How To Find Free Downloadable Books
Google Book Search is a very useful tool for finding books according to keyword search. The Google database contains a massive library of scanned books. You can also use Google Book Search to find and download books in the public domain.
Only books in the public domain can be downloaded. Books with intact copyright are available only for preview. The amount of book that can be previewed varies from citation only to the entire book, depending on the agreement Google has with the publisher.
Only books in the public domain can be downloaded. Books with intact copyright are available only for preview. The amount of book that can be previewed varies from citation only to the entire book, depending on the agreement Google has with the publisher.
Difficulty: Easy
Time Required: Two minutes or less
Here's How:
- Go to Google Book Search.
- Select the "Advanced Book Search" link.
- Under Search: choose the radio button marked Full view only. This doesn't guarantee you'll find a public domain book, but it significantly improves your chances.
- Enter a search phrase. The search phrase can be one or many words, and it can be the name of authors, keywords within a book, or keywords from the title of a book. You'll increase your chances if you enter your search phrase in the "with at least one of the words" box.
- Press the "Google Search" button.
- Your results page appears with a list of books that you can view. Click on a book to look inside that book.
- Some of these books may still be under copyright. If the book is public domain, you will see a Download button on the right side of the browser window.
- Click on the Download button to download a PDF of the book.
- You may read the book on your desktop or print it. Be sure to read Google's usage guideline requests. Google Book Search is on the Web at http://books.google.com.
What You Need:
- A Computer Connected to the Internet
- A Web Browser
- Adobe Acrobat Reader
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- Catalog your books with Goodreads
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Read Magazines At Google Book Search
Google began to include magazines to their book search engine. The search is currently limited to selected magazines with plans to expand it in the future. One could probably assume that only older or outdated magazines have been scanned by the Google Book Search team. This is apparently not the case. Several December 08 issues of popular magazines are already accessible by the book search.Some examples are issues of Maximum PC, Men’s Health or Mac Life.
Google does not provide a list of all available magazines which means that users need to use the search to find magazines of interest. One of the best methods to find current issues is to limit the type to magazines and the year to 2008 which can both be done in the advanced search options.
Each magazine can be read right in the web browser. It is possible to scroll through the magazine, jump to a page and to zoom in or out. There is also an option to view the magazine in fullscreen and to display two pages next to each other which is great for users with widescreen monitors.
The quality of the scans is quite good. It is interesting to note that zooming will have no impact on the text quality. Google Books seems to use a method to sharpen text after zooming in or out.
Google needs to work on the usability of Google Book Search. The most important function that is missing is an overview of all available magazines.
Source: http://www.ghacks.net/2008/12/12/read-magazines-at-google-book-search/
