Website Wednesday

WOWIO at http://www.wowio.com/index.asp

You take strange journeys on the Internet. I heard of WOWIO from a KnitList to which I belong. I was interested in the knitting books listed there, but I stayed with the site because it’s such an interesting and changing place.

WOWIO says its passion is "FREE BOOKS + FREE MINDS" and describes itself as:

WOWIO is today the only source where readers can legally access high-quality copyrighted ebooks from leading publishers for free. Readers have access to a wide range of offerings, including works of classic literature, college textbooks, comic books, and popular fiction and non-fiction titles.

How to navigate the site:
- The home page has latest releases, staff favorites and other categories of books.
- Right now, there are four books listed under “Latest Releases” but click on “Latest Releases” and you’ll go to “Recently Added” books for a wide range of books. The same thing happens when you click on “Staff Favorites,” etc. I think you’ll be surprised by the breadth of the selections.
- Finished with the home page? Pull down the top right “Select A Category” menu and choose a topic which interests you. There’s History, Cooking, Health, Hobbies, Law, and many more.

Once you’ve chosen your book, here's how to read it online.

How to navigate a book:
- Click on the book title or cover to get to the book’s dedicated page.
- Click on “Read online free” and you’ll go to the front cover page.
- Try out the icons on the top status bar but be careful of the leftmost icon, it froze the site for me.
- The left and right arrows will take you slowly from page to page
- For a faster trip: there’s a scroll line in the middle on top (practically hidden at the beginning of the book.) Click anywhere along it and you’ll move to that page in the book.
- Finally, the text can't be copied but you can copy the page image.

I like to return to this site during those times I’m cruising the web for relaxation, though there’s plenty here to tax your brain. Their latest releases makes this a “must return to” site since it’s never stale. However, I think books are removed from the site also. I was reading a book on historical rulers a few weeks ago and now, no amount of searching can find it.

So block out some time and visit WOWIO. It may become addictive.

NOTE: This is not a child-safe site. There are books and biographical comics which are perfectly suitable for children. However, I would suggest that children navigate this site only with adult supervision.