I knew that Google has been digitizing books, but I didn’t know how many of them there were, or that Microsoft and others have gotten into the act. I stumbled across a couple of interesting links, and then, well, got into a serious mode of downloading nearly everything I could find. (Hey, they’re free!)
I’ve downloaded about 10 gigs so far, and it’s pretty obvious that when I can get the money up, I’m going to have to invest in a terabyte hard drive. Holy crap are there are a lot of books!
Ah. The books I selected from those prominently displayed at the Google books link (randomized, I know) were all outside of the public domain (Wittgenstein’s Tractatus popped up on the first page for me, so I specifically checked it out, thinking it would be in the public domain. Well, of course, the Tractatus is, even the particular translation in the one I clicked on is, but I guess the edition/printing they’ve digitized is not.).
Is there any way to get some kind of listing of the free books Google has, or restrict searches to them, or such?
You wouldn’t happen to be in the UK, would you? There’s some kind of funky copyright law issues for folks living there. Otherwise, I don’t know any filter (though I suppose there’s got to be one) to sort out what’s public domain and what’s not.
The University of Oregon Asian collection (or about 10% of it) has been digitized. You can find it here. wanted to read Mao’s red book in either English or Chinese, they have it. Quite a few interesting out of book prints from old China hands and travellers. Some really good books on Tibet from 80-100 years ago (See Sir Charles Bell), etc.
Go to the Google book search. Search for whatever you’re looking for. Right under the search bar on the results page, there’s a line of links that say “All Books, Limited Preview, Full View”. Click on the one that says “full view” and it will take you to results with the entire book available. I’m not sure if the book you’re looking for is available or not, since there are five pages of results that mention Wittgenstein and Tractacus.
I’ve been looking at a lot of fashion magazines from the 19th century, and I’ve been saving knitting, sewing and crochet patterns to my Google Notebook. Unfortunately, all the magazines come with the entire year’s worth of issues, so the file sizes are between 50 and 70 megabytes, which is more than my dial-up can handle. I’ve tried to download some books around 5 MB, but even those time out. Google has no patience for anybody without high-speed internet. It’s very frustrating.
Ah, thanks. The Tractatus was just an example which caught my eye (it’s readily available elsewhere electronically, such as at Project Gutenberg, though just as plain text), but it does appear Google has no free version of it available.
Being a published, but unroyaltied, author, it’s not that I would endorse a violation of American copyright laws, but Australia’s laws are different and assume that, fifty years after the holder’s death, said has stopped caring that his/her decendents receive royalties and should go out and get a REAL job. http://gutenberg.net.au/
Which I would agree. Ferchrissake, the long future I am DEAD! Get a real job and quit suckling at a teat you never knew!
I can’t read a book on a computer. I have to have it in my hand. I love the way books feel, the way new ones smell. I just can’t read a book on a computer. It feels like an abomination.