Finding reference books and textbooks online can become frustrating fast. In an era where almost everything is available on a digital platform, it’s quite surprising why so many non-fiction books have been left behind. An overwhelming amount of informative books are not available online. If they are, they are just as expensive as their printed counterparts.
Looking for the specific book you want to access and download on the internet is also a tedious and time-consuming task. Sometimes these books are only available on old websites that are obviously not maintained or moderated, leading to constant malfunctioning. Other times there are a lot of misleading links that make you think you found the right book, but after downloading it, you discover it’s malware.
Did you know that Pirate Bay books are available and that many things on the site are completely legal to download? In this guide, we tell you everything you need to know.
Table of Contents
Remind Me What Reference Books Are?
Reference books are kinds of books that allow readers to get quick and specific facts or information on a topic. Some examples of these books are almanacs, atlases, bibliographies, dictionaries, directories, encyclopedias, and handbooks. These books are extra important and useful for students who are exploring a new subject or starting a research paper. It is essentially the first you look at when you are learning a new topic.
The ethics of pirating books has long been debated. Let’s face it– books are not cheap. This now becomes a dilemma for many self-supporting students. Oftentimes, they do not have the means necessary to buy all of the required textbooks assigned to them or reference books they need to finish their assignments. This is why a lot of them resort to torrenting.
Advantages of Digital Books or eBooks
Almost everyone has a smartphone. And although many readers agree that digital books or ebooks are nothing compared to physical books, we can’t deny the convenience it brings.
Space and Effort
The biggest edge that ebooks have over physical books is the space and the effort it takes to carry them. With ebooks, you can easily bring thousands upon thousands of books in the palm of your hands. You can browse and read them anytime, anywhere. You can read them while riding on the bus to school, or when waiting for your mom to finish shopping at the mall.
Cost
It is also cheaper to produce e-books than their physical counterpart. With physical books, it takes a while to mass produce because it needs to be printed, sorted, and bound. I won’t even talk about the logistics it takes to distribute these books as it is a long, tedious, and tiring process. eBooks can easily be uploaded and distributed to everyone around the world in just a single click.
Why Download Textbook Torrents?
So now we’ve established the importance of digital books and ebooks, the question now is where to find and download them. Some books are difficult to find online, especially for free. The books that are easily available are just as expensive as the physical books, which doesn’t make a lot of sense because the cost it takes to distribute ebooks is not as expensive.
So how can you find them? Luckily for us, there are a number of torrent websites that have long served as free sources of a wide range of data– including movies, music, tv shows, and even software.
But navigating through these websites to find books specifically can be hard as many are not dedicated for books only.
How To Safely Torrent Text Books
Use a VPN
When torrenting, it’s important to use a VPN to protect your identity and keep your activity private. That’s because when you download files via BitTorrent, your IP address is visible to everyone on the network.
A VPN (or virtual private network) encrypts all of your traffic and routes it through a private server, hiding your activity and IP address from prying eyes. Additionally, a good VPN will also hide your location, allowing you to access geo-restricted content that would otherwise be unavailable in your country.
Keep Your PC Up to Date
Another important safety measure to take when torrenting is to keep your PC up to date with the latest security patches. That’s because hackers are constantly looking for new ways to exploit vulnerabilities in popular software, including BitTorrent clients.
By keeping your PC up to date, you can reduce the chances of becoming a victim of a hacking attack. Additionally, it’s also a good idea to install a reputable antivirus program and firewall to further protect your device.
Choose Your Content Carefully
When downloading torrents, it’s important to choose your content carefully. That’s because some torrents may contain malicious files that can harm your computer.
To stay safe, only download torrents from trusted sources. If you’re unsure about a particular torrent, you can check reviews online to see what other users have to say.
Additionally, it’s a good idea to scan any files you download with an antivirus program before opening them. This will help ensure that you don’t inadvertently infect your computer with malware.
Be cautious of fake torrents
Another danger to be aware of when torrenting is fake torrents. These are files that claim to be one thing but are actually something else entirely.
For example, a fake torrent might claim to be a movie but instead contain a virus. Or, a fake torrent might purport to be a game but actually be an illegal copy.
To avoid downloading fake torrents, only download files from trusted sources. Additionally, you can check reviews online to see if other users have had problems with a particular file.
Observe copyright laws
Finally, it’s important to observe copyright laws when torrenting. Although downloading copyrighted material for free may seem like a tempting proposition, it’s important to remember that it is illegal in many countries.
Additionally, downloading copyrighted material puts you at risk of being fined or even jailed. So, if you do decide to torrent content, be sure to choose files that are not protected by copyright law.
In Conclusion
If you’re a frequent torrent user, then you know that not everything is safe for download. Especially free ones. So while the websites we listed here are safe and illegal, the torrents and files contained in its databases may not be. It’s not unlikely that you may click on a magnet link to download a file, but you could be downloading something else entirely.
This means that you need to practice safety when downloading copyrighted books, and other forms of content. Here are some safety tips to keep in mind when downloading torrents:
- The more seeders a torrent has, the more likely that it’s safe and true to its description. So only download torrents with a lot of seeders.
- PirateBay has its own verification button, but it comes in a skull. A skull icon that is often displayed next to a username denotes that they are a trusted or a VIP user, making it less likely for them to upload torrents with malicious content.
- Always read the comments. Torrents that do not have any comments or do have comments but seem suspicious like “Good file. Absolutely not a virus” are likely a virus.
- Use a VPN.
