Public domain reading list

chewybrian · Post by **chewybrian** » August 3rd, 2019, 8:24 am

They say the best things in life are free. You might apply this to philosophy if, like me, you think all the best philosophers are long dead. If so, then the best stuff is all in the public domain and free for all to use. If you agree, even a little bit, I would like to see folks offer us 2 things...

First, can you offer up some sites where one can download free books? Ideally, there should be no signing up or logging on, but just free books for all.

Second, can you recommend a few gems from these sites that you would tell others they should be reading?

I offer Gutenberg as my go to choice for looking for freebies:

http://www.gutenberg.org/

The MIT classics archive is a good one for the 'ancients':

http://classics.mit.edu/

Archive is another good one, though I would prefer regular pdf files to their 'scans'. It's fine if you want to read from a computer or tablet rather than printing.

https://archive.org/

Finally, the Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy is excellent for researching topics, and the bibliography offers lots of choices of sources to check out, and sometimes links up to freebies.

https://plato.stanford.edu/

I don't want to go nuts with reading recommendations right off, but here is my favorite, the Enchiridion of Epictetus:

http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/epicench.html

chewybrian · Post by **chewybrian** » August 5th, 2019, 6:32 pm

Hopefully, some of you will chime in. There is no wrong answer!

Early Modern Texts is one more place to look:

http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/

In no particular order, and far from a complete list or even an attempt at one...here are some more that I would recommend:

"The Problems of Philosophy", by Bertrand Russell:

http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/5827

"Apology", by Plato:

http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/apology.html

"Crito", by Plato:

http://classics.mit.edu/Plato/crito.html

"On Anger"(or, "Of Anger"), by Seneca:

https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/Of_Anger

"Letter to Menoeceus", by Epicurus:

http://classics.mit.edu/Epicurus/menoec.html

"The Discourses", by Epictetus:

http://classics.mit.edu/Epictetus/discourses.html

"A Discourse Upon the Origin and the Foundation of the Inequality Among Mankind", by Jean-Jacques Rousseau:

http://www.gutenberg.org/cache/epub/111 ... mages.html

"Meditations on First Philosophy", by Rene Descartes:

http://www.earlymoderntexts.com/assets/ ... es1641.pdf

There are many newer dead people like Sartre or Orwell that can be found to read or download free, but I'm not sure if they really fall in the 'public domain' framework. "Animal Farm", "1984", "No Exit" and "Existentialism is a Humanism" are a few I would recommend from these two.

You all should be able to expand this list with little effort, no?

chewybrian · Post by **chewybrian** » March 21st, 2020, 8:58 pm

Well, we have more reason than ever to need a reading list while most of us are in lock down. I have to say I was quite disappointed not to get some suggestions from others after 4,000 looks! Y'all do like to read philosophy, don't you?

Here are a few good short stories:

"An Outpost of Progress", by Joseph Conrad: http://www.online-literature.com/conrad/184/

"Shooting an Elephant", by George Orwell: http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200141h.html

"I Bought a Little City:, by Donald Barthelme: https://www.dallasnews.com/arts-enterta ... ttle-city/

"The Garden of the Forking Paths", by Jorge Luis Borges" https://archive.org/stream/TheGardenOfF ... 1_djvu.txt

"The Library of Babel", by Jorge Luis Borges: https://sites.evergreen.edu/politicalsh ... -Babel.pdf

"The Lottery", by Shirley Jackson: https://www.cusd200.org/cms/lib/IL01001 ... ottery.pdf

Now, I know SOMEBODY has something else to recommend to us while we are shut in...

chewybrian · Post by **chewybrian** » October 5th, 2021, 8:50 am

I'm disappointed that nobody cared to offer a site or even a book to check out. Surely some of you philosophers have some suggestions of books on philosophy that interest you and might interest the rest of us. 5,000 looks and nobody wants to suggest anything? Are we so afraid someone will not respect our choices that we can't toss them out there? There is no wrong answer.

Here are a couple more good sites. Readanybook is all free, and everything *should* be in the public domain, at least in the U.S.:

https://www.readanybook.com/search?q=philosophy

Thriftbooks offers discounted used books:

https://www.thriftbooks.com/browse/?b.s ... oos&b.tile

Here's a good one I recently read, and bought new at twice the price:

https://www.thriftbooks.com/w/island_al ... iq=4984250

Post by **LuckyR** » October 6th, 2021, 1:56 am

OMG, how did I not see this thread before now? Kudos to you.

I don't know of any free book sites to add. I am a big consumer of electronic library books, though. Through the Libby app.

Steve3007 · Post by **Steve3007** » October 6th, 2021, 4:42 am

Sorry Chewy, I didn't see it either. I don't know, off the top of my head, of any good free books I could link to. I sometimes download books from Amazon and read them on a Kindle app on my phone. Some of them are free. I also sometimes download audio books and listen to them while doing other things.

I'm currently listening to an unabridged reading of Jane Eyre (read by actress Thandiwe Newton). Like most people, I suspect, I'm aware of the general storyline and the "First Mrs Rochester" device, but never got around to reading it previously. I can honestly say that it's fantastic and I can see now why it's regarded as such a classic. Wish I'd read it when I was younger. On the Kindle I'm reading "Longitude" by Dava Sobel. Really interesting story of the race to design an accurate marine clock for navigation at sea. Those are both paid for. A free example: I think "ABC of Relativity" by Bertrand Russell was free. One of the first (or possible the first) popular explanations of Relativity. Another classic. Fantastic book.

chewybrian · Post by **chewybrian** » October 6th, 2021, 9:06 am

LuckyR wrote: ↑October 6th, 2021, 1:56 amI don't know of any free book sites to add.

Steve3007 wrote: ↑October 6th, 2021, 4:42 amI don't know, off the top of my head, of any good free books I could link to.

I should not have asked for site recommendations, because it is painfully easy to find them.

Steve3007 wrote: ↑October 6th, 2021, 4:42 am"ABC of Relativity" by Bertrand Russell

Just search "pdf (the book you want)", for example: "pdf "ABC of Relativity" by Bertrand Russell

and...

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.187959

...there you go!

Anyway, I am much more interested in reading suggestions. I want them to be free, but if they are old enough, they will be. If nobody puts up anything more interesting soon, I will read the Russel book. thanks

Steve3007 · Post by **Steve3007** » October 6th, 2021, 11:08 am

chewybrian wrote:Just search "pdf (the book you want)", for example: "pdf "ABC of Relativity" by Bertrand Russell

and...

https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.187959

...there you go!

Cool!