May 2010 Task Free E'books

May, 2010 Task Free E-Books

I downloaded books from Project Gutenburg, Google Books, and Online Books Page.

On Project Gutenburg, I downloaded "Apple Pie" by Kate Greenaway and clicked on the download link and got a publisher's note and text with illustrations. I downloaded "Zadig: Or the Book of Fate: An Oriental History." "Zadig" came with a table of contents by chapter, which comes in handy. All the Project Gutenburg books can be browsed by author, title, or language. They can be downloaded to computer, iphone, kindle, sony reader and more. It is nice because the books are always available and don't require an account.

On Google Books I clicked on "Moby Dick" and got illustrations; introduction; table of contents, which allows to click on chapter or page number; etemology, and extracts. It includes a lot of information and is easy to navigate. I also clicked on "Life Magazine" in the serials section. It is set up as a photographed picture of the whole magazine and comes in color. I looked at the October 23, 1950 issue which had Ed Wynn on the cover. There were lots of ads as well as articles with pictures. This is a nice way to look up articles as they appeared in the issue rather than just a database with the text articles.

On Online Books, I went to the Banned Books Online and downloaded "Lady Chatterley's Lover". This is a great site for students who have to read a banned book. It provides not only a list of books, but they can be downloaded to read right then. It would save tons of time for students with that assignment. I also looked at the "Occupational Outlook Quarterly", Spring of 2010 issue. It is set up just like the book is with an index to occupations. A search can be done of occupations. I used Tellers as an occupation, and was given further breakdown positions, as well as what is needed for education and preparation. It also includes a table of salaries and outlook for needs.

One of the most valuable reasons to use these sites would be that a classic book would be available to any number of students at the same time. Often teachers assign projects for many students to all read the book at the same time, and of course there are never that many available to check out.