Free Kindle Book book
December 21, 2011 11:48 AM Subscribe
When I had the first generation Kindle I had an e-book that was basically an index of free e-books that were in the public domain, and the title of each book was actually a hyper-link that would let you download a copy of said book right to the home screen of the Kindle. Does anyone know where I could get another copy of that book?
That Kindle has gone to the digital graveyard and I have replaced the device but have not been able to find a replacement copy to that book. I would have sworn that the book came from Project Gutenberg but I have checked their site and can not seem to find it again.
Does anyone know what I'm talking about?
Does anyone know where I can get a copy of this book?
If it was a Project Gutenberg thing but they are no longer offering that e-book does anyone have a copy that they could share with me ?
Bonus question: where do you go for hassle free, zero-complexity free ebooks? This is a Christmas gift for my father-in-law please help me impress.
That Kindle has gone to the digital graveyard and I have replaced the device but have not been able to find a replacement copy to that book. I would have sworn that the book came from Project Gutenberg but I have checked their site and can not seem to find it again.
Does anyone know what I'm talking about?
Does anyone know where I can get a copy of this book?
If it was a Project Gutenberg thing but they are no longer offering that e-book does anyone have a copy that they could share with me ?
Bonus question: where do you go for hassle free, zero-complexity free ebooks? This is a Christmas gift for my father-in-law please help me impress.
Best answer: You're thinking of the Magic Catalog (although I have no idea how up-to-date it is anymore).
posted by theodolite at 11:58 AM on December 21, 2011 [10 favorites]
posted by theodolite at 11:58 AM on December 21, 2011 [10 favorites]
Amazon has a free ebook page.
You can also sort Kindle books by price point.
And on the main Kindle book page, there is a "Top 100 Free" tab on the right (in the Best Sellers box).
posted by rabbitrabbit at 12:13 PM on December 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
You can also sort Kindle books by price point.
And on the main Kindle book page, there is a "Top 100 Free" tab on the right (in the Best Sellers box).
posted by rabbitrabbit at 12:13 PM on December 21, 2011 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: YAY theodolite!!! That's it!
I just downloaded it and while it looks like they have made some changes from the version that I had (like eliminating the very helpful table of contents and making ) it still does what it's supposed to do.
Thank you to introp and rabbitrabbit as well. While I think that my Father-in-law probably won't want to learn a new software like Calibre that's something I've been meaning to check out for myself and I will definitely be sharing those Amazon links.
Even though we solved the main question I am still interested in hearing about where you guys get free ebooks.
posted by Bango Skank at 12:27 PM on December 21, 2011
I just downloaded it and while it looks like they have made some changes from the version that I had (like eliminating the very helpful table of contents and making ) it still does what it's supposed to do.
Thank you to introp and rabbitrabbit as well. While I think that my Father-in-law probably won't want to learn a new software like Calibre that's something I've been meaning to check out for myself and I will definitely be sharing those Amazon links.
Even though we solved the main question I am still interested in hearing about where you guys get free ebooks.
posted by Bango Skank at 12:27 PM on December 21, 2011
I don't know how Calibre plays with the Kindle
I use it frequently with a Kindle 3 and have no complaints.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 12:34 PM on December 21, 2011
I use it frequently with a Kindle 3 and have no complaints.
posted by Lentrohamsanin at 12:34 PM on December 21, 2011
@introp i use calibre with my 2nd gen kindle, it's great. i've also plugged in my mom's sony reader, my sister's nook and my sister-in-law's kindle fire, and they all worked just fine.
posted by sabh at 12:35 PM on December 21, 2011
posted by sabh at 12:35 PM on December 21, 2011
Free scifi - http://www.baen.com/library/books.asp
Another source of free books (lots of Cory Doctorow avalable, mainly older stuff though) - http://www.manybooks.net/
posted by KateViolet at 12:36 PM on December 21, 2011 [2 favorites]
Another source of free books (lots of Cory Doctorow avalable, mainly older stuff though) - http://www.manybooks.net/
posted by KateViolet at 12:36 PM on December 21, 2011 [2 favorites]
I want to thank the poster and the responder who led to my learning of the Magic Catalog. I used the link to download it to my iPad into iBooks and used it to find (via the iBooks search - who needs an index?) a book I wanted and then downloaded it. So easy! So fast! So many books!
posted by RichardS at 2:36 PM on December 21, 2011
posted by RichardS at 2:36 PM on December 21, 2011
Will the Magic Catalog work on the Kindle Fire?
posted by DWRoelands at 8:11 AM on December 22, 2011
posted by DWRoelands at 8:11 AM on December 22, 2011
Response by poster: I don't have a Kindle Fire so I'm really just guessing here but I can't imagine why it wouldn't work since it is basically just a collection of download links.
posted by Bango Skank at 12:49 PM on December 22, 2011
posted by Bango Skank at 12:49 PM on December 22, 2011
This thread is closed to new comments.
For free ebooks, I just open up Calibre (a wonderful open-source ebook reader/manager) and click the "get ebooks" button. Type in something like "hamlet" and click on the Price column. The free books will float to the top. Double-click the entry (whose cost will be a charming $0.00) and it'll just download the book straight away.
I don't know how Calibre plays with the Kindle, but it works just fine with my Nook Color. It simply stores all your ebooks (.html, .pdf, .epub, etc.) in a folder and when I plug in my Nook it shows which local books have been sync'ed to the Nook. I click any that I want to add to the Nook and one button press sends them over. (The Nook just shows up as a flash drive to Windows/Linux.)
posted by introp at 11:57 AM on December 21, 2011 [1 favorite]