholarly-books-online/133857 "2002-10-25T17:30:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2002, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scholarly-books-online/133857/1 "2002-10-25T17:30:25Z")
I know there are some places where you can read books online, but they are usually fiction books. I was wondering, is there a website that has online scholarly books? I remember seeing some commercial for just such a site, I think it was propetial, or something that starts with a p. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2002, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scholarly-books-online/133857/2 "2002-10-25T20:02:19Z")
What do you mean by “scholarly” books? Like textbooks? Give us some titles. ---
**Author:** ![kniz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/c37758/32.png) [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2002, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scholarly-books-online/133857/3 "2002-10-25T22:17:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Meatros \* > I know there are some places where you can read books online, but they are usually \*\*\*fiction \*\*\* books. I believe the word I highlighted tells the story **DDG**. Here is a site that might help, it is called [**The Great Books Index**](http://books.mirror.org/gb.home.html). ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2002, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scholarly-books-online/133857/4 "2002-10-25T22:39:19Z")
I know it doesn’ t start with p, but q’s close … and I think I’ve seen commercials for [questia](http://www.questia.com), a self-described “online library” of books & journal articles. It’s subscription based, but there are a few books you can read for free, it appears. ---
**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2002, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scholarly-books-online/133857/5 "2002-10-26T00:02:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by kniz \* > **I believe the word I highlighted tells the story** Um, no, that’s not how I’m reading the OP. The OP says, “I know there are places you can go to read books online, **but** they are usually fiction books.” He’s not looking for Great Books, he’s looking for, I dunno, journals, encyclopedias, or textbooks? Something **non** -fiction. The Great Books list is fiction and non-fiction together. ---
**Author:** ![Peregrine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a6a055/32.png) [@Peregrine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peregrine)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2002, 5:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scholarly-books-online/133857/6 "2002-10-26T05:14:50Z")
[Perseus Digital Library](http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/) starts with a P, and is pretty darn scholarly besides. Some of it’s non-fiction. Also of interest might be [Project Gutenberg](http://www.gutenberg.net/), [The Online Books Page](http://digital.library.upenn.edu/books/lists.html) at UPenn, and [The Internet Public Library](http://www.ipl.org/div/books/index.html). ---
**Author:** ![Meatros](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b4bc9f/32.png) [@Meatros](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meatros)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2002, 1:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scholarly-books-online/133857/7 "2002-10-26T13:54:13Z")
Hmmm…Okay, I mean something akin to textbooks/scholarly articles. Originally I was looking for a just no-nonsense straight to the facts textbooks and scholarly papers type of site (ie, the history of the united states, the jim crowe laws were…). However, I now realize that books, such as Plato’s republic, would be interesting as well. Incidently, what type of books are those referred to as? I mean the bible is, by no means, a science/facts/no-nonsense type of textbook, but at the same time, it’s not a work of fiction (ok, some people would disagree). Nietche’s (sp?) books probably don’t fall under textbook type, only facts, either, yet they aren’t fiction. I suppose you could call them philosophical works, but is there anything broader that they could be called? Incidently, I think, the specific site I had heard about was nailed by panama (questia). ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2002, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/scholarly-books-online/133857/8 "2002-10-26T14:47:05Z")
[netLibrary](http://www.netlibrary.com/) is one to take a look at. It’s another subscription-based site, but you might want to check to see if your public library has a subscription.