Ebooks

Ebooks

Introduction

Lots of books are in the public domain and can be found online for free. You can download a book and read it on your computer or handheld device or you can print it out and bind it as a real book.

Sources

  • The Online Books Page is maintained by John Mark Ockerbloom at the University of Pennsylvania. This site currently has links to over 25,000 free books. Some are html. Most are plain text. You can search by Author, Title, or Subject.
    http://onlinebooks.library.upenn.edu/
  • Project Gutenberg Online Book Catalog is maintained by the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. You can search by author, title, or subject. They also have audio books, video, music, pictures and more.

    http://www.gutenberg.org/catalog/

  • ManyBooks is a web site for free books, as well as shorter works. They seem to have started by converting the books on the Project Gutenberg DVD into a variety of convenient formats. In addition, they have a pretty good catalog of science fiction novels and short stories whose authors have made them free online.

    http://manybooks.net/

Samples

Here for your enjoyment in no particular order are two dozen books I’ve read on my PDA. The files are available as a web page (HTML) for viewing in a web browser and in plain text (TXT) for converting to an ebook or for printing.

  • In Search of the Castaways by Jules Verne - HTML or TXT
  • The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas - HTML or TXT
  • The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum - HTML or TXT
  • Dorothy and the Wizard in Oz by L. Frank Baum - HTML or TXT
  • The Magic of Oz by L. Frank Baum - HTML or TXT
  • The Emerald City of Oz by L. Frank Baum - HTML or TXT
  • Following the Equator a Journey Around the World by Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens) - HTML or TXT
  • A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens) - HTML or TXT or PDB
  • Some Rambling Notes of an Idle Excursion by Mark Twain (Samuel L. Clemens) - HTML or TXT
  • The Lost World by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - HTML or TXT
  • The Surprising Adventures of Baron Munchausen by Rudolph Erich Raspe - HTML or TXT
  • Out of Time’s Abyss by Edgar Rice Burroughs - HTML or TXT
  • The People That Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs - HTML or TXT
  • The Land that Time Forgot by Edgar Rice Burroughs - HTML or TXT
  • A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs - HTML or TXT
  • Peter Pan (Peter and Wendy) by J. M. Barrie (James Matthew Barrie) - HTML or TXT
  • My Man Jeeves by P. G. Wodehouse - HTML or TXT
  • Piccadilly Jim by P.G. Wodehouse - HTML or TXT
  • The Adventures of Louis de Rougemont by Louis de Rougemont - HTML or TXT
  • In the South Seas by Robert Louis Stevenson - HTML or TXT
  • Wanderings Among South Sea Savages and in Borneo and the Philippines by H. Wilfrid Walker - HTML or TXT
  • Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert - HTML or TXT
  • A Conjurer’s Confessions by M. Robert-Houdin - HTML or TXT
  • The Moonstone by Wilkie Collins - HTML or TXT

Ebook Readers

I use DropBook to convert .txt files to .pdb files. Available for both Macintosh OSX and Windows.
http://www.ereader.com/dropbook/download

I use the eReader on my PDA. Available for Palm, Windows Mobile, Pocket PC, Symbian, Windows PC, and Macintosh OSX
http://www.ereader.com/product/browse/software

Book Printing and Binding

I like to print on half letter sheets of paper. This makes a book about the size of a paperback book. Here’s are the steps I use to print a book with Word.

  1. Open the .txt file with Word.
  2. Select All and set the Font to Times, Size to 10 pts.
  3. Set the Document Margins to Top: 1", Bottom: 1", Left: 1", Right: 1", Gutter: 0.
  4. Insert Page Numbers, Position at the Bottom of the Page (Footer), Alignment Center, uncheck Show Number on First Page.
  5. Set Page Setup to print on Paper Size: Half Letter (5 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.)
  6. In the Print dialog set Paper Handling to Print Odd Numbered Pages
  7. Use a paper cutter to cut standard letter size (8 1/2 x 11 inch) paper in half to 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches.
  8. Load printer with paper and print
  9. Turn the printed pages over right to left. The back of page 1 should be facing you with the top of the text that’s on the back down at the bottom of the page.
  10. Set Paper Handling in the Print dialog to Print Even Numbered Pages and print.

I use a 3 hole punch and put the pages in a small binder. I found a 3 ring address directory at Office Depot which works nicely. It’s made by Avenues. The part number is DA-3468-01. You can order it online from the AvenuesUSA.com website (http://avenuesusa.com/accessories.htm).

You can also bind a book by gluing or sewing the pages together. Here are two web sites which show the process.

  • Gluing
    http://www.persistenceunlimited.com/2006/03/fun-and-easy-how-to-guide-
    to-binding-your-own-paperback-books-at-homefast/
  • Sewing
    http://www.sff.net/people/Brook.West/bind/bindit.html

Jim Blodget

12/22/06

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