*迂 回 CIRCUITOUS*

FROM Friedbeef’s Teach

        In our fast paced world of email, and RSS feeds, sometimes it’s
 best to just slow down and read a good book…but if you’re unwilling
 to shell out big bucks for the latest bestseller - try out these great 
resources, and read to your hearts content!

 1.Find Popular Public Domain Works With The Gutenberg 
   Project Top 100 List 

        This site is the oldest producer of free ebooks on the Internet.  
Their collection, pieced together by thousands of volunteers, now
 amount to over 20,000 works which have fallen into public domain.  
With great numbers however, comes the headache of picking true 
literary gems from the fodder - That’s why this Top 100 page is so 
valuable.

2. Exchange Used Books With BookMooch
        
       Want a real physical book for a change?  BookMooch is a 
community for exchanging used books.  Under a points system, it lets 
you give away books you no longer need in exchange for books you 
really want. 

3.Get Technical Books With ebookspyder

      This site specializes in technical books ranging anywhere from 
C# to AJAX. Many commercial works can be found here though.  This 
makes the legality of this particular site questionable… but we of 
course assume you own these books before you download them

4. Read the Classics Online with Google Book Search

       This service has been giving Google a fair bit of copyright 
headaches, but has moved forward quite well in spite of the 
circumstances.  It comes with a book-like interface which many people 
like - I am unfortunately not one of them. Maybe it’s just me, but I 
like to download my books rather than read it of a website. If you’re 
going to use this service, select ‘full view books’ under the options page
for best effect.

5. Download Plain Text Novels With Dwalin

        This is as basic as it gets, and consists of an open directory with
 plain text files for download.  Don’t be fooled.  Their library is 
comprehensive, and plain text would be the most portable file 
format around.  

6. Find Specialized IT Books With FreeComputerBooks.com 

        I think the name of the site says it all.  What I like about this site
 is that all their books are very specifically tagged so you can zoom 
down on whatever topic you want very quickly. 

7. Get Someone to Read Books to You at Librivox 

       Too lazy to read?  Get Librivox to read it to you!  These guys are 
undertaking a collaborative project and working with volunteers to make 
all books in the public domain available, for free, in audio format on the 
Internet.  They also offer podcasts for their recent work too, so you can 
get books on your MP3 player with a snap of your fingers.  

8. Skip the Book and Get Free Study Notes with CliffsNotes 

       Yes - CliffsNotes, the all time favorite resource for literary study 
guides, are now GIVING away their a lot of their literary material.  A 
truly excellent resource if you’re cramming for a test. 

9. Save Money on Textbooks With WikiBooks 

      WikiBooks is yet another awesome project by the Jimmy Wales 
and the WikiMedia team (The same guys who brought you Wikipedia) 
with a mission to create a free collection of open-content textbooks 
that anyone can edit.  They currently have more than 25,000 books
 on a variety of topics, and can rival many public libraries.  One thing 
to be wary off is that the books can be edited, defaced, or maliciously 
changed by anyone.  While this same possibility is true for Wikipedia, 
their large base of editors and volunteers ensure that any bad 
behavior is kept in check.  This project would have a much smaller 
base, and thus may not correct mistakes as fast.

10. Receive Books In Small Parts via Email Using DailyLit 

       No time to read?  DailyLit breaks down big books into smaller 
chunks so you can read it in palatable parts.

Why read books by email?