If you have nothing else then for the Windows PC, Linux and Apple there is a free program called Calibre which can not only read many different formats of ebooks but can also make a good try at converting them to suit many ereaders. Calibre can be found HERE. Of course Adobe Reader is all you need on the PC to view the pdf version of the books.
I have tried a few of the books in the Biodiversity Heritage Library section. In this library you can find a tag cloud which speeds up the search for your choice of topic. First I downloaded a few illustrated British bird books in pdf format for transferring to my ipad but it couldn't display them properly. Don't know why as it manages other pdf documents perfectly. Next I tried the standard epub format and that seems to work OK.
If you are going to read the books on a computer then pdf versions are more accurate as they are usually scanned. Epub versions seem to have used text recognition software which is not always accurate.
Other sections available in the Internet Archive include American and Canadian Libraries, plus a Children's library - all very old books remember! You will also find access to a few electronic lending libraries which I haven't investigated as yet. Additionally the site will store freely available text material under the Creative Commons Licenses so there may be some more up to date texts to be found in some sections.
There is more to the site but I will leave that for you to explore if you are interested.
Here is a view of Adobe Reader showing the pdf download of Birds of the British Isles by John Duncan, published by Walter Scott Ltd in 1898
... and this from the pdf version of Birds of Britain by J. Lewis Bonhote, published by Adam and Charles Black in 1907
Where can you find this Aladdin's Cave? HERE
A fascinating post John! I have discovered a lot of the poems for my blog on Google Books and have found lots of beautiful old Nature books there too but didn't know about the place you write about. I have already had a look and found books of interest. Thank you John, I can see I will have lots to investigate.
ReplyDeleteIncidentally, I noticed you have an ipad. I have been considering buying one for a while now. Are you pleased with yours and is it worth the outlay?
Excellent John. That's gone straight in the favourites folder.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link, John. The bird photos you used as samples are just wonderful.
ReplyDeleteHello Jan. The thing I find daunting is the sheer number of books available on these sites.
ReplyDeleteYou are welcome Keith.
ReplyDeleteHello Glo. Those early nature investigators wre often very accomplished artists, had to be before digital photography made life easy for those of us who are artistically challenged.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link, John! Like Keith, it went straight to my favorites. I can hardly wait to start browsing. I recenlty bought a Kindle and will try to download to it - should work. I'll let you know!
ReplyDeletecheers,
Wilma
PS - I have a post in the works about books.