It’s been just over a year since OverDrive added Project Gutenberg eBooks to its content offerings (and only a few weeks since the PG eBooks became available outside the US), and they’ve proved very popular.

OverDrive released a list today that summarized the 25 most commonly downloaded Project Gutenberg eBooks.You can find the complete list over on the OO blog, and here are the top 5 titles.

1. The Kama Sutra of Vatsyayana by Vatsyayana
2. The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen
4. The Best American Humorous Short Stories
5. Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll

The most interesting detail about this list isn’t the titles on it. No, this list is curious because it is so very similar to Project Gutenberg’s own list of popular titles. There are very many names in common, and they are even in the same order. I would have expected to see more differences between the 2 lists. After all, library patrons and visitors to the PG website don’t necessarily have much in common.

BTW, what sets these ebooks apart is that OverDrive helps libraries host and share the PG eBooks, but it doesn’t sell them. The eBooks are free to download and do not have DRM.

via OverDrive

image by prettydaisies