Free Classic Books by MIT Press on Archive.org (opens in new tab)

(openculture.com)

279 pointsakaralar8y ago36 comments

36 comments

23 comments · 6 top-level

spraak8y ago· 7 in thread

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.

snakeanus8y 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.

MrMorden8y ago

MIT Press has published SICP online for free for years.

https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html

1 more reply

ghaff8y 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).

Jtsummers8y ago

SICP is already available online for free.

https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html

spraak8y ago

Thanks! And cool, the Little Schemer books is actually how I first started programming.

modernerd8y ago

A good list here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4626259

_Codemonkeyism8y ago

"Distributed Systems: Principles and Paradigms", Andrew S. Tanenbaum

WalterBright8y ago· 4 in thread

What does it mean, "This item is restricted":

https://archive.org/details/aircraftenginesg00kerr_0

Jtsummers8y 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.

toomuchtodo8y ago

Baby steps. Having Archive.org host a canonical copy forever is a huge leap forward compared to losing digital content to the ages.

executesorder668y ago

How do you "borrow something online" ?

If I download a file from a server, I am sent a copy of the file. They only way I can "borrow" something online, is if they sent me a copy of the file, and then deleted their copy after I received my copy. Then we have to follow the same process in reverse when I "return" the file.

1 more reply

wolfgke8y 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?

1 more reply

mrbill8y ago· 3 in thread

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-360-and-early-370-system...

jackfoxy8y ago

I started my career coding System 370 assembler. I'm curious as to what constitutes your perfect computer book.

mrbill8y 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.

3 more replies

DrScump8y ago

IBM's actual mainframe-product manuals (hardware and software) were frighteningly thorough, as I recall... even those that were probably read in detail a few hundred times (ever, anywhere) at most.

1 more reply

drallison8y ago· 2 in thread

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/ to support the cause.

Explore the website, http://archive.org, and discover the amazing collection.

snakeanus8y 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.

ghaff8y 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.

2 more replies

torstenvl8y ago· 1 in thread

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

ZeroGravitas8y ago

There's about 4 times as many books with this link:

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

gtramont8y ago

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

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

36 comments

23 comments · 6 top-level

spraak8y ago· 7 in thread

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.

snakeanus8y 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.

MrMorden8y ago

MIT Press has published SICP online for free for years.

https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html

1 more reply

ghaff8y ago

Jtsummers8y ago

SICP is already available online for free.

https://mitpress.mit.edu/sicp/full-text/book/book.html

spraak8y ago

Thanks! And cool, the Little Schemer books is actually how I first started programming.

modernerd8y ago

A good list here: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4626259

_Codemonkeyism8y ago

"Distributed Systems: Principles and Paradigms", Andrew S. Tanenbaum

WalterBright8y ago· 4 in thread

What does it mean, "This item is restricted":

https://archive.org/details/aircraftenginesg00kerr_0

Jtsummers8y 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.

toomuchtodo8y ago

Baby steps. Having Archive.org host a canonical copy forever is a huge leap forward compared to losing digital content to the ages.

executesorder668y ago

How do you "borrow something online" ?

1 more reply

wolfgke8y 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?

1 more reply

mrbill8y ago· 3 in thread

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-360-and-early-370-system...

jackfoxy8y ago

I started my career coding System 370 assembler. I'm curious as to what constitutes your perfect computer book.

mrbill8y 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.

3 more replies

DrScump8y ago

IBM's actual mainframe-product manuals (hardware and software) were frighteningly thorough, as I recall... even those that were probably read in detail a few hundred times (ever, anywhere) at most.

1 more reply

drallison8y ago· 2 in thread

Explore the website, http://archive.org, and discover the amazing collection.

snakeanus8y ago

ghaff8y ago

2 more replies

torstenvl8y ago· 1 in thread

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

ZeroGravitas8y ago

There's about 4 times as many books with this link:

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

gtramont8y ago

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

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse