Digital Books
There are lots of ebook sites that can be found with free books. One site is WebLiterature which has classics, but also a lot of ads. Planet eBook, ManyBooks, and the granddaddy of them all Gutenberg are others. Finally there is the infamous Google Books. My advice on this is to go to the advanced search link on Google Books as you can narrow your search very easily. There is also the ability to add books to your library if you have a Google account.
Take a look around and tell us your favorites….least favorites….and why.
At first, I wasn’t sure how much I would use these types of things as a SS teacher, but there are great books that I have used with research projects related to the Civil War that are available on Google Books. Getting these books on an IPod Touch actually would help students who might miss school due to an absence or family trip. It would be immediately accessible to the student who normally has to get a pre-signed pass from me to go to the library for extra research. What if another student has already signed out that book? With something like Google Books, it wouldn’t matter. I like the idea. I look forward to playing around with the Ipod touch especially. Are there any studies done on effects to the eyes though? Just wondering.
Jeff shared this interesting NPR piece on eBooks.
http://ww.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=114181607
In terms of health studies I have never seen one, but maybe someone else has?
Stephen Lopez shared this excellent cheat sheet on ebooks available:
http://technologizer.com/2009/10/26/the-e-reader-explosion-a-cheat-sheet/
As I stated in my post, I wasn’t a big fan of the ebooks on an Ipod touch. I would like a bigger viewing space. Hmmm…could it be age and the close up vision thing? I guess there is also something to be said for holding a book and being able to dog ear the pages.
I could see ebooks being great for travel. Rather than carrying a mess of books to read, they would all be in one place. I would like to see if something like the Kindle would be a better size.
I agree with Jeff’s observation that it would be a great tool to use when students are absent. I guess for me, the jury is still out.