How to use classic Google Books

On Google Books, you can read books and magazines, download them, cite them, and translate them. Some books are provided by publishers, while others are scanned as part of the Library Project.

Read, download, cite, link, or translate a book or magazine

1. Go to Google Books.
2. Search for the title, author, ISBN, or keywords.
3. To search with filters, do an advanced search. Learn how much of the book you can see.
4. Click a title.
5. To download, cite, link or translate, follow the steps below.

Download a book

You can download some books and magazines at no charge to read later or print.

1. At the top left, hover over eBook - Read at no cost.
2. Next to "Download," click PDF or EPUB.

If you don’t see "eBook - Read at no cost," click Buy eBook. This will give you the option to buy the book.

Cite a book

1. On the left, click About this book.
2. Scroll down to "Bibliographic information." You’ll see information you can use to cite the book.

Copy or translate part of a book

1. At the top of the page, click Cut . This option isn't available for all books.
2. Select text in the book.
   • To copy the text as words, under "Selection text," select and copy it.
   • To copy the text as an image, under "Image" or "Embed," copy the URL.
   • To translate the text, click Translate.

If you don’t see the option to copy or translate text, the publisher hasn’t made it available for this book.

Link to a book

Learn how to link to individual titles on Google Books.

Fix common problems

You can't see a book or magazine

Try these common fixes:

1. Turn off any ad blocker plugins or extensions. Learn how to turn off extensions.
2. Use another browser, like Chrome or Safari, to open Google Books.
3. Follow the steps to clear your browser’s cache and cookies.

If you’re still having issues, contact us.

You can't see the full book

The owner hasn’t agreed to show the entire book, or it might not be fully scanned.

• To look for the book in a library: On the left, click Get print book Find in a library.
• To buy the book online: On the left, click Get print book, then select a retailer.
• If you think the book is available in the public domain in your country, ask us to review it.
• If you own the book or magazine and want to allow Google Books to show more of it, claim the book.

Contact us

To report poor quality, missing pages, or illegal or offensive content, contact us.