Google, Keeper of all Knowledge!!

I recently discovered Google Books, a searchable collection of public domain books, available to download for free!! I just got a copy of How to Mix Drinks: A Bartender's Guide, which was the first bartending book ever published. This book is incredibly hard to find, and reprints are upwards of $50.

But I got it from Google, for FREE! This is an incredible resource for historians.

From Google:

"This is a digital copy of a book that was preserved for generations on library shelves before it was carefully scanned by Google as part of a project to make the world’s books discoverable online.

...Public domain books are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that’s often difficult to discover.

Marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book’s long journey from the publisher to a library and finally to you."

I think that's really nice.

Google Book Search