Read Full Books Online

Bartleby.com

With thousands of reading options, Bartleby.com calls itself "the preeminent Internet publisher of literature, reference and verse." Choose from complete collections like The Oxford Shakespeare, containing all of the Bard's plays and sonnets, and single works like Aesop's Fables. While many other sites offer public domain classics from authors like Agatha Christie and Herman Melville, Bartleby.com is unique in its focus on reference works, including:

• The Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern
• American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language
• The Columbia Guide to Standard American English
• Anatomy of the Human Body
• Etiquette by Emily Post
• The Columbia Gazetteer of North America

The combination of online resources makes Bartleby.com a great option for teachers, students, and those who are simply curious.

Project Gutenberg

Project Gutenberg is one of the most well-known places to read full books online. The majority of the site's offerings come from public domain works, older books for which the copyright has expired. For this reason, the site is heavy on the classics. However, Project Gutenberg also includes electronic versions of copyrighted books uploaded with the authors' permission. Just a few of the thousands of books available include:

• The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain
• Metamorphosis by Franz Kafka
• The Iliad by Homer
• Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
• The Notebooks of Leonardo Da Vinci

You can browse the online catalog to find new reading material, check out the list of popular downloads by title and author, or search for a specific book. If you're interested in downloading a large quantity of books, you may be interested in the site's compilation CDs and DVDs. Project Gutenberg is based in the United States and the freely available works are dependent on U.S. copyright and generally written in English. Online readers from other countries can visit affiliate and partner sites for local offerings.

Baen Free Library

The Baen Free Library offers titles from science fiction and fantasy publisher Baen. Read full books online by searching by title, series, or author. You can find well-known authors like Mercedes Lackey and Fred Saberhagen alongside new voices in the field. Files are available in HTML, RTF, and formats designed for specific ebook readers. If you're interested in the thought process behind a publisher deciding to offer free books online, the site's homepage offers a convincing argument in favor of the practice.

eBooks.com

eBooks.com is an online seller of digital books. While other sites offer online reading, they don't offer the latest bestsellers, and few books from this century, for that matter. eBooks.com sells the same books you would find at a local bookstore, in ebook form. Prices appear to be slightly cheaper than buying a hardcover or paperback version of the same title. Files are available in multiple formats, compatible with most ebook readers. Try free excerpts from the site's most popular titles to find a new favorite, or browse through numerous fiction and non-fiction categories.

Informational Ebooks

Even though there are advantages to reading full books online, it's a different experience than reading traditional books. Some people find they don't enjoy reading from a screen for long periods of time, making it difficult to immerse themselves in a novel or play. Shorter ebooks, designed with the electronic reading experience in mind, fill this gap. While the other books mentioned in this article are also ebooks, this particular breed of electronic book was created specifically for the online market. A large number of these ebooks are non-fiction and meant to inspire action in the reader. Informational ebook readers don't just want to absorb new information, they want step-by-step instructions on how to do everything from writing web copy to making a compost pile. Online publishers like Lulu.com and Booklocker.com offer a large selection of ebooks. You can also find these ebooks at individual websites focused on relevant subjects.