Saturday, June 18, 2011

40 Places for College Students to Find Free Unabridged Books Online

Jul 22, 2008

The cost of books can add up quickly when you are a college student. Fortunately, there are a lot of great sites that offer free unabridged books online. Here are 40 of the best places to find free textbooks, audio books and full-text works of fiction and nonfiction.

The average English literature teacher assigns dozens of books in a given semester to students who are enrolled in literature degree andliterature diploma programs. The cost of these books can really add up over time. You can save yourself a lot of money by searching for free unabridged books online.

Where to Find Free Unabridged Books Online

The following websites offer free unabridged books online. If you love to read, and even if you don't, you're bound to find something on this list you'll enjoy. Book options include fiction, nonfiction, verse, classic works and reference books.

Bartleby - Bartleby has one of the best collections of literature, verse and reference books that can be accessed online for no charge.
Biblomania - A great collection of classic texts, reference books, articles and study guides.
Books-On-Line - A directory of more than 50,000 (mostly free) books that are posted on the Internet. Browse by author, subject or keyword.
Bookstacks - This site has nearly 100 free books from 36 different authors. The books can be read online or downloaded as a PDF.
Bored.com - Read thousands of classic books and other ebooks online or transfer files to your computer. Special topics include music, games, cooking, science and travel.
Classic Book Library - A free online library containing historical fiction, romance, mysteries, science fiction and children's literature.
Classic Bookshelf - Electronic library of classic books with a special Java eBook reading program for easy viewing.
Classic Reader - An expanding collection of classic fiction, non-fiction, poetry, children's stories and plays--more than 4,000 works by hundreds of authors.
Ebook Lobby - Hundreds of free ebooks in categories that range from business and art to computing and education.
EtextCenter - More than 2,000 free ebooks from the University of Virginia Library's Etext Center. Books include classic fiction, children's literature, historical texts and bibles.
Fiction eBooks Online - Hundreds of plays, poems, short stories, picture books and classic novels.
Fiction Wise - Free works of fiction from the top independent ebook seller in the world.
Full Books - Thousands of full-text books sorted by title--both fiction and nonfiction.
Get Free Books - Thousands of free books on nearly every topic imaginable. All books are available for instant download.
Great Literature Online - Free, HTML formatted e-text from ClassicAuthors.net. A links page for each author makes this site a great resource for college students.
Hans Christian Andersen - A wonderful collection of stories and fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen (translated into English.)
Internet Public Library - Online collection with more than 20,000 titles.
Literature of the Fantastic - Small collection of science fiction and fantasy books with links to discussions.
Literature Project - Free library of classic books, poems, speeches and plays with optional speech-to-text software.
Magic Keys - Free illustrated children's stories for people of all ages.
Many Books - More than 20,000 free ebooks for your ebook reader, PDA or iPod.
Master Texts - Database of free, full-text literary masterpieces searchable by title, subject and author.
Open Book Project This site, geared towards the educational community, provides free textbooks and other educational materials online.
Page By Page Books - Hundreds of classic books that can be read in the Page By Page e-Library.
Project Gutenberg - More than 25,000 free books are available from Project Gutenberg. An additional 100,000 titles are accessible through Project Gutenberg's partners and affiliates.
Public Literature - A huge collection of fine literature that showcases classic authors and modern works from around the world.
Read Print - Free online library with thousands of books, poems and plays for students and teachers.
Ref Desk - Tons of free encyclopedias and other reference books from the best reference site on the web.
The Online Books Page - A listing of over 30,000 free books on the web from the University of Pennsylvania.
The Perseus Digital Library - An evolving digital library from Tufts University that features texts from the classical and Renaissance world.

Where to Find Free Audio Books Online

The following websites offer free audio books online. Download as many as you'd like!

Audio Literature Odyssey - Complete and unabridged novels, poems, short stories and literary podcasts read by voice actor Nikolle Doolin.
Audio Treasure - Free bible mp3 files for your computer or mp3 player. Includes links to free Christian audio books and classic books online.
Classic Poetry Aloud - Free podcasts of classic poems and English literature.
Free Classic Audio Books - Dozens of classic, human-narrated books that have been formatted for mp3s, mp4s and iPods.
Learn Out Loud - Directory of over 500 free audio and video titles--includes audio books, speeches and lectures.
Librivox - One of the best online resources for free audio books and podcasts from the public domain.
Lit2Go - An online collection of classics and children's literature from Florida's Educational Technology Clearinghouse.
Literal Systems - Free unabridged audio books ready for download.
Spoken Alexandria Project - Free Creative Commons library of spoken word recordings--includes classics and modern works.