The Best 6 Sites to Get Free Ebooks

Oct. 5th, 2008 By Aibek

You might be surprised by how many good free ebook sites there are out there. Nowadays, you can find pretty much any popular (and not) book online. You just need to know where to look. Here are my favorite free ebook sites.

1. Ebook Search Engines

These are simple Google-like search engines but for PDF files. I usually start my ebook search using one of these sites. Type in the title of the document or book name you’re looking for and click on the search button. Find your book in the search results and click on download link. Done.

Free PDF Ebooks Search Engine

So far my top 3 ebook search sites are:

 

2. Scribd.com

In case you have never heard of this one before, the simplest way to define Scribd would be to call it Youtube for documents. People can upload whatever text documents they want and easily share them with others.

Scribd - Free Ebook Sharing and Download Site

You’ll find lots and lots of free ebooks here. You only need to know what to look for. For instance try searching for George Orwell, Leo Tolstoi, etc.

And obviously it gets copyrighted ebooks much like YouTube gets copyrighted videos. I am not sure if they are doing anything to deal with them, but the fact is there are plenty of them on Scribd.

Oh and as we have mentioned before, Scribd is also an excellent resource for free document templates.

3. Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg (aka PG) has the largest collection of public domain books. These are the books that out of copyright and available for anyone to use for any purpose. Lots of books from the world’s greatest fiction authors such as Dickens, Joyce, Shakespeare, Mark Twain, Anton Chekov and Edgar Allan Poe fall into this category.

This site is the oldest producer of free ebooks on the Internet. PG is an extremely popular site and now has over 20,000 works. If you’re not sure where to start check out their Top 100 page.

free ebook downloads

4. Free Ebooks For Your iPod, PDA, Smartphone, Blackberry etc.

For those of you who like to have ebooks on their portabe device we got some sites as well. Below are what I believe the best websites for books that can be read on mobile devices.

For iPhone users in particular there is a website called TextOnPhne. It’s a great ebook site that comes with its own ebook reader app. There are over 30,000 free books for your Apple device. Check out the demo video here.

5. Free Tech Ebooks

These sites are mainly for tech books, covering everything from computer science, engineering and mathematics to programming and web development.

 

(Bonus) DailyLit

DailyLit is a bit different from the rest but I really like what they’re doing there. DailyLit can deliver a small excerpt from the book of your choice to your email on a daily basis. One excerpt per day, and so untill the book is finished.

The reason it wroks so well is that it only takes around 3-5 minutes to read each excerpt. If you feel like reading more you can request a next excerpt with a click of a button.

DailyLit- free ebook site

While more than a half of all books cost about $4.95 per book others are free. There are plenty of good titles among the free ones as well, some of my favorites include My Life and Work (by Henry Ford), Siddhartha (by Herman Hesse) and Random Reminiscences of Men and Events (by John D. Rockefeller). Check it out.

Are you aware of any other cool websites for ebooks? Share them in comments.

(By) Aibek, the guy behind MakeUseOf.com.

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62 Comments Add Comment
2008-10-05 18:28:47
Matt McNally

What about readprint.com?

2008-10-05 22:39:53
nutty prof

I’d like to point out one more ebookshare.net

2008-10-05 23:26:54
Ed Hornish
Subscribed to comments via email

Looking for free (e)magazines instead of books? Zinio is doing a free, green giveaway for one year subscriptions. http://www.goreadgreen.com

2008-10-05 23:57:28
Makarand

This is a great list, there is a site http://www.esnips.com, which can be added to this wonderful list

2008-10-06 00:02:54

You said 6. So there’s no bonus. A bonus would be 7.

2009-05-21 17:36:41
Smartypants

Stop being such a wierdo!

2008-10-06 00:33:11
Osman Pirci
Subscribed to comments via email

Thoses are from Istanbul :) to add the list.

flazx.com
knowfree.net
ebookee.com
oebook.com
ebook.laku-abis.com

2008-10-06 02:02:47
2008-10-06 02:44:35
Jan Newmarch

Form Charles Wright who writes computer articles for The Age newspaper in Melbourne, Australia, some commercial sellers of ebooks:
http://ebookmall.com/
http://booksonboard.com/
http://ebooks.com/

2008-10-06 03:47:27

Free great physics textbook:

Motion Mountain
http://www.motionmountain.net/

2008-10-06 03:54:42

I think people already know…

2009-03-19 01:49:05
Marsha

Why would say “I think people already know.” I didn’t know..I find this website very helpful.

2008-10-06 04:49:08

Thank you for the great list, another addition to where to get these free e-books: http://book.populair.eu

2008-10-06 04:51:03
Roger Mathura

Great article, and great links. Will check out your other lists.
Thanks.

2008-10-06 09:09:25
Priya

Hey,

Thanks a lot for this info.

http://www.pdfchm.com
This site has a big collection of free ebooks. Can download it by becoming a member. The membership is also free.

2008-10-06 09:45:03
Ali

My comment is: Thank you a ton. Great compilation of resources.

2008-10-06 09:47:26
Hellboy
Subscribed to comments via email

Ebooks for portable device, the BEST website is easily: http://www.wattpad.com. Its exclusively for mobile device.

2008-10-06 10:02:16
bob

netbks.com GREAT site.

2008-10-06 13:50:55

Thanks for including DailyLit in your list!

I wanted to point out that more than half of our books are free. Currently we have 700+ free books with more added regularly.

We also offer forums and other features for our readers so that they can talk about books and reading. That element of community is missing from many ebook sites, but we think reading is more fun when you have the ability to share the experience with others.

Thanks again for collecting these resources–it’s much appreciated by ebook fans.

Maggie
DailyLit

2008-12-30 17:15:49
Jimmy
Subscribed to comments via email

DailyLit is a great site and I am delighted to be a member.

2008-10-06 18:36:43
khendar
Subscribed to comments via email

http://manybooks.net Contains the same set of books as the Project Gutenburg site but in a much friendlier format.

2008-10-07 09:07:58

Thanks for the great list. Another good website to check out for recreational reading is http://www.book-bot.com/. You can read thousands of books for free and it saves your progress, so that you can pick up right where you left off!

2008-10-08 07:53:59
Etl

What about baen publishing? http://www.baen.com …they have tons of free inprint books in their free library.

/Erik

2008-10-13 07:55:04
Jay

Librivox is a great resource for the audio version of books no longer under copyright… pop some literature into the digital audio device of choice and enjoy.

2008-10-18 14:25:54

Sell inventions, sell patents and sell ideas - Ever
wondered - how can I sell my ideas and how can
I sell my inventions or how can I sell my patent.

2008-10-21 13:44:06
Subscribed to comments via email

Free ebooks and information, check out http://www.free-ebooks-canada.com many can be re-sold or given away.THX

2008-10-27 05:44:19
Josh

Witguides.com has heaps of free ebooks that you can download
without having to sign up or do anythig. Plenty of the latest title too.

Go To -

Nice list by the way

2008-11-23 05:41:00
sudarshan

wher can i find this ebook for free…

“Multiplayer Gaming and Engine Coding for the Torque Game Engine”

please reply meeeee…….to my mail id

sudaleo@gmail.com

2008-11-23 14:27:42
Subscribed to comments via email

Hi Everyone!
Tons of similar informaion in form of ebooks, software, scripts, templates and many more are also available free on our website http://www.freeyourself.biz

Regards,
Saroj Dhongadi
http://www.freeyourself.biz

2008-12-02 13:00:11

WebLiterature - http://www.webliterature.net - should fit the bill since Project Gutenberg-type classic literature books are also under consideration. WebLiterature brings forward a huge library, all classics, to read for free of cost.

2008-12-18 18:23:03

Offers an ebook directory!

2008-12-21 07:00:22

Here is my site, a daily growing list of categorized ebooks, lecture notes, and documents:
http://www.e-booksdirectory.com/

2008-12-27 01:04:15

I have some eBooks collection on Metaphysics:
http://your-guidance.com/search/label/Free%20eBooks

I have been using Scribd.com and I think it’s good one. Thanks for listing those sites. I’m checking on them. :)

2008-12-31 13:25:06

http://www.ebook-look.com
the ebook library, over 10,000 e-books are waiting for your reading.

2009-01-01 15:36:29
jaide

WOW all of these sites recommended are incredible! thanks to all that contributed, it makes me want to read and expand my mind to gain infinite knowledge!

2009-01-08 10:06:03
Subscribed to comments via email

An ebook search site that searches over 150 quality free or open source ebook sites many of them listed in the comments above with advanced options like torrent links, direct doenload, rapidshare links, online reading, format selection available.

2009-02-28 10:49:17
2009-01-16 08:12:58
Subscribed to comments via email

Another interesting site especially for those still in college: http://www.bookbook.com
On the site short & concise versions of theories in the areas of business, marketing, strategy, engineering and IT are provided free for download. No need to provide any personal details.

2009-01-17 17:03:35
quacki
Subscribed to comments via email

you have a typo in your link I guess :)

2009-01-19 08:41:48
Subscribed to comments via email

You’re right. It is supposed to be http://www.bookboon.com. Thanks for making me aware :)

(Comments wont nest below this level)
2009-01-20 17:06:17
2009-01-30 21:42:53
Subscribed to comments via email

Great list of ebook sites. With the failing economy it is becoming hard to find the extra money to get books and now here are sites where people can read for free. This is wonderful.

2009-02-25 18:01:08
Lea
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Ebook lovers please come to my site http://4free.site90.net, and get free ebooks there.

2009-02-25 18:39:32
Jimmy
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Found this site to be disappointing.
In fairness, it seems to be a work in progress, with a long, long way to go.
No threat to the superb DailyLit at the moment, but I wish you luck in what you are trying to do.
Although the ebook sites are mostly free, standards are quite high and it will take a very good site to compete.

2009-03-03 22:41:58
vinod

Please advise me where i can find the ebook ISBN 0131471228 titled “Probability Statistics and Random Processes for Electrical Engineers”. Even 2nd Edition is fine. Please guide.

2009-03-09 17:47:41
Jessi

Ebookhood.com is a really great websit also.

2009-03-12 09:26:43

we have got the best site providing free ebooks……

2009-03-12 19:44:10
Jimmy
Subscribed to comments via email

2 Autobiographies leaves you trailing a long way behind the best.
If I miscalculated please let me know, but that was all that I saw in the autobiographies section.
That would be disappointing.

2009-03-16 15:56:58
Subscribed to comments via email

Great list, it’s exactly what I was looking for. Thanks! I appreciate it. :)

2009-03-28 15:27:38
Subscribed to comments via email

Thank you for sharing knowledge

2009-04-01 23:00:25

Hello friends..!!

I m going to Introducing Best Ebooks Portal i had Visited

since 2 years. 5600+ Ebooks at One Place.

one main thing is Design and Categorization of Ebooks is

Excellent.

2009-04-02 07:31:44

thanks for the information, it’s hard to find good quality of ebook

2009-04-29 18:18:21
moneydm

http://ebookw.net
Free download ebook

2009-05-24 10:41:30

here in this site u can get lot of free ebooks direct download links

2009-05-24 18:50:07
Jimmy
Subscribed to comments via email

Where?

2009-06-03 13:27:38
rabi

U can get free e-books here
http://freeebooks.tk

2009-06-10 07:26:31
Piyush
Subscribed to comments via email

east or west
http://www.gigapedia.com
is the BEST

2009-06-11 08:13:40

eBooks on Quotes for Life, Love, Motivation and Inspiration):

http://memorablequotesbook.blogspot.com/

Enjoy. :)

2009-06-11 10:21:12
nikhilk369

getmag.co.cc | collections of ebooks | magazines

2009-06-21 11:36:32
freebookuser

Osman piri, the flazx.com you suggested is not a free ebook site.

2009-06-21 14:55:10
Osman Pirci
Subscribed to comments via email

freebookuser, why do you think that flazx.com is not a free book site? Can’t you download ebooks there? I just did ita minute ago!

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