Project Gutenberg – keeps getting better • Hacker News Board

Re: Project Gutenberg – keeps getting better

#21

Post by JSeiko » Fri, May 15, 2026, 4:51 PM UTC

Someone1234 wrote: post #19

I'm surprised no eBook Reader vendor has a Project Gutenberg "Store." Where you can just browse Gutenberg, find a book, and just grab it down to the reader. Instead, they either are actively hostile (Kindle), or require the use of Calibre (which itself is good, it is just the friction).

I've heard that the newest Kobo e-readers have a browser that you could use to go to gutenberg.org and directly download files.

but yes, generally I agree with your point. Library of 75k books seems pretty valuable to have direct access to.

Re: Project Gutenberg – keeps getting better

#22

Post by GaryBluto » Fri, May 15, 2026, 4:54 PM UTC

Someone1234 wrote: post #19

I'm surprised no eBook Reader vendor has a Project Gutenberg "Store." Where you can just browse Gutenberg, find a book, and just grab it down to the reader. Instead, they either are actively hostile (Kindle), or require the use of Calibre (which itself is good, it is just the friction).

Most of them offer their own paid storefronts and have a perverse incentive not to offer a large area full of free books.

Re: Project Gutenberg – keeps getting better

#23

Post by brcmthrowaway » Fri, May 15, 2026, 4:54 PM UTC

I can't read anymore due to fear of not being productive with AI

Re: Project Gutenberg – keeps getting better

#24

Post by ExtremisAndy » Fri, May 15, 2026, 4:56 PM UTC

JSeiko wrote: post #2

Hi! I'm one of the programmers at Gutenberg. We've been improving the site a lot over the past few months (and more is coming!). If you haven't visited the page recently, it's worth checking out again: https://www.gutenberg.org/

Oh, my! This does look nice. Thank you for your hard work!

Re: Project Gutenberg – keeps getting better

#25

Post by aronhegedus » Fri, May 15, 2026, 4:57 PM UTC

Recently downloaded Moby Dick from here:) very easy to use

Re: Project Gutenberg – keeps getting better

#26

Post by horsawlarway » Fri, May 15, 2026, 4:58 PM UTC

Someone1234 wrote: post #19

I'm surprised no eBook Reader vendor has a Project Gutenberg "Store." Where you can just browse Gutenberg, find a book, and just grab it down to the reader. Instead, they either are actively hostile (Kindle), or require the use of Calibre (which itself is good, it is just the friction).

I've used https://standardebooks.org/ to pull nicely formatted Project Gutenberg books on any e-reader that supports a browser (in my case, Boox).

Technically, I can also just directly pull the epub from Project Gutenberg, but sometimes the formatting leaves a lot to be desired.

Once you get an e-reader that runs a semi-capable OS (ex - stock android, even an older version), it's hard to go back to something like a kindle.

Re: Project Gutenberg – keeps getting better

#27

Post by excitednumber » Fri, May 15, 2026, 4:59 PM UTC

JSeiko wrote: post #2

Hi! I'm one of the programmers at Gutenberg. We've been improving the site a lot over the past few months (and more is coming!). If you haven't visited the page recently, it's worth checking out again: https://www.gutenberg.org/

Thank you for being one of the best places on the internet

Re: Project Gutenberg – keeps getting better

#28

Post by JSeiko » Fri, May 15, 2026, 4:59 PM UTC

brcmthrowaway wrote: post #23

I can't read anymore due to fear of not being productive with AI

maybe there's a way to read more productively using AI: https://x.com/karpathy/status/1990577951671509438

could be a trick to ease that fear :D

Re: Project Gutenberg – keeps getting better

#29

Post by JSeiko » Fri, May 15, 2026, 5:00 PM UTC

ExtremisAndy wrote: post #24

JSeiko wrote: post #2

Hi! I'm one of the programmers at Gutenberg. We've been improving the site a lot over the past few months (and more is coming!). If you haven't visited the page recently, it's worth checking out again: https://www.gutenberg.org/

Oh, my! This does look nice. Thank you for your hard work!

Thanks! We're currently working on a design update of the page of any specific book. Should be online soon (next 1-2 weeks or so)

Re: Project Gutenberg – keeps getting better

#30

Post by JKCalhoun » Fri, May 15, 2026, 5:03 PM UTC

Project Gutenberg had (has?) a tendency toward plaintext that always put me off. (And it has been over a decade I'm sure since I explored the site—so I am no doubt now misinformed.)

I like a styled formatted book—would prefer PDFs. (I know, not a popular format apparently.)

I like the idea of Project Gutenberg but guess I found book scans on archive.org my preference.

My go-to example is Lewis Carroll's "Through the Looking Glass" with the fantastic art of John Tenniel and Carroll's sometimes creative formatting of the prose…

I see they (Project Gutenberg) have ePub now, which can be good if well done.

(If not well done it can be a kind of mess. Re-flowable "HTML", paginated… Anyone ever try to print a long web page and did you enjoy the result? Perhaps that is as much on the ePub reader though.)