3 Answers2025-07-21
I heavily use ISBN searches but books that are out of print require a lot of thinking. Apart from 'UsedBookCentral' and 'Biblio' that allow you to search by ISBN on used books websites, on the forums like Reddit’s r/BookCollecting there are many databases of used books as well as contacts of private sellers.
Physical auctions can be a goldmine. Most major auction houses, including Heritage Auctions, list the ISBN number for books in their printed catalogs. I was surprised at the number of rare titles that appeared in their sales. In fact, I was able to pick up a first edition of the paperback edition of Dune for a relatively low price.
For non-English language books, ISBN searches are not as reliable. In the past, BookDepository (before it closed) and the global site for Kinokuniya were fantastic resources. Nowadays, I often find what I’m looking for on eBay (internationally) or through rare book vendors listed on Alibaba. It’s hard work, but an absolute thrill to hold a long out of print book in your hands after all that searching.
3 Answers2025-07-09
The online NIV Study Bible is really cool for instant searches as well as copying and pasting scriptures to share with friends. The online study notes are just as detailed as the print, and I really like that you can change the font size online too. However, for quiet time / meditation I have not found the online format as appealing. There is something about physically tracing out words on a page that just does not translate to scrolling through a page online.
Both versions of the NIV Study Bible are absolutely great, and there’s no discrepancy between the two versions regarding the study notes, etc. (other than I’d prefer the font size to be adjustable in print as well). While the online version is superior for sharing, researching, etc., the print version is better for personal meditation. It makes for such a more intimate reading experience, not to mention being sans notification and whatnots!
5 Answers2025-07-16
Joining specific Discord servers for genres or authors of interest can also be really useful. I know of servers for classic sci-fi, for horror, and for academic philosophy. People share links and discuss different editions of a book in dedicated channels. As people are actively searching for the same thing, it can become a collaborative hunt in real time. Someone posts that they are searching for the original magazine version of a particular story and within minutes there are links to scans provided by several members. Not only does joining these communities make the hunt less lonely, but also you can find out about books of interest that you would have otherwise never known about from other people with immense knowledge on the subject.
8 Answers2025-06-06
For my own part, I’ll stick to following copyright on modern bestsellers, and avoid free e-books offered on rogue websites with pop-up ads and the potential for malware. Sites that offer free e-books, such as modern bestsellers, may be offered through library websites, Project Gutenberg, publisher giveaways, and an author’s own website. While these sites may require a bit of extra searching, and possibly a library card, there is much to be said for experiencing e-books through legitimate channels – it’s a much safer reading experience and actually supports the reading ecosystem. Illegal sites have dreadful formatting and sometimes even lack key chapters, leading to a really frustrating reading experience. Why not take the time to search out a free and legal e-book instead, and have a nice reading stroll in the park, rather than taking a risk and going down a dark alley?
3 Answers2025-07-03
I’m pretty much just a reader looking to read my Kindle books on my tablet using the PDF app, so this question really resonates with me. Unfortunately, the DRM protection of Kindle books makes it extremely difficult to convert them to PDF. Amazon’s proprietary book format and the Kindle reading apps for iPad, etc. do not allow users to print or save to PDF. Using screenshots of individual pages would be extremely tedious and likely to be in contravention of copyright laws as well.
Instead of breaking the law, I work around it by checking the author’s website for free PDF samples or companion files, buying books in DRM-free ePUB format from retailers like Leanpub, borrowing PDF e-books from libraries that offer them through services like OverDrive, and checking if a classic book is already available in PDF format on sites like Project Gutenberg in various formats. Buying and supporting authors and retailers who sell DRM-free e-books is just one way to encourage authors to continue producing stories for us to read.
3 Answers2025-05-14
There are lots of free websites where you can read books online without signing up to a website first. For classic books that are no longer copyrighted there’s the wonderful Project Gutenberg (long established) and ManyBooks (my current favorite with a great variety of free books of many different types in different formats too). For free audiobooks there’s Librivox, which features free public domain audiobooks for download, all of them read by volunteers.
On the other hand, Open Library allows users to borrow digital books, many of which can be checked out by users without an account. Additionally, Classic Shorts offers short stories and essays that users can instantly read online for free without having to sign up for anything.
9 Answers2026-07-29
I have a deep respect for the first edition of a book and the fact that the very first printed items were copies of the Bible is very cool. The 42 line Bible, known as the Gutenberg Bible, is a two volume work printed in Latin circa 1455 as a first edition of the Vulgate.
Of course, there must have been many other prints to keep his business going — for example, indulgences of the Pope, and popular grammars and almanacs, but none of these could have had anything like the impact of the first printed Bible, the proof of concept that revolutionized literature.
2 Answers2025-05-21
A search for rare books online can take a lot of time, especially if you know where to look. So I thought it would be a good idea to list some of the search spots I use regularly. There’s Project Gutenberg and the Internet Archive, which offer lots of free rare books. The Open Library allows you to borrow rare books online in the form of e-books. Digitized versions of rare books from university libraries like the Harvard University Library Digital Collections can also be accessed online for free. In addition, there are many online forums like the community of the rare books forum on Reddit (r/rarebooks), where one can find tips and links to search spots.
3 Answers2025-06-05
I love my e-reader but I sometimes miss the feeling of real paper under my fingers. It is easy enough to print a PDF from your Kindle if the eBook is in a DRM-free PDF format. You would need to connect your Kindle to a computer and find the PDF in the documents folder on your Kindle and print it from there. eBooks that are in Kindle book format (e.g. for purchase from Amazon.com) with DRM are trickier to print.
There are plenty of e-readers out there that handle PDFs better than a Kindle (Kobo, PocketBook etc.). If you’re techy enough, you could also use tools like Calibre to convert your Kindle books to print and then print them. However, be careful to check the copyright on any book you try to print out, as some publishers allow limited printing for personal use. You can always try to stick to PDFs that are DRM-free or buy print copies of your favorite books to avoid any hassle.
8 Answers2025-07-07
Audio version of web novels are increasingly being recorded professionally by platforms such as Soundbooth Theater or Podium Audio and then released on Audible. These perform incredibly well as audiobooks and in my last year of reading web novels, the majority of them I have read via audio. It is a different medium, but this satisfies the offline consumption of long story requirements and actually is ‘better’ in many ways because of the performance and the person’s interpretation. Therefore, Audible or Google Audiobooks would be my recommendation for sites to look for web novels. Just search for the title of your favorite web novel and be surprised at the results. ‘He Who Fights With Monsters’ and ‘Dungeon Crawler Carl’ for example, are two excellent examples of web novels that have been excellent as audiobooks.