Forgotten Books Review

Forgotten Books is a London-based book publisher that specializes in the restoration of old books, (fiction and non-fiction) – their purpose is to digitally restore and rejuvenate aged texts so they are accessible for generations to come. Based on this, I was really excited to write this Forgotten Books review for you.  Forgotten Books actually runs these old books through their restorative software to remove blemishes, and to revive them/return them to an authentic state.  So instead of just collecting and reprinting old books, Forgotten Books adds value in terms of quality and readability (you can still tell they’re old books – some were originally published as early as the 1600’s). Yes, the 1600’s!  I bet that piqued your interest!

Presently, Forgotten Books offers over 730,000 books  you can read online, download as e-books, or purchase in print (if you want to download one of the books you need to sign up for a membership), otherwise you can read a book for free, but not in its entirety. (Even when not a member, you do get to read a large majority of any given book – in my opinion – more than what you’d need if you’re searching for historical context).

FYI – this is what you get when you want to download a book if you’re not a member:

In addition to being able to read the majority of the text of these books without registering, by registering, you get access to an incredible amount of content. Including categories such as Mythology, Christianity, Shakespeare, Folklore, Psychology, Quantum Mechanics and more.

What I like about the site:

The user experience –

• It’s easy to search for books, and to “open” a book, skim through it, and decide if it’s of interest. I just recently saw the musical Hamilton and I listen to the CD constantly –so naturally, I searched Alexander Hamilton – and SO much came up!
• The design of the site is nice –  it’s easy to navigate – and the books look old.
• Reading options – you can access this website’s books from your phone or tablet, and for offline reading you can download the PDF of the book and transfer it to your device. Physical copies can be purchased on the site (free international shipping).
• Forgotten Books membership (unlimited access to over 730,00K books, including unrestricted online reading and downloading of e-books), is just $8.99/month.

Some books are still timely.

Some books aren’t timely, but provide a historical snapshot of society at a given time. 

• For instance, below are two excerpts from the 1835 book entitled, The American Frugal Housewife

Ox gall – who knew!?!

• If you are writing about a particular topic, and you want the historical context – what people were thinking during the same time frame, this is an excellent resource. For instance, if writing a paper about slavery, women’s suffrage, etc., you’ll find a ton of printed info/opinions from the time period (warning and/or spoiler alert – some will leave you aghast!).

In Conclusion

This is certainly an interesting site – especially for papers, historical context.  Lots of homeschooling parents will find it helpful to their homeschooling.

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