How to read books on a Chromebook

Image: Tada Images/Adobe Stock

A Chromebook and an net transportation tin service arsenic a portal to millions of books. Personnel and students successful schools and universities that enactment Chromebooks are, nary doubt, already good alert of the abundance of fabrication and nonfiction books they tin work successful Chromebook’s browser. Often, an acquisition relationship oregon a nationalist room paper enables entree to adjacent much books.

But, funny professionals and students of each ages whitethorn besides privation to research e-books connected a Chromebook. Free sources connection a astonishing scope of humanities books connected nonfiction concern and exertion topics alongside classical stories. Paid alternatives, including subscription services, supply entree some to modern and curated content. So, unfastened your Chromebook, motion successful and research each of the sources for books covered below.

Free entree to books

Library sources

Your section nationalist room should beryllium the archetypal spot to research for integer publication access. Typically, you’ll request to motion up for a escaped room paper to entree e-books done sources specified arsenic cloudLibrary by Bibliotheca, hoopla oregon OverDrive — oregon OverDrive’s associated app, Libby.

These sources connection a wide scope of fashionable wide involvement fabrication and nonfiction books, including comparatively caller offerings from galore mainstream publishers. You whitethorn work books from each 3 of these services either successful the browser oregon an installed Android app from each service, respectively. The enactment and borrowing limits whitethorn alteration based connected presumption negotiated by your room strategy with each vendor.

Project Gutenberg

With a room of much than 60,000 books, Project Gutenberg remains 1 of the largest and astir notable collections of e-books. The task focuses connected books that are older and nary longer protected by U.S. copyright laws. As a result, a caller question of books tends to beryllium made disposable each year.

Project Gutenberg is an fantabulous spot to work notable lit and fiction. On a Chromebook, you whitethorn work Project Gutenberg books either successful HTML successful the browser or, if you prefer, download and import an EPUB record to your preferred EPUB scholar app.

SEE: How to export your Google Doc to EPUB (TechRepublic)

Standard Ebooks

Standard Ebooks (Figure A, right) applies a precocious modular of formatting and reappraisal to a prime acceptable of publically disposable books nary longer protected by U.S. copyright. As such, the disposable books correspond a tiny subset of the fig of books disposable from different sources, specified arsenic Project Gutenberg.

However, if a publication is disposable from some Project Gutenberg and Standard Ebooks, take the 1 from Standard Ebooks owed to the attraction to detail. On a Chromebook, you whitethorn work Standard Ebooks either online oregon with immoderate EPUB reader.

Figure A

Image: Andy Wolber/TechRepublic.
Open Library, left, lets you hunt and work disposable books online, including immoderate disposable via a short-term loan. Standard Ebooks, right, delivers cautiously formatted editions of contented nary longer nether copyright successful the U.S.

Google Books

A straightforward hunt container connected a Google Books assistance leafage promises the quality to work and download much than 10 cardinal escaped books, including books from Project Gutenberg and galore others. For example, a hunt for “machine learning” returns respective escaped books connected the taxable published recently. When you take to work a publication successful this manner, the strategy displays the representation of the scanned pages. As a result, there’s nary quality to alteration the font oregon font size.

HathiTrust

With roots successful the research-focused satellite of assemblage systems, HathiTrust has a postulation of millions of digitized world books and documents. Public entree allows you to hunt and work items deemed apt to beryllium retired of copyright, truthful if you question to survey humanities world documents this whitethorn beryllium a highly utile resource.

If you person an affiliation with a subordinate assemblage oregon university, you whitethorn beryllium capable to motion successful with an institution-provided relationship that allows greater entree to much materials. Available documents show arsenic scanned images by default, with the enactment to power the show to plain text.

Internet Archive

The Internet Archive includes a searchable repository of books and texts successful respective languages. The items included are grouped into 3 availability categories — ever available, get 14 days and lending room — and whitethorn beryllium viewed successful the Chromebook browser.

Open Library

Another searchable assets for integer books, the Open Library (Figure A, left), seeks “to make 1 web leafage for each publication ever published.” A escaped relationship allows you to temporarily cheque retired a selected acceptable of books for speechmaking online.

O’Reilly Open Books

O’Reilly Open Books provides entree to a tiny acceptable of technology-focused books. Many of these were published 10 oregon much years ago, but the conceptual contented remains relevant. For example, respective of the books screen open-source bundle principles and practices that inactive specify and power IT decisions today.

Other escaped sources

Should you privation to research much escaped resources, the Library of Congress offers a myriad of items that see not lone e-books, but besides each sorts of scanned humanities publications, letters, euphony and different materials. And the Digital Public Library of America provides entree to a assortment of texts, images and media files alongside books disposable via the Palace Bookshelf.

Paid oregon subscription entree to books

Google Play Books

Google Play Books whitethorn beryllium the astir evident for-pay service. If you’re already invested successful either the Amazon Kindle oregon Barnes & Noble Nook e-book platforms, the process is likewise smooth. All 3 of these systems let you to work e-books successful your Chromebook browser.

Availability of books whitethorn vary. For example, an e-book variation of “Visualizing Google Cloud: 101 Illustrated References for Cloud Engineers and Architects” is disposable from some Google Play Books and Amazon (priced astatine $22 successful some cases), but Barnes & Noble lists lone the people edition.

Subscription publication services

Subscription publication services present entree to selected books for a interest paid either monthly oregon annually. Much similar a streaming subscription, the worth of a peculiar work depends connected however good the enactment suits a reader’s interests:

• Scribd: For $11.99 per month, Scribd lets you take from a room of much than 1 cardinal e-books — galore from 5 of the largest publication publishers — successful summation to a enactment of audiobooks and mag and quality articles.
• Amazon’s Kindle Unlimited: For $9.99 per month, Kindle Unlimited offers a room of much than 3 cardinal e-books, galore from idiosyncratic and autarkic publishers, successful summation to a enactment of audiobooks and magazines.
• Epic: Subcribe to Epic Unlimited for astir $80 a twelvemonth for entree to much than 40,000 books intended for readers up to 12 years old, with plans for parents, educators and schools.
• Perlego: For astir $144 per year, subscribers, who whitethorn beryllium students oregon ardent nonfiction readers, payment from a room of much than 1 cardinal world and nonfiction works.

All these services fto you work their books successful Chromebook’s browser (Figure B).

Figure B

Image: Andy Wolber/TechRepublic. Amazon’s Kindle Books (left) and Perlego (right) connection subscriptions to entree e-books.

Paid options often facilitate entree to books. On a Chromebook, you mightiness work contented from Amazon’s Kindle Books acquired with a payment, oregon entree world and nonfiction titles from Perlego with a subscription.

Paid room e-book entree for nonresidents

Finally, a fewer nationalist libraries marque it imaginable for nonresidents to wage for entree to integer collections. The Houston Public Library successful Texas, the Orange County Library System successful Florida and the Queens Public Library successful New York each let nonresidents to get a room paper for fees that scope from $40 to $125 per year. This tin beryllium a worthwhile mode to summation entree to e-books if you deficiency akin entree astatine your section nationalist library.