%20which%20rather%20impressively%20holds%20the%20title%20for%20being%20the%20oldest%20digital%20library.%20Started%20by%20a%20gentleman%20called%20Michael%20Hart%20back%20in%201971,%20the%20website%20is%20a%20volunteer%20effort%20which%20is%20designed%20to%20archive%20and%20distribute%20cultural%20works%20which%20have%20fallen%20in%20to%20the%20public%20domain.%20%20The%20venture%20began%20when%20Michael%20was%20given%20an...){kind=link}
Free Books Online With Project Gutenberg
I was recently introduced to the website Project Gutenberg (www.projectgutenburg.org)
which rather impressively holds the title for being the oldest digital library. Started by a gentleman called Michael Hart back in 1971, the website is a volunteer effort which is designed to archive and distribute cultural works which have fallen in to the public domain. The venture began when Michael was given an account with $100,000,000 worth of computer time by the operators of a mainframe at the medical research lab at the University of Illinois. This gift was a chance occurrence which can be attributed to his good friendship with two of the four men operating the machine, along with being simply in the right place at the right time.Unsure what to do with this free time, he announced that the best way he could use this gift would be to begin archiving material stored in hard copy and distributing so that anyone could have easy access to it. He then proceeded to type up the Declaration of Independence with the intention of eventually having 10,000 of the most consulted books available to the public by the end of the 20th century.
Currently, the site contains more than 32,000 items in the archive; the majority of these texts are books that have fallen out of copyright. As the site/organisation is situated in North America, it abides by US copyright law that says any article of copyrighted work that was in print before 1923 automatically is in the public domain. In addition there exist instances where books were published and didn't plainly identify their copyrighted claim or renew it and are now available freely and legally in the public domain as a result. To help matter along, several copyright owners have actually given their blessing for the work to be replicated and circulated for free on the site, despite still being within copyright.
The great thing about Project Gutenberg is you are given immediate access to a massive resource of cultural works and it doesn't cost a penny. If for example you get an urge to reading "The Island of Dr. Moreau" at the weekend; since this book was written around 1896 it is out of copyright and as such it is public domain and free to download and distribute. If you head over to www.projectgutenburg.org and search for H. G. Wells you can view almost all of his work instantaneously if you should wish.
There is even a choice of several formats you wish to download in, these include a standard text file or something a little more complex like Adobe Acrobat/HTML files that have features like indentation, page numbering, headings and other formatting features making printing the books off a lot more interesting. Files can even be downloaded to a Pocket PC or mobile phone and even thought I would struggle to think of something less fun than reading "War and Peace" on my mobile, it could also be done on a PowerPC making it a feasible alternative to reading a physical book if you are on the move a lot.
As these books comprise of standard text characters they are incredibly quick to download; for example, I downloaded "Othello" by William Shakespeare and it took me just 9 seconds on my normal broadband connection. Granted the speed of the download is irrelevant when you consider how much time is required to read it, but I nevertheless find it remarkable that an whole book is quicker to download than a high res image.
Project Gutenberg is exciting to me as it represents the fact that we have now reached a stage of development whereby no matter how much time passes, the great works of both today and yesterday will never be lost. As a society, we now enjoy a greater access to free, uncensored and good quality material, and long should this remain.
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