# Standard Ebooks

34 Hacker News commenters recommended Standard Ebooks and 8 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 9 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Free, carefully typeset and proofread EPUBs of public domain classics, with git-tracked source for every book. Common caveat: some critics dislike its editorial changes to the original texts.

## Why people recommend it

- Well-formatted, polished editions (7 comments): "Public domain catalogs are huge now. Standard Ebooks, Internet Archive, Gutenberg - tens of thousands of well-formatted free EPUBs." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47838994)) "I've used https://standardebooks.org/ to pull nicely formatted Project Gutenberg books on any e-reader" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48150991)) "Standard Ebooks does a nice job of typesetting and proofreading" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46115029))
- Free access to public domain classics (8 comments): "For public domain books, I use Standard Ebooks, Project Gutenberg, and Internet Archive, generally in that order." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47684550)) "Most of the ebooks I've been reading lately are all public domain classics from Standard Ebooks." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49719724)) "I loved when I found StandardEbooks.org and Gutenberg - all these classic books for free." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46630550))
- Consistent, standards-compliant EPUBs (7 comments): "That will get you a decent standards-compliant file with basic accessibility features accounted for." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48285394)) "it is generally trivial to use their tooling to build your own high-quality ebook" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48158890)) "Standard Ebooks takes consistency to an unbelievable level." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48152770))
- Polishes Project Gutenberg texts (3 comments): "is excellent and my understanding is that they use Gutenberg books as a source for theirs but done up much nicer" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48151111)) "I've used https://standardebooks.org/ to pull nicely formatted Project Gutenberg books on any e-reader" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48150991)) "They take the text from Gutenberg and add a level of polish to the ePubs." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48151091))

## What people warn about

- Editorial changes alter original texts (4 comments): "they do edit the books to make changes for readability" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48710468)) "Many of the changes are unjustified IMO, and often detract from the charm of the original" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48216144)) "it was non-trivial because the editorial changes are mixed with the technical changes" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48164412))
- Harsh dismissals of its quality (4 comments): "SE sounds truly, truly awful. Thanks for making me aware of its existence so I can avoid it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48158409)) "Why would I want books from people who have an aversion for doing things right?" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46469158)) "has a serious addiction to publishing dreck no one should waste time reading" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48804212))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Anna's Archive](https://hackerapproved.com/p/anna-s-archive.md): 134 recommend
- [Project Gutenberg](https://hackerapproved.com/p/project-gutenberg.md): 76 recommend
- [Library Genesis](https://hackerapproved.com/p/library-genesis.md): 15 recommend
- [LibGen](https://hackerapproved.com/p/libgen.md): 12 recommend
- [SourceLibrary](https://hackerapproved.com/p/sourcelibrary-org.md): 11 recommend

## Where to get it

- [Visit the official site](https://standardebooks.org/)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Standard Ebooks", https://hackerapproved.com/p/standard-ebooks/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).