Sony Reader Gets 500K Free Books From Google

Google is making half a million books available for free on the Sony Reader, propelling it past Amazon’s Kindle as the e-book device with the most tomes, at 600,000, the AP reports. The availability of the public-domain books, all published before 1923, marks the first time Google has made its scanned-book collection available on a reader.

“Really our vision is: any book, anywhere, any time and on any device," said a Google spokeswoman. "We want to partner with anybody who shares our vision of making them more accessible." The collection includes works such as Charles Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities as well as nonfiction classics like Herodotus' The Histories. (More e-readers stories.)