Programs such as Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox allow you to use free books very easily. Simply head to the main Google Books page, search for and select whatever you would like to read. Within seconds, the book and its text will simply appear in your browser. You may want to experiment with different browsers to decide which you like best.
Viewing free Google books in your browser can sometimes be cumbersome. Many of these books can also be downloaded in e-book formats that allow a different, and sometimes better, reading experience. PDF files can be read with Adobe's Acrobat Reader program. Another popular format employed by Google is EPUB. According to Brandon Badger, EPUB is a lightweight format that allows you to view scanned text conveniently on several screens. (PDF files, on the other hand, are more like static images.)
Imagine: You're stuck in line at the Department of Motor Vehicles. Instead of simply being bored and twiddling your thumbs, you can simply turn on your phone and enjoy a free book you downloaded from Google. Books can be viewed in your phone's Web browser or in dedicated book-reader apps. The New York Times points out that several of these programs are available on the market, including Shortcovers and Aldiko.
In the past few years since their inception, dedicated e-book readers have become more commonplace. These devices are equipped with either black-and-white or color screens and are intended primarily for the display of books. Amazon's Kindle and Barnes and Noble's Nook both allow you to use free Google books. You can get the books in a couple of ways. First, you can download the book onto your computer and transfer it to the reader through a USB connection. Alternately, some Kindle and Nook units are equipped with 3G capability, allowing you to search for and download books straight to the device.