I’m a bibliophile. I don’t read books, I devour them. Though there’s nothing like holding a real book in your hands, there are times when an online book has its advantages. First of all, you can read books that are rare or are no longer in print. Secondly, it’s convenient to have instant access to books; you don’t have to get out in the rain and you don’t have to worry about the opening and closing times of the library or bookstore. Michael Pastore elaborates more on this concept with 30 Benefits of Ebooks.
Since my passion involves reading lots of non-fiction, research papers, newspapers, magazines, etc. and very little fiction and novels, I’m always on the lookout for a good source of Ebooks. My dream would be to sit and read all day in a university research library, but since I can’t do that with 3 young children, I have to settle for Questia. Questia is a full-text online library with access to over 77,000 books, 4 million articles, and 250 respectable publishers such as John Wiley & Sons and Oxford University Press.
Of course access to such a source is not free, in fact you have to pay a subscription, but that is perfectly fine with me. I don’t mind paying for things that work. Questia works. For around $99 dollars a year you get access to all the sauce I mentioned above. Not bad considering that for about $8 to $9 dollars a month you get complete access to books and journals that are of research caliber. Well worth the cost in my opinion.
Random Misanthrope 