We live in a time when the written world is literally at our fingertips. With our phones and devices, we can summon written content from a variety of platforms at nominal prices. Newspapers, blogs, novels, and social media of all manner are abundantly and instantly available.  Content literally travels at the speed of thought.  (Sometimes – unfortunately – written content travels faster than thought.)

But wait, there’s more that’s available. Much more.  There is the written word as it existed before the immediacy of social media.  There is the world of public domain literature. There is written content that has been good enough to have been preserved and long enough to be freely available in the public domain.

What does “public domain” mean? Simply stated, it means that the content is freely available to the public and not subject to copyright protection.  Some content – such as a government reports – is born in the public domain. Books in the United States, on the other hand, usually take 95 years to make it to the public domain. The journey to the public domain in other countries is shorter.   We have some postings here for Faded Page, a public domain site in Canada.  Please use this site only if you are traveling in Canada.

You Read It Here is a site for readers that presents content that is free to readers. There are six main sections our You Read It Here site.

Free Books in the Public Domain. Yes, this title is redundant, but it makes the point. The books here are free to readers. They’ve been around long enough that you can access them without any charge. Most of the books are linked to Project Gutenberg. You can read the book online or download the book to your computer or Kindle.

Short Fiction in the Public Domain.  Currently this section consists of short stories and short story collections.  We’ll be adding poetry.

Reports, Studies and Research Papers.  We hear about important reports and studies all the time.  The 2019 Mueller “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election” dominated the headlines for much of that year.  Other reports, such as the 1964 Warren Report on the Kennedy assassination and the Surgeon General’s report on smoking have been part of the national dialogue for decades.  All three reports are posted on You Read It Here.  A contributing editor to the reports section of You Read It Here is Dr. Gary VanLandingham of Florida State University.

Reading Resources.  This section provides links to Project Gutenberg, JSTOR, WorldCat and other resources that will connect readers to other means of multiplying their access to reading treasures.

Writers’ Sites and Readers’ Opportunities.  Through blogs and their websites, writers communicate directly with readers.  These sites connect YRIH readers with more current reading opportunities.  You will also find my top ten favorite books.  Perhaps ironically, none of these are in the public domain.  Readers will also see a variety of opportunities, including the courses to take and events to attend.

Travel Opportunities.  When we get out of this pandemic, it will be fun to travel again.  In the meantime, enjoy a virtual visit to Edgar Allen Poe’s House in Richmond, Virginia and the Nantucket Whaling Museum (think Moby Dick).

A General Note About Sensitivity and Sensibility.  Public domain materials are often a century old or older.  These writings will often contain language, express ideas and embody sentiments that are out of place in our time.  No doubt, some of the language, ideas and sentiments that are common in our writing today will be out of place one hundred years from now.  You should probably expect to be shocked and offended by some of what you read.

How to Download Books found on You Read It Here Dot Com.  Downloading books to your device will depend on your device and the source of the content.  I’ve found it easy to download to PC’s, phones, IPads and similar devices.  I’ve had less success with Kindles but I’m working on it and will post directions here in the future.  Project Gutenberg downloads to multiple devices and YRIH is programed to open to the Gutenberg screen that opens to multiple devices.  Google Books downloads can be done several ways.  In some cases there are three dots (the “More Actions Menu”) on the right side of the top row.  Left click on the three dots and you are given the option to “Download this book”.  Follow the directions from there.  On other Google Books, there is a hexagon figure on the right side of the “Books” row.  Left click on the hexagon figure and you are given download options.  There may be other download modes for Google Books but these are the two that I have seen thus far.