Bartleby.com
http://www.bartleby.com/
Libraries aren’t the only places you can read books for free. If you want to read classics, this useful site offers full-text access to thousands of literary works, in addition to some contemporary reference volumes. And journalists can use these works to fact-check quotes, check attributions, etc.
Bartleby has what it calls “great books online.” These range from books written by Jane Austen to Walt Whitman to William Shakespeare. How can it give away these works? Because, in many cases, the original copyright has expired — the advantage of dealing with “classics.” You will also be able to access such titles as The Columbia Encyclopedia (2001), The Encyclopedia of World History (2001), Roget’s Thesaurus and Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations.
I also like the fact that it does not require you to register, nor does it ask for any personal information.
If your eyes can tolerate long scrolls of text on your computer screen, this works well.
