General: Google Public-Domain Books

From Mac Central, 11/03

"Google Inc. on Thursday said it has added more public-domain books to its Google Print service. The books come from libraries at the University of Michigan, Harvard University, Stanford University and the New York Public Library and can be viewed in their entirety in the Google database.
Previously, Google Print users could find public-domain books and view their entire contents but Google calls Thursday's announcement the first significant addition of public-domain books, according to a company statement. Google isn't revealing how many new books are added but said that for example, U.S. Civil War history books, government documents and works by Henry James are now available. Public-domain books either were never covered by copyright or are no longer protected by copyright."

This joins other online book projects such as Gutenberg.org (http://www.gutenberg.org/) which has over 16,000 texts available from Da Vinci to Shakespeare to Nietzsche. Most are 'plain vanilla' (no artwork) but the texts, though uploaded by volunteers, remain accurate to the original.
Others, such as the British Classic Literature Library (http://www.classic-literature.co.uk/) include texts from Dickens to Twain, and recipe books, self help books and even the King James Bible. Having just read Doris Kearns Goodwin's new book on Abraham Lincoln (Team of Rivals : The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln), I was interested in reading the biography of Lincoln. Some of his speeches and writings are also included.