 This is a detailed account of ‘www. gigapedia.com’ –”the knowledge sharing site”- including how to download books from the website with elaborate instructions and snapshots. Gigapedia is the largest repository of ebooks on the internet and better than any torrent site and a boon for students and research scholars not born with a silver spoon in the mouth! This is a quick how-to [~1200 words] on the download site which offers the most quality ebooks and other resources for free download. |
‘www. gigapedia .com’ has about 300000 items on various subjects for free download
The internet has a lot to offer in the age of digital piracy and the net is full of websites and bit torrent sites from where you can download free ebooks [see some links at the end of post]. But none of these can hold a candle to ‘gigapedia.com’ which is the most exhaustive site on the internet hosting download links to some 3000000 books, magazines, comics, videos etc. It is a blessing if you are willing to compromise a bit and
Variety of books for download
As you can see the snapshot of incomplete list of categories on the left, you can download books on various topics be it Social Sciences, Natural Sciences, Humanities, Tin Tin Comics, Health, Sex, Novels, Fiction, Non-fiction, Instructional material, Graphic Novels, Audio books, English Grammar, Vocabulary books and whatnot! You can also subscribe to the RSS feeds to stay updated for latest downloads on your favourite topics [making a request for uploading some book is not entertained though as per rules]. 
So helpful to my International Relations Research
For my research on ‘Russia-American Bilateral Relations’ I found so much there! Buying or even photocopying them would have cost me an arm and a leg [I dislike reading on my desktop though; hard copies are always better]! Many in my campus [JNU] are aware of it and use it for research and studies but most of those who know actually suppress information and not share it! Information dissemination is the major aim of this post because there is little on Gigapedia on the internet. Please read the step by step process below on downloading books from the said site and then take the road to El Dorado. 
How to download books from Gigapedia: A step- by-step tutorial and set of instructions
Read the blow-by-blow description and don’t jump the gun or else you may not be able to put it to an optimum use and your book downloading endeav
Gigapedia looks an innocent, unfriendly website at first glance but don’t judge the book by the cover
See the snapshot above, that’s the Gigapedia homepage. At first glance, the website looks like a dull and boring book review site which has nothing to do with free downloading! For a moment the pirate in you will think you are barking up the wrong tree. But hold your horses dear reader because that’s just the facade! The heaven lies within and need to explore.
Key to El Dorado: Register an account to reap the benefits and download books on Gigapedia
You need to be logged in to be able to see all the greenery on Gigapedia. Click on the ‘register’ link on the top right of the homepage and create an account. It takes less than a minute to do that. A Google account is mandatory and if you are living without one, you will soon be the odd (wo)man out! Save your login id and password after registration, needless to say!
Login and Search Books for download
The next obvious step after registration is to search the website for the goldmine! You can also browse by categories or user tags. So once you are logged in to Gigapedia, the then desert will throw up its verdant. On the right top search box, you type your keyword and choose the option ‘gigapedia’ search [the default is Google search and will take you to the Google book search results!] and press the search button. For example, I typed ‘Russia America Relations.’
It will throw up all the results. The above search on 10 August 2009 returned 86 results! All these books cost the earth and in some cases are not even available in many libraries in Delhi that I have visited!
The next step is clicking on the link for a book. I clicked on the first book link and this is what you get. This page has the description, comments, tags, preview and the links for download. Read the comments and look for bad comments, if any. You can also add a comment to it later if you liked the quality of the downloaded book or write a bad review if the downloaded item was not satisfactory. It is always nice to help other users when you are getting so much help from them. Please frequently use the option ’send a report to staff.’
You have to click on the ‘links’ to get the download links
Click on the ‘links’ and the page will throw up links to the sites like Ifileit, Rapidshare, Megaupload etc. Click on any of these and you can proceed for the download. I suggest you always use the Ifileit link because Rapidshare will make you wait in queue if you are a free user like me! The links page also has the info on size of file and whether or not it’s a PDF file [please note that you will not always get pdf file]. Some files are zipped and password protected. Note the password, if any, on the links page.
A greedy you also wants to download articles from journals and want free access to JSTOR?!
OMG, your appetite for free resources is immense! Okay, wish granted if you are from a developing country! Click here to read my post on how to get free access to JSTOR that will be heavenly for your research and studies! 
Conclusion and Disclaimer
The website loads easily and is fast though not very good looking [does that mater anyway?!]. It is better than any torrent site and you will find videos and documentaries too among other things. It is a manna from heaven for those hunting for free resources, books, comics, novels and the like on the internet! Please note that you will not find there everything because you must buy some things! If you share a broadband connection with a friend or family members, do not ruin their internet speed by downloading incessantly!
Please note that Gigapedia is a ‘link indexing site’ and a “knowledge sharing site.”
Some Links on free ebooks, BitTorrent, digital piracy concern
- Piracy: The Intellectual Property Wars from Gutenberg to Gates. Get this free e-book by Adrian Jones (University of Chicago Press). The author traces the history and evolution of piracy and among other things argues that piracy has been complementing creativity. Hat tip by Ed Wilson.
- 20 best websites to download free Ebooks
- The best 6 sites to get free eBooks
- NYT Article 9 May 2009: Print books are targets of pirates on the web
- The Big book of Bit Torrent: The torrent guide for everyone [PDF Manual]
Hey… this is wonderful..Informative…never heard of gigapedia before..
but i prefer a hard copy any day… reading on the computer is tiring
i found it very helpfull for me
Hey this is wonderful. It is going to be really helpful. Thanks Vikas
Aryan’s mom
I know about this site and have been using it a lot. But very nice informative post.
check it out this link freerapidsharedotcom. blogspot. com
Thank you Aryan’s Mom, Reema and Neena!
Hey, saw you blog after long (have been reading posts in GReader) and you had had a makeover! New layout is clean, pleasing and nice. But what are you doing to format of your posts? Instead of personal reflections of Vikas Gupta they appear more like documentary articles….bring bag the man!
*back the man*, but you knew that.
good morning
ilyas afsoh
from indonesia
i have pr 4/10
Wow!
I really like this site!!
Thanks for the information!!
nice info. it would save my money to buy printed book
Anyone interested in a fun, wild read then check this out? http://www.outskirtspress.com/Dreamalitybook
Thank you so much for this information!
your advertising isn’t helping the site….just draws undue attention. anyone who really wants to can find the site anyways.
Sure!!!! Will do that and i would let you know in some time.
nothing
Hey
Really it,s fantastic work.I read it thoroughly n got a lot of help be the said site.keep it up man.
i want to joint this site
I’M INTRESTED IN THIS SITE
u r blog is nice.
Do u have any idea that any sites giving free access to chemistry journals of chemistry and to download old volumes like tetrahedron,Russian chemical reviews and synthesis etc,.
new english file
Dude, this site looks awesome! Definitely another resource when I can’t find what I want elsewhere – how did you stumble across it?
Not quite ready to give up on torrents yet though! I still can’t believe that there’s one site to rule them all
Will let you know my experiences on it after a while…
Hey this was also informative..you have a very informative website..loaded with info
I owe you man, thanks for the tip! This ebook resource will go a long way in my education. Cheers from the 3rd/developing world! Hehe.
Does it violate copyrights if we download books at gigapedia? Kindly give your suggestions
Prince,
I am quoting some replies on another site:
Source: http://www.joemartaganna.com/2009/01/07/gigapediacom-the-ultimate-free-ebook-site/
Source:
thank you for your step by step tutorial.
Thank you mahanz for stopping by and leaving the comment. Welcome to the blog.
thaaaaaaaaaaaaank youuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu
you realllyyyy helppppppppp meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
Mina,
You are welcome!
Hi’
Can you please tell me the step by step procedure for downloading an ebook from gigapedia. e.g. a physics book . Actually I donot know anything about gigapedia .
Thank You .
Gurdeep, why don’t you read it?! It is a step-by-step tutorial!
THANKS A LOT ….
Thanks for providing alot of matters through the gigapedia…
very good
Vikas, I get a problem that sometimes the links tab doesn’t display links for me – then after i wait for sometime, I try again and sometimes it does, sometimes it doesn’t. After I’ve downloaded some books for 30 min, it seems to have this problem.
I’ve tried firefox, IE, and Chrome browsers and still get this flaky behavior. Do you have any idea why this is the case?
Bart,
This never happened to me or anyone I know. Do you close the link page/server link page while download is in progress!? You should not close the download link page. I can guess this as the only reason. If this is not the cause then I really can’t help here.
Maybe clear you cache etc. once. Use CC cleaner to clear everything.
I tried clearing cache (though didn’t try CC cleaner). I thought that maybe there is a limit in gigapedia depending on how much you download – it may shut off links for a while.
No! this can’t be true…this can’t be happening to me…guash! you’ve given me the treasure land. i’d been looking for quite a few books and journals…all over the internet and libraries…and wherenot.
I’m so thankful to you…
Tina, I hope you also know about torrents. You can also search things on Filestube.
ok
I have wrote a similar article about using this great website in persian .
I hope it will be helpful for iranians .
This is the link :
http://elecfa.com/?p=353
good luck .
hi
I have wrote a similar article about using this great website in persian .
I hope it will be helpful for iranians .
This is the link :
http://elecfa.com/?p=353
good luck .
Thanks Smitha, try it! I also don’t like reading on comp! See the JSTOR thing for scholarly articles!
Ashish,
Thanks for the appreciation of the blog.
Yes of late the personal posts have dwindled! Will try to bring back the man.
Your latest post the Indian joiny family photos is wonderful! http://clutterfrommymind.blogspot.com/2009/08/indian-joint-family.html
g,
I did not understand you. What do you mean by advertising?! I do not advertise my blogs except among my friends in the hostel [whom I really bug suggesting them to visit my blog].
This is a free blog hosted on WordPress. Sometimes WordPress shows Google AdSense contextual ads on the blog to maintain this free and awesome service. I do not make a penny from any of my blogs. If you are referring to those ad sense ads, it is done by WordPress.
Please explain where you saw any advertising.
Ok g, I understood you rather late. Thanks for the comment.
This is a suggestion for the site and not any advertisement for them [I am not officially or unofficially associated with them]. I had told my friends about the site and they just did not know how to download or find books there. So I wrote a short tutorial. I know it shows in the first two pages in Google when Gigapedia is searched!
g, I also understand now that you are suggesting that the more discreet it remains the better!
Thanks Ashok and welcome to the blog.
Sorry, I have no idea of Chemistry-specific sites and journals. You can also explore Orkut etc. on this. For example, this community on Orkut has book lists for downloading of IES electrical material.
Bhagwad,
The site is quite popular here; someone had told me of it. Don’t give up on torrents. Use both. I found so much on this site!
You will love it. Even Gigapedia people [I've a hunch] have commented here because it shows on first page in Google when Gigapedia is searched and they are not very comfortable about it!
BTW, the acronym of your name is BJP LOL! It just occurred to me!