Free Books on the Internet

Outside of a dog, a book is man's best friend.  Inside of a dog it's too dark to read.  --Groucho Marx

The best things in life are free.  While that may not necessarily be true, I've found that it usually doesn't hurt.  That being said, here is a (by no means comprehensive) list of places on the Internet to get FREE e-books.  If you have any additions for the page, please let me know.

General Directories

  • 2020ok is a directory of free e-books available on the web.
  • Ibiblio.org is just an awesome website.  There's a lot of cool things you can find by poking around, including a free e-book directory.
  • The Online Books Page at the University of Pennsylvania is a very extensive database of books in the public domain (and some not!) that are available free of charge on the Internet.

Books in the Public Domain

  • Project Gutenberg is quite possibly the most famous database to find free versions of books in the public domain.
  • The Internet Classics Archive is a collection of true classics (nothing after 1300 A.C.E. here, folks) in English translation.
  • Abbaci Books provides public domain books alongside contemporary reviews.
  • Bibliomania also has a collection of public domain books.  You can't download them but have to read them on the website.
  • The University of Virginia eText Center has a large collection of public domain books for free download.  They are only compatible with Microsoft Reader or Palm Reader, however.
  • ManyBooks.net contains books both in the public domain and not.
  • The Coradella Collegiate Bookshelf offers a huge library of 299 classic books in PDF for $29.99... or, you can sign up to get their monthly free e-book e-mailed to you. Their e-books are a personal favorite of mine for their high readability.
  • The Literature Network has public domain books available to read on their website.
  • Planet PDF has public domain books available for download.
  • The Conscious Living Foundation has a large collection of public domain e-books to download in a variety of formats.  There are some here you can't find anywhere else (such as the first few Nancy Drews or Hardy Boys).
  • The Open Library has a few public domain books available.
  • The Classical Authors Directory has not only books available, but information on the authors, suggested lesson plans, and lots of other stuff.  This is a great reference for teachers and students!
  • If you don't have time to read a book cover to cover, DailyLit has the solution. Read classic books in serial form in your e-mail or RSS feed, picking how often you receive new installments.
  • Explorion houses classic travel books.
  • The Literature of the Fantastic library is maintained by fantasy authors Debra Doyle and James D. MacDonald.  There, you can read a number of classic fantasy works that have influenced and helped shape the genre to this day.
  • Blakeney Manor has the full text of every single Scarlet Pimpernel book by Baroness Orczy and most of her other writing too. It's also just a very good resource for anyone interested in the fictional figure.
  • The Complete Works of Charles Darwin, fully searchable.

Books Not in the Public Domain

  • ManyBooks.net contains a lot of books in the public domain, but also a selection of books published under a Creative Commons License.
  • Globusz Publishing provides new authors' works for free to read online or download.

Fiction Books

  • Fictionwise.com has a free e-book section.  You have to register with them and "buy" the books, but they are 100% completely free.  Also, they add new titles every so often so sign up for their newsletter or keep checking back.
  • The Baen Free Library has a pretty nice speculative fiction collection from Baen Book's catalog, both current and out-of-print, available in a number of formats for free.
  • SpecFicWorld has a number of speculative fiction anthologies and magazine issues available for download at their website.
  • Vertigo Comics allows you to preview the first issue of some of their titles (look for the "#1" symbol) as a free PDF download.
  • PodioBooks lets you listen and download audio books, provided by the author, for free.  You must register to access the files.  If you decide to donate, the author does get half of the donation.
  • The Earthbound science fiction series is available for download at the author's website.
  • Angie Hulme has three of her books available for download at her website: Honest Secrets, a book of poetry; Virtually Real, a science fiction novel; and Disbelief, a dark fantasy novel.
  • At eNovel.org, Jonathan Dunn published three serial novels.  All are available for full download.
  • Most of Cory Doctorow's published works are available for free download in a variety of formats at his website under a Creative Commons License, including his most famous, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom.
  • Andrew Starling has three novels available for download and reading at his website.
  • Author J. A. Konrath has two of his earlier unpublished novels available to download in a variety of formats at his website (on the right hand side).
  • Paperback Writer, publishing under Lynn Viehl and S. L. Viehl,  has a number of shorts, novellas, and one novel for download at her blog, as well as a long list of links to original fiction by various writers who answered her e-book challenge (on the right hand side).
  • Peter Watts has three SF novels and a number of shorts to read/download.
  • Will Shetterly has published two of his books online, Dogland and The Gospel Of the Knife, under a Creative Commons License at his and wife Emma Bull's blog, Qwerty Ranch.
  • A Dr Who fan?  Well, you can read some of the novels online at the BBC.
  • Lynne Cheney's first book Sisters can be downloaded at whitehouse.org.
  • Atlanta Nights by "Travis Tee" is actually a really awful horrible book written by a group of science fiction writers to expose PublishAmerica for the vanity press it is.  Go read it if you can stand to!

Non-fiction Books

More information about Creative Commons Licenses can be found here.

Also, a number of public library systems have an e-book library where you can check out audio books and e-books from your computer.  Do some research and see what your local library has to offer!

Last updated 15 February 2008

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