Did you know that the Library has a huge range of free nonfiction ebooks, which you can either read online or download for up to seven days?
To get started, browse our latest selection of ebooks and watch this space for new additions. You can also scan the list of past Ebookshelf titles or browse for even more free ebooks !
To access ebooks from home, you need to be a Victorian resident with a current State Library card . (Terms and conditions of use apply.)
The Tottenham Outrage and Walthamstow tram chase: The most spectacular hot pursuit in history The Tottenham Outrage and Walthamstow tram chase: The most spectacular hot pursuit in history Geoffrey Barton
In January 1909, two Latvian anarchists, Paul Helfeld and Jacob Lepidus, staged an armed robbery and double murder in the London suburbs of Tottenham and Walthamstow.
Over a period of two hours, the fugitives covered a distance of six miles travelling on foot, a hijacked tram and on horseback, pursued by up to 100 police officers and 1000 citizens. The anarchists fired 400 rounds during the chase, killing a policeman and a young boy, and injuring 23 bystanders.
The first in-depth account of this iconic event, Geoffrey Barton's book explains the political background to the arrival in the UK of armed revolutionaries such as Helfeld and Lepidus, and delivers fascinating police, social and local history based on extensive first-hand research.
Shadows of survival: A child's memoir of the Warsaw Ghetto Shadows of survival: A child's memoir of the Warsaw Ghetto Kristine Keese
More than 60 years after the events she describes, Kristine Keese shares the memories of her years spent in the Warsaw Ghetto as a small child. She owed her survival, and that of her young uncle, to the striking resourcefulness of her mother.
Kristine's story emerges as vividly as if it happened yesterday, full of details that only a child would notice.
The events of the Warsaw Ghetto and the fate of its residents have been described many times, but Keese's story is exceptional, told through the eyes not of a victim but of a child engaged with her daily reality focused on survival.
The writer's room: Conversations about writing The writer's room: Conversations about writing Charlotte Wood
These interviews from Charlotte Wood's now-offline journal, The writer's room , are essential reading for writers at all stages of their careers.
Featuring a wide-ranging group of well-known writers, the selection also provides pure reading pleasure for booklovers everywhere.
Revelatory and inspiring, Charlotte's subjects are frank about their failures and successes, and the struggles and triumphs of the writing life.
Martin Sharp: His life and times Martin Sharp: His life and times Joyce Morgan
Martin Sharp's art was as singular as his style. He blurred the boundaries of high and low art with images of Dylan, Hendrix and naked flower children that defined an era.
In this beautifully written biography, Joyce Morgan captures the loneliness of Sharp's privileged childhood, the heady days of the underground magazine Oz and the exuberant creativity of Swinging London and beyond.
Charismatic and paradoxical, Sharp obsessively championed eccentric singer Tiny Tim, was haunted by Sydney's Luna Park and became a recluse whose phone never stopped ringing. When the renowned Australian pop artist died in 2013, he was described as a stranger in a strange land who left behind a trail of stardust.
We are data: Algorithms and the making of our digital selves We are data: Algorithms and the making of our digital selves John Cheney-Lippold
Algorithms are everywhere, collected from our every digital search, like, click and purchase. They determine the news we receive, the ads we see, the information accessible to us and even who our friends are. They also determine who we are and who we can be, both on and offline.
In this era of ubiquitous surveillance, contemporary data collection entails more than gathering information about us. Entities like Google and Facebook decide what that information means, constructing our worlds and the identities we inhabit in the process. We have little control over who we are algorithmically.
Through a series of entertaining and engaging examples, John Cheney-Lippold looks at what identity means in an algorithmic age: how it works, how our lives are controlled by it, and how we can resist it.
Defiant earth Clive Hamilton
We have entered a new era: humans have become so powerful that we have disrupted the functioning of the earth, bringing on a new geological epoch – the Anthropocene.
What does it mean to have arrived at this point, where human history and the earth's history collide? Clive Hamilton argues that we need to rethink everything.
We have rendered the earth more unpredictable and less manageable; a disobedient planet. We must face the fact that humans are at the centre of a world that can't be controlled, and develop a philosophy by which we might use our power responsibly and find a way to live on a defiant earth.
Superfandom: How our obsessions are changing what we buy and who we are Superfandom: How our obsessions are changing what we buy and who we are Zoe Fraade-Blanar, Aaron M Glazer
'Fandom' isn't a noun, it's a verb. Fans create; they engage and discuss. In this new fandom-based economy, consumers may buy a product but it is the fans who can make or break it.
An essential guide to the fan-fuelled future, Superfandom delves into the history, sociology and psychology of fan culture, and how it can change the way business works. Through the internet, businesses can talk directly to their fans, hear their needs and desires, and react in real time. And while the benefits can be huge, businesses that exploit or ignore their fan bases do so at their peril.
Practical, investigative and reflective, Superfandom is an indispensable guide to the brave new world of tech-fuelled fandom.
Track changes: A literary history of word processing Track changes: A literary history of word processing Matthew G Kirschenbaum
The product of years of archival research and numerous interviews conducted by the author, Track changes is the first literary history of word processing, an innovation that was predicted by some as the death of literature.
Matthew Kirschenbaum asks who were the first adopters? What kind of anxieties did they share? Was word processing perceived as just a better typewriter or something more? How did it change our understanding of writing?
Track changes also considers the fate of literary scholarship and memory in an era when authorship may consist of folders on a hard drive or documents in the Cloud.
The barefoot investor The barefoot investor
There are thousands of finance books out there. So, with the end of the financial year looming, what makes this one different?
Rather than suggesting a strict budget that you probably won't follow, the book offers a step-by-step formula for creating a simple but effective financial plan that will help you manage your money in just 10 minutes a week.
The book is full of stories from everyday Aussies – single people, young families, empty nesters, retirees – who have applied Scott Pape's simple steps and achieved life-changing results.
Adulthood is a myth: A Sarah's Scribbles collection Adulthood is a myth: A Sarah's Scribbles collection Sarah Andersen
These casually drawn, perfectly on-point comics by the hugely popular young Brooklyn-based artist Sarah Andersen capture the horrors and awkwardness of young modern life.
Wasting entire weekends on the internet, the unbearable agony of holding hands on the street with a gorgeous guy, dreaming all day of getting home and back into pyjamas – Adulthood is a myth presents many fan favourites plus dozens of all-new comics exclusive to this book.
Like the work of fellow Millennial authors Allie Brosh, Grace Helbig and Gemma Correll, Sarah's frankness on personal issues such as body image, self-consciousness, introversion and relationships makes her comics highly relatable and deeply hilarious.
The fabulous flying Mrs Miller The fabulous flying Mrs Miller Carol Baxter
Petite, glamorous and beguiling, Jessie 'Chubbie' Miller was a remarkable woman – aviator, thrill seeker, heartbreaker. No adventure was too wild for her, no danger too extreme.
When the young Jessie left suburban Melbourne and her newspaperman husband in 1927, little did she know that she'd become the first woman to complete an England to Australia flight. That she would fly in the first air race for women with Amelia Earhart. Or that she would find herself at the centre of one of the most controversial murder trials in US history.
Carol Baxter’s biography tells the spellbinding story of an extraordinary woman who was an international celebrity during the golden age of aviation.
Those were the days: Australia in the sixties Those were the days: Australia in the sixties Ron and Elizabeth Morrison
In photographs and words, this beautifully presented book rekindles memories and offers new insights into the 1960s in Australia.
The Vietnam War and the conscription lottery; the loss of a prime minister by drowning; the building of the iconic Opera House; the change to decimal currency; Aboriginal recognition; the arrival of immigrants from the UK and Europe – these topics and more are explored, capturing this exciting decade of change Down Under.
The accompanying kaleidoscopic selection of images are in both colour and black-and-white, juxtaposed to emphasise the differences that emerged during the era.
Fan phenomena: Twin Peaks Fan phenomena: Twin Peaks Marisa C Hayes, Franck Boulègue (eds)
David Lynch and Mark Frost's seminal television series Twin Peaks debuted in April 1990 and ran only until June 1991. Yet the impact of this surreal, unsettling show – ostensibly about the search for the murderer of homecoming queen Laura Palmer – is far larger than its short run might indicate.
A forerunner of the moody, cinematic television shows that are commonplace today, and celebrating its return to screens in 2017, Twin Peaks ' cult status continues to thrive in the digital era.
The first non-academic collection that speaks to Twin Peaks ' fan base rather than a scholarly audience, the book takes a deeper look at the series' rich cast of characters, its iconic locations and the impact of new media and fan culture on the show's continued relevance.
D-Day in history and memory: The Normandy landings in international remembrance and commemoration D-Day in history and memory: The Normandy landings in international remembrance and commemoration Michael R Dolski, Sam Edwards, John Buckley (eds)
The Allied invasion of north-western France in June 1944 has come to stand as something more than a major battle. A vital component in the Allies' WWII victory, D-Day symbolises different things to different nations.
This book examines the commonalities and differences in national collective memories of the event, and the commemorative activities linked to the battle, as a way of viewing the various belligerents in their post-war years.
Chapters cover the main forces on the day of battle, including the US, Great Britain, Canada, France and Germany. In addition, a chapter on Russian memory of the invasion explores other views. The book reveals that memories vary over time and present-day needs, and have a clear national and cultural specificity.
Traditional Australian verse Traditional Australian verse Richard Walsh (ed)
Banjo Paterson, Henry Lawson, CJ Dennis and Adam Lindsay Gordon – these Australian poets were once household names, and most Australians could recite their most famous verse.
Here, for the first time in one volume, are all the great bush ballads, memorable songs and other poetry from the glory days of our bush tradition.
Find out what came next after 'There was movement at the station...' and read the original versions of 'Advance Australia Fair', 'Bound for Botany Bay' and 'The dog sat on the tucker box'.
Selected to entertain and delight newcomers and traditionalists alike, this treasury offers equal parts merriment, calumny, lyricism and gentle melancholia.
Have ye no homes to go to? The history of the Irish pub Have ye no homes to go to? The history of the Irish pub Kevin Martin
The pub has been at the centre of Irish life for centuries. Often plain and unpretentious, the pub is neutral ground, a leveller – a home away from home that has played many roles: restaurant, music venue, job centre and meeting place for everyone from poets to revolutionaries.
From the feasts of high kings, through the heady gang-ruled pubs of 19th-century New York, right up to the gay bars and superpubs of today, this is an entertaining journey through the evolution of the Irish pub.
The story of the Irish pub is the story of Ireland itself, and the global export of Irish craic, the pubs’ significance to emigrants, and their portrayal in cinema, television and literature are engagingly explored.
