It is nice to own some books. But not too many books, if that is even possible. I guess it is because Linda and I have had a former stuff reduction in which we trucked boxes and boxes of books to sell at used book stores. It was kind of sad.
In the end we didn't mind unloading all that weight, and we made good money selling our little library. Now our minimalist collection could fit on half a small book shelf. Since our book purge we have been using public libraries extensively, and with joy.
In my recent post Free Knowledge I wrote about finding our new public library upon arrival at our new home. It generated an excellent discussion in the comments about accessing literature and other resources for free. Since then I came across a great addition to these suggestions.
I discovered a site that offers the post 100 Free Places To Download Literature. It includes resources like Project Gutenberg (49,000 free books) for classics, and Banned Books for writings someone thinks you shouldn't read.
Click here to see the other 98 free book sites that include places to access textbooks, mysteries, novels, and books on science, religion, philosophy and more.
There you will also find a post on 20 Sites to download free audiobooks.
It is nice to have a small collection of books. Any more than that and one can forget about buying anything and get the rest online or at the public library.
Happy free reading!
Thank you so much for this post! Like you, I have done several purges of my HUGE book collection, and now have one small bookcase of books I truly love and read again and again. I am very fortunate to have several excellent public libraries near where I live, and those libraries have interlibrary loan services available. However, sometimes the books I'm looking for are lost or out of print, and that's where Project Gutenberg and the other websites are so wonderful. I now have literally thousands of books at my fingertips, and I don't have to worry about storage and upkeep (nor do I have to drive anywhere to pick up books.l) This is a real win-win - for once, my tax dollars are being put to excellent use!
ReplyDeleteSophie
It is an exciting time to be alive for thinkers and readers.
DeleteThank You!
ReplyDeleteYou are most welcome. If we were closer I would read the books to you myself. I already do so for Linda, and the more the merrier.
DeleteReading is becoming so taxing that I don't really try much anymore. Sitting with You and Linda and being read to sounds wonderful!
DeleteWhat a treasure trove! Thanks for researching and posting this. I visited most the links you provide. I went to the "Banned Books link first, smile. Wow, so much available and for FREE! Yay! I'll be book marking this post.
ReplyDelete