Books can share knowledge and entertain you but they are also very expensive. Fortunately, there is a solution. Did you know you can read books for free online? We show you how to do this and where to look.
All you need is a device and an internet connection. You can use a computer (PC), a laptop, a tablet, or a smartphone. You can also use an e-book reader such as a Kindle, Nook, or other devices.
Once you download the book, it is stored on the device and you can read it whenever you want. If it is a mobile device, you can take it with you and read from anywhere.
There are millions of free books on a wide range of topics. You do not need to use a lot of data to download most books. Many places offer free or cheap internet so try to do your downloads there. Once downloaded, you do not need to use data to read the books.
Some sites offer free books and books you have to pay for so you have to look around for what you want. Most are easy to search to find something suitable. What is good is that all of these free books are legal, you are not pirating or stealing anything.
Most sites will ask you to register with them but this is also free and it is quick and easy. Many of them will update you when they have new books.
If you are downloading to a mobile phone or tablet, you want to use iBooks (Apple Books) for an iPhone or Google Play Books on an Android device.
Codes
Here are a few codes you might come across when browsing free online books:
TXT – a normal text document you can read on a PC or mobile device
EPUB – works on all devices but not Kindle
HTML -this means you view the book on a standard web browser or an eReaders
PDF – can be read on Android, iOS or e-book readers
RTF – also Android, iOS and eReaders
MOBI – mostly for Kindle
Where to read books for free online
Here are some excellent places to read books for free online:
Open Library
This is a brilliant place to look for free books. There is a large archive of books in many different languages and on all topics you can imagine.
If you are looking for business books, Open Library offers free options on:
- Business
- Finance
- Management
- Business Economics
- Entrepreneurship
- Business Success
They also have interesting books on subjects such as Science & Maths, History, and Biography’s. There are also many novels if you want to read for enjoyment.
Bookboon
Here you will find a wide range of free online books including a lot of academic, educational, and business books. They have a students section that offers free e-books. Bookboon also offers a lot of short books that can be read quickly, great if you want to learn but do not have lots of time.
Internet Archive
It is worth spending a bit of time looking around Internet Archive. It has a very large collection of books as well as music, software, movies, and other content.
Google eBookstore
Trust Google to offer an excellent range of books. The GooglePlay store offers fiction and non-fiction and there are also many audiobooks if you prefer to listen to the book.
There are many topics including business and investing and science and technology. It is easy to navigate and has a great selection.
Goodreads
You can find many free books on this site including business, psychology, self-help, and many others. Other users review and rate the books on Goodreads so you can get an idea of the quality of each option.
BookRix
Here you can find a range of free books including online books on business, law, computers, and several other categories. Check out what BookRix has to offer.
Free-Ebooks
You can also look on Free-Ebooks. They have an excellent range of free fiction and non-fiction books available. Under non-fiction you can find many business and educational books.
The books are all sorted by category so it is easy to find what you are looking for. Other interesting fields include maths, science, philosophy, medical, and advertising.
ManyBooks
As the name says, you can find loads of free books at ManyBooks. They have more than 50 000 free books. Most are fiction books but they still have plenty of non-fiction books under different categories. It is worth a look.
BookBub
At BookBub you will find a good mix of books under most topics. You just have to register (for free) and you can start downloading.
Amazon Kindle Store
If you go to the Kindle Store, search for free books. You will be amazed at how many titles they offer for free. They are mostly fiction books but if you look around there are other options.
FreeBooksy
While most sites only offer some books for free, there is no charge for any of the books on FreeBooksy.
There is a great selection of free books. They have novels, children’s books, and a non-fiction section.
We have highlighted some of the best places to read books for free online. This is just a sample and if you search on Google you can find even more.
Final thoughts
Most of the top business leaders are big readers. While it is important to read as much as possible it can become expensive. It is also often difficult to carry books around.
With online books, you can get thousands of books for free and you can even read them on your phone. This means you will always have the books with you and you can read when you have spare time.
You can also look for books from anywhere, so long as you have an internet connection. You can save time as well as money.