Why The Internet Is Cool: Project Gutenberg

One of the other tidbits I enjoy sharing is Project Gutenberg - an online database of over 20,000 free books. What do they mean by free? Here is what they determine free to mean:

The word free in the English language does not distinguish between free of charge and freedom.

Free of charge means that you don't have to pay for the book you received.

Freedom denotes that you may do as you like with the book you received.

This distinction is immaterial if you just want to read a book privately, but it becomes of utmost importance if you want to work with the book:

  • you are a teacher and want to use the book in class,
  • you wrote a thesis about the book and want to distribute the book along with your thesis,
  • you have a literary web site and want to distribute the book to your audience,
  • or you are a writer and want to adapt the book for the stage.

If the book you got is just free of charge, you may do none of the above things. You may not even make a copy of the book and give it to your best friend. But if the book you got is free as in freedom you may do anything you like with that book. Clearly free as in freedom beats free of charge.

Fortunately almost all Project Gutenberg ebooks are free of charge and free as in freedom.

So, there you go. Enjoy some free reading today.

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about me

Shane Birley is a blogger, huge geeky nerd, web developer, poet, and creative writer based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. He is a partner at Left Right Minds, a web development, arts management, business blogging and on line marketing company.

buy the book, blog your world, feel like a million bucks

Just in case you didn't know, I co-wrote Blogging For Dummies! Before you send me any congratulations, questions, flowers, or blow me any number of kisses  - why don't you go buy ten copies and make me rich and famous.  

Or you could just buy a copy since it is a really good book and it has loads of great information for those of you out there who want to jump into blogging because it is fun and exciting.

podcasting

What else do I do? I talk out loud, record it, and post it on line. I chatter about all kinds of things. Some of the things are nerdy, some professional, and some of them are very much NSFW. Why? Because do them for myself and my non-work life. You can be the judge.