I am an avid reader, and I usually read a book every one or two days if I can. I have always loved reading, as it allows my imagination to soar. I prefer reading an actual book, but I do use Audiobooks and from time to time I enjoy reading books online. For those who enjoy this type of reading, the following article may be useful.
To enjoy reading books online, you don’t need a tablet or
e-reader. Here are five good websites that allow you to read books online for
free The following is from an article posted on the Mirror and written by Shefali
Fernandes in July 2021.
Books play a quintessential role in everyone’s life by
introducing them to a world of imagination, providing knowledge of the outside
world, improving their reading, writing, and speaking skills as well as
boosting memory and intelligence. Evidence suggests that being immersed in a
book-oriented environment is beneficial to educational achievement. People who
read a lot often have a better vocabulary than those who don’t. The more you
read, the more words you’re introduced to. The importance of books in our life
cannot be undermined for they not only help in broadening our horizons but also
act as doorways for connecting us with the world around us.
Another reason that highlights the importance of books in
our life, is that books help in building our confidence. When we read a book,
we get to learn about the struggles and hardships of various characters.
Studies show that it only takes about six minutes of reading to slow down a
person’s heart rate and reduce muscle tension. When you’re experiencing
anxiety, reading a book helps you focus on something other than your stress.
Considering a book’s effect on anxiety, it makes sense that reading before bed
could improve your sleep.
10 Reasons Why Books are Important:
1.
Books relieve stress.
2.
Books are therapeutic.
3.
Books build confidence.
4.
Books improve your memory.
5.
Books enhance your vocabulary.
6.
Books help in self-improvement.
7.
Books illuminate your imagination.
8.
Books improve your communication.
9.
Books improve concentration and focus.
10. Books help you form
your own unique perspective.
How to Read Books Online For Free:
Project Gutenberg:
Project Gutenberg is one of the most important sources of
free ebooks on the web. It was founded in 1971 by American writer Michael S.
Hart and is the oldest digital library. Most of the items in its collection are
the full texts of books in the public domain. No fee or registration to read
books online. Project Gutenberg was the first provider of free electronic books
or eBooks.
Project Gutenberg eBooks require no special apps to read,
just the regular Web browsers or eBook readers that are included with computers
and mobile devices. There have been reports of sites that charge fees for
custom apps, or for the same eBooks that are freely available from Project
Gutenberg. Currently, there are over 60 thousand eBooks in the PG catalog.
Website: https://gutenberg.org/
The Internet Archive:
The Internet Archive provides free public access to
collections of digitized materials, including websites, software
applications/games, music, movies/videos, moving images, and millions of books.
The Internet Archive has been around since 1996, is a member of the American
Library Association, and is at the forefront of digital archiving. The Internet
Archive operates 33 scanning centers in five countries, digitizing about 1,000
books a day for a total of more than 2 million books, financially supported by
libraries and foundations.
The Internet Archive allows the public to upload and
download digital material to its data cluster, but the bulk of its data is
collected automatically by its web crawlers, which work to preserve as much of
the public web as possible. The Archive also oversees one of the world’s
largest book digitization projects.
Website: https://archive.org/
Open Library:
Open Library is an online project intended to create “one
web page for every book ever published”. Created by Aaron Swartz, Brewster
Kahle, Alexis Rossi, Anand Chitipothu, and Rebecca Malamud. Open Library is a
project of the Internet Archive, a non-profit organization. It has been funded
in part by grants from the California State Library and the Kahle/Austin
Foundation.
Open Library provides online digital copies in multiple
formats, created from images of many public domains, out-of-print, and in-print
books. Open Library is an open project: the software is open, the data are
open, the documentation is open, and we welcome your contribution.
Website: https://openlibrary.org/
Smashwords:
The Smashwords Store provides an opportunity to discover
new voices in all categories and genres of the written word. Once you register,
the site offers useful tools for search, discovery, and personal library
management. Most of their books are affordably priced and multi-format. Over
70,000 of our books are priced at free. Smashwords is a free eBook publishing
and distribution platform.
We make it fast, free and easy for authors and publishers
to distribute eBooks to the world’s largest eBook retailers and library eBook
platforms. Authors and publishers retain full control over how their works are
published, sampled, priced, and sold. The eBooks on Smashwords can be read
online using our online readers, or they can be downloaded to other reading
devices such as the iPhone, Amazon Kindle, Barnes & Noble Nook, or other
e-reading devices.
Website https://www.smashwords.com/
Google Books:
Google Books is a service from Google Inc. that searches
the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text
using optical character recognition (OCR), and stored in its digital database.
Google Books allows users to view full pages from books in which the search
terms appear if the book is out of copyright or if the copyright owner has
given permission.
Google Books set out on an audacious journey to bring the
world’s books online so that anyone can access them. Searching for a book is
exactly like typing a question into Google, but unfortunately, not all books on
Google Books are available for free.
Website: https://books.google.co.in
Our County Lending Library has an online offering that includes most popular authors and lots of contemporary fiction, all free to library card holders. I confess I’ve almost given up buying books as a result.
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