Tuesday, August 16, 2011

Project Gutenberg and the Indian Connection


If you have not heard of Project Gutenberg, it is oldest digital library, in making since 1971, encouraging distribution of free e-books. Since then, it has not just made 30,000 e-books in various languages free to access but also many useful audio books and videos. For more information, we have Wikipedia. Now, you have one minute to free your mind and set it on thinking to guess what the Indian connection is. Think wild, set your imaginations free. Free your mind! For those of you bright minds who have guessed it right, hi-fi. And, never mind if you have not figured it out yet.

It is none other than our very own second century collection of Sanskrit writings by Vatsayana on Kama Sutra. This book is the most popular e-book on Project Gutenberg, scoring the most number of downloads. Apparently, Apple rejected an app on Project Gutenberg for iPhones because people could search and download this book on love through the app. Strange and funny, but true!

As always we have tough competition as to what India is famous for at international level, and this case does not help solving the issue. What do you think is India famous for - (a) head wobbling, (b) mystic and spiritual yoga gurus, (c) the curry smells, or (d) as Land of Love?

P.S. There are some excellent books in this website. If you are a Kindle person, then this is your gold mine because this resource lets you download versions of e-books for Kindle Explore it, leisurely! 

6 comments:

  1. Thanks Vee for the information.. Will explore it for sure..

    Someone is Special

    ReplyDelete
  2. I didn't know about it.. tks for sharing Vee.

    that's interesting that KS is one of the most downloaded book there!

    Well, i guess India is famous of all the things u mentioned- add buttter chickkken, bhangra and SRK to the list!

    LOL@ head wobbling!!!

    RESTLESS

    ReplyDelete
  3. SiS -
    It has some really wonderful books, do check it out!

    Restless -
    Head wobbling is definitely one of the most famous things. I have so many people asking me about it. If I have to categorize, most of them who have ask about it are Chinese. Might be the case that we have a very good reputation for the way we respond to things with a universal nod, wobble!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Yeah, even I noticed Kamasutra on Gutenburg Project. I love the Jane Austen collection there. There are a lot of books out there, especially on history and geography. All we need is more time, more time.

    ReplyDelete

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