330,000-plus free PDF eBooks
While the public buzz around eBooks seems to have faded somewhat in the past year or two — still some technological issues to be sorted out before they catch on more widely, many say — there’s still a considerable amount of activity going on to keep things moving forward.
Proof of that is currently visible at the website of the World eBook Fair, the “largest showcase for eBooks, eBook publishers, editors and others working in the new world of eBooks.” From July 4 to August 4, the site is offering free public access to its varied collections, offering downloads from among its 330,000-plus PDF-based eBook titles in more than 100 languages. According to the site, it’s being done in celebration of the 35th birthday of Project Gutenberg, the oldest and largest free eBook source on the Internet. During this month-long event, the normal $8.95 annual membership fee for online access is being waived.
You can conduct a full-text search of or browse the assorted collections that make up the World eBook Library Consortia showcase site.
One advantage of a PDF-based eBook is that you can have Acrobat (or the free Adobe Reader) read it to you:
Acrobat > View > Read Out Loud
Granted, a computerized voice may not be ideally suited to the task, since it doesn’t comprehend what it’s reading and therefore can’t add the proper inflections, pacing, emphasis and so on. That shortcoming aside, if you do want to try out that capability, here’s this week’s third reminder on the use of the Preferences settings: Both Acrobat and Reader use the “Agnes” voice by default, but this can be changed here:
Acrobat (or Reader) > Preferences > Reading
Simply uncheck the Use default voice box and select another of the options under the Voice popup list. Experiment to see which you find the easiest to understand.
