A Worthwhile Project!

Years ago, I discovered Project Gutenberg, a great project offering thousands of online ebooks, mainly older public domain classics. After ignoring it for some time, curisoty compelled me to return. Thankfully, not much is new, besides the design and more ebooks! If only more people knew about it and contributed to it!

I've already read the text of "Common Sense" by Thomas Paine, and have also worked through part of a book of Mark Twain's letters. I've put a hold on my e-book reading momentarily, but I'm sure I'll return soon.

The site hosts a plethora of works by well known authors such as H.G. Wells, Albert Einstein, Mark Twain, Jules Verne, Plato, Jack London, G.K. Chesterton, William Shakespeare, Tolstoy, Charles Dickens, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, and some less well-known ones too!

We should be greatful about the geek ethic of nurturing projects that benefit the community. This is not unique to the Internet, but this sort of culture seems to be thriving online! There are many great projects such as this one, Wikipedia, archive.org, ibiblio.org, and others that are paving the way towards free-flowing non-commercial streams of information, putting content in the hands of those who might not otherwise be able to access it. That is what Mr. Gutenburg's invention was all about. It shook the world mightly, particularly Europe, by enabling the Bible to eventually reach the hands of the common people.

For those interested in checking it out: http://www.gutenberg.org/