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Free Classic Books by MIT Press on Archive.org

279 points by akaralar 9y ago

drallison 9y ago
Making classic MIT books available for free is only a tiny part of the many important things Archive.org is doing. The GOOD WORKS of the Archive is worthy of your financial support. https://archive.org/donate/ https://archive.org/donate/ to support the cause. Explore the website, http://archive.org http://archive.org, and discover the amazing collection.
- snakeanus 9y ago
  Archive.org is one of the greatest sites in the world right now. The only negative thing that I have to say about it is the retroactive removal of sites that have a anti-bot stance on robots.txt (even if it does not ban archive.org specifically). I would understand if they did not crawl sites that had such a robots.txt but I find the retroactive removal a dangerous policy.
  - ghaff 9y ago
    It's unfortunate but they operate in a sufficiently grey area of law that they really need to bend over backwards to comply with the wishes of someone who owns or may own the content. I don't particularly like it either but I understand why they feel it's a prudent policy.
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
    - Torwald 9y ago
      If internet access is a human right, which I believe the UN said it is? Well, then we could have special laws for internet archival? Much like we have laws that prevent the destruction of historical sites. It's not that anybody is making a quick buck at the expense of somebody else.
mrbill 9y ago
I wonder how they define "classics" - two of my cherished titles from MIT Press are "IBM's Early Computers" (1985) and "IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems" (1991). They're examples of what I consider "The Perfect Computer Book". https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/ibms-early-computers https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/ibms-early-computers https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/ibms-360-and-early-370-systems https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/ibms-360-and-early-370-system...
- jackfoxy 9y ago
  I started my career coding System 370 assembler. I'm curious as to what constitutes your perfect computer book.
  - mrbill 9y ago
    Depth of information, organization, etc. I wish there were more books like these covering other platforms - like one about DEC's minicomputers, another covering Cray, etc. Plus they're nice and thick, without a third of it being indexes and footnotes.
    - pinewurst 9y ago
      Another vote that both of these are great books - richly informative, classics of history of computing/technology. I own hardcover 1st editions of both.
    - pinewurst 9y ago
      Another vote that both of these are great books - richly informative, classics of history of computing/technology. I own hardcover 1st editions of both.
    - criddell 9y ago
      Have you read Tracy Kidder's book Soul of a New Machine? If so, what did you think? I read it five or six years ago and I loved it.
      - 9y ago
torstenvl 9y ago
Direct link: https://archive.org/details/mitpress?sort=-downloads https://archive.org/details/mitpress?sort=-downloads
- ZeroGravitas 9y ago
  There's about 4 times as many books with this link: https://archive.org/search.php?query=publisher%3A%22MIT+Press%22 https://archive.org/search.php?query=publisher%3A%22MIT+Pres... I'm not 100% sure what the difference is, I just noticed that one book I'd been able to borrow didn't show up on your list: https://archive.org/details/turtlegeometry00haro https://archive.org/details/turtlegeometry00haro
WalterBright 9y ago
What does it mean, "This item is restricted": https://archive.org/details/aircraftenginesg00kerr_0 https://archive.org/details/aircraftenginesg00kerr_0
- Jtsummers 9y ago
  From the article: “Together with MIT Press, we will enable the patrons of every library that owns one of these books to borrow it online–one copy at a time.” Looks like Archive.org will be hosting it, but you'll have to go through a library to access it. It's an improvement, but not freeing the books entirely. EDIT: I can't figure out a pattern. I can check out some, but not others with no discernible pattern. No connection to a library, just my Archive.org account.
  - toomuchtodo 9y ago
    Baby steps. Having Archive.org host a canonical copy forever is a huge leap forward compared to losing digital content to the ages.
  - wolfgke 9y ago
    > Looks like Archive.org will be hosting it, but you'll have to go through a library to access it. It's an improvement, but not freeing the books entirely. How is it prevented that I simply get a book, copy it and give it back?
    - wyldfire 9y ago
      The libraries use DRM enabled e-readers to lend content. Overdrive seems to be the most popular one for US libraries AFAICT.
      - mavhc 9y ago
        Luckily every DRM system hasn't been cracked, so it wasn't all pointless and annoying
spraak 9y ago
Which computer science books should I watch out for? I am a software developer but without a CS degree and I'd like to learn more CS fundamentals.
- snakeanus 9y ago
  Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs - 2nd Edition Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming And the books in the "The Little Schemer" series. I would also suggest "Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach" but this is not from MIT Press.
  - spraak 9y ago
    Thanks! And cool, the Little Schemer books is actually how I first started programming.
  - Jtsummers 9y ago
    SICP is already available online for free. https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html
  - MrMorden 9y ago
    MIT Press has published SICP online for free for years. https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html
    - snakeanus 9y ago
      Under CC-SA nonetheless. In fact, Hal Abelson (one of the authors of SICP) was also one of the founders of Creative Commons. Moreover the other author (Gerald J. Sussman) is in the board of directors of the FSF.
  - ghaff 9y ago
    FYI, there's a "gray market" paperback version of the AI text you mention available from Amazon at a very reasonable price--about 10% of the standard US version. This is the textbook for at least one AI-related edX MOOC (Columbia).
gtramont 9y ago
Hard not to think of Aaron Swartz when reading something like this…

279 points by akaralar 9y ago

Making classic MIT books available for free is only a tiny part of the many important things Archive.org is doing. The GOOD WORKS of the Archive is worthy of your financial support. https://archive.org/donate/ https://archive.org/donate/ to support the cause. Explore the website, http://archive.org http://archive.org, and discover the amazing collection.

snakeanus 9y ago
Archive.org is one of the greatest sites in the world right now. The only negative thing that I have to say about it is the retroactive removal of sites that have a anti-bot stance on robots.txt (even if it does not ban archive.org specifically). I would understand if they did not crawl sites that had such a robots.txt but I find the retroactive removal a dangerous policy.
- ghaff 9y ago
  It's unfortunate but they operate in a sufficiently grey area of law that they really need to bend over backwards to comply with the wishes of someone who owns or may own the content. I don't particularly like it either but I understand why they feel it's a prudent policy.
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
  - Torwald 9y ago
    If internet access is a human right, which I believe the UN said it is? Well, then we could have special laws for internet archival? Much like we have laws that prevent the destruction of historical sites. It's not that anybody is making a quick buck at the expense of somebody else.

mrbill 9y ago

I wonder how they define "classics" - two of my cherished titles from MIT Press are "IBM's Early Computers" (1985) and "IBM's 360 and Early 370 Systems" (1991). They're examples of what I consider "The Perfect Computer Book". https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/ibms-early-computers https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/ibms-early-computers https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/ibms-360-and-early-370-systems https://mitpress.mit.edu/books/ibms-360-and-early-370-system...

jackfoxy 9y ago
I started my career coding System 370 assembler. I'm curious as to what constitutes your perfect computer book.
- mrbill 9y ago
  Depth of information, organization, etc. I wish there were more books like these covering other platforms - like one about DEC's minicomputers, another covering Cray, etc. Plus they're nice and thick, without a third of it being indexes and footnotes.
  - pinewurst 9y ago
    Another vote that both of these are great books - richly informative, classics of history of computing/technology. I own hardcover 1st editions of both.
  - pinewurst 9y ago
    Another vote that both of these are great books - richly informative, classics of history of computing/technology. I own hardcover 1st editions of both.
  - criddell 9y ago
    Have you read Tracy Kidder's book Soul of a New Machine? If so, what did you think? I read it five or six years ago and I loved it.
    - 9y ago

torstenvl 9y ago

Direct link: https://archive.org/details/mitpress?sort=-downloads https://archive.org/details/mitpress?sort=-downloads

ZeroGravitas 9y ago
There's about 4 times as many books with this link: https://archive.org/search.php?query=publisher%3A%22MIT+Press%22 https://archive.org/search.php?query=publisher%3A%22MIT+Pres... I'm not 100% sure what the difference is, I just noticed that one book I'd been able to borrow didn't show up on your list: https://archive.org/details/turtlegeometry00haro https://archive.org/details/turtlegeometry00haro

WalterBright 9y ago

What does it mean, "This item is restricted": https://archive.org/details/aircraftenginesg00kerr_0 https://archive.org/details/aircraftenginesg00kerr_0

Jtsummers 9y ago
From the article: “Together with MIT Press, we will enable the patrons of every library that owns one of these books to borrow it online–one copy at a time.” Looks like Archive.org will be hosting it, but you'll have to go through a library to access it. It's an improvement, but not freeing the books entirely. EDIT: I can't figure out a pattern. I can check out some, but not others with no discernible pattern. No connection to a library, just my Archive.org account.
- toomuchtodo 9y ago
  Baby steps. Having Archive.org host a canonical copy forever is a huge leap forward compared to losing digital content to the ages.
- wolfgke 9y ago
  > Looks like Archive.org will be hosting it, but you'll have to go through a library to access it. It's an improvement, but not freeing the books entirely. How is it prevented that I simply get a book, copy it and give it back?
  - wyldfire 9y ago
    The libraries use DRM enabled e-readers to lend content. Overdrive seems to be the most popular one for US libraries AFAICT.
    - mavhc 9y ago
      Luckily every DRM system hasn't been cracked, so it wasn't all pointless and annoying

spraak 9y ago

Which computer science books should I watch out for? I am a software developer but without a CS degree and I'd like to learn more CS fundamentals.

snakeanus 9y ago
Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs - 2nd Edition Concepts, Techniques, and Models of Computer Programming And the books in the "The Little Schemer" series. I would also suggest "Artificial Intelligence: A Modern Approach" but this is not from MIT Press.
- spraak 9y ago
  Thanks! And cool, the Little Schemer books is actually how I first started programming.
- Jtsummers 9y ago
  SICP is already available online for free. https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html
- MrMorden 9y ago
  MIT Press has published SICP online for free for years. https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html
  - snakeanus 9y ago
    Under CC-SA nonetheless. In fact, Hal Abelson (one of the authors of SICP) was also one of the founders of Creative Commons. Moreover the other author (Gerald J. Sussman) is in the board of directors of the FSF.
- ghaff 9y ago
  FYI, there's a "gray market" paperback version of the AI text you mention available from Amazon at a very reasonable price--about 10% of the standard US version. This is the textbook for at least one AI-related edX MOOC (Columbia).

gtramont 9y ago

Hard not to think of Aaron Swartz when reading something like this…