Jan 19, 2010

www.archive.org books and the use of free books on the net

Following a nod from some kind soul on the Great War Forum I spent a few happy hours downloading free books from the excellent website: http://www.archive.org/

I had come across this site in the past when Googling for various books and had downloaded a few over the years. However, that was on a ‘as you need them’ basis. I had never sat down and really searched for Great War content available – and all for free!

It is amazing what is available and I have downloaded over 70 books in pdf format (totalling over 1GB). These range from personal memoirs I had never heard of before through to regimental, brigade and divisional histories. And the best bit? As they are in pdf format, it is easy to search for specific words. This makes research that much easier. However, don’t expect to see daylight for days. Searching for “1914-1918” yields over 10, 000 results! A pat on the back from me to all those who scan these books so we can all share the knowledge.

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