In Ray Bradbury’s book Fahrenheit 451, one feature especially fascinates me — the idea of the so-called “book people.” In the bizarre futuristic “brave new world” society described by Bradbury, any sort of reading is banned, under the pretense that it supposedly stopped people from socializing with each other, prevented them from being “happy.” Any person owning books was arrested by a squad of firemen, and the books themselves were burned to cinders. However there was a secret society of intellectual dissidents hiding in the wilderness outside of the city. These “book people” were a group of fugitive scholars, each of which had committed a single great book to memory. They spend their days reciting their books and waiting for the day when literature will no longer be outlawed. Ray Bradbury hinted that those “book people” will save humanity, while “ordinary” people (those who spend their days staring at a television and popping packets of anti-depressant pills) will contribute to the degradation of society by falling victim to social conformity...

It seems that there has arrived the need for Bradbury’s “book people” in the real world. Therefore, myself as well as many other people feel that everybody should contribute today to the preservation of disappearing books. With a little bit of effort we can actually change the situation.

The tool of such change today can be the Internet. It is possible for rare and/or “controversial” books to be made freely accessible to anybody online. This is why, myself, I’m also going to try to find some very old and rare, or “controversial,” books and then scan them, thus making e-books that I can share with many other people over the Internet...


Balts and Aryans in their Indo-European Background
by Suniti Kumar Chatterji

This book is rather difficult and full of complicated linguistic terms, especially it might pose a challenge for those who are unfamiliar with Indo-European language relationships and history. Regardless, it is a fascinating read, and gives insight into the closeness of the Baltic languages (Lithuanian, Latvian, and Old Prussian) to Sanskrit in India.


A Manual of Scandinavian Mythology
by Grenville Pigott

Originally published in 1839, this was actually the first good book in English about Nordic mythology, particularly focusing on the characters and themes of the myths, as well as including a retelling of the two Eddas. This book especially attempts to connect popular superstitions with the Nordic stories, showing that fairy tales about witches, fairies, and dwarfs have their roots in the mythological traditions of Scandinavia.


The Viking Age
by Paul B. Du Chaillu

This very scholarly and archeologically-based book is an excellent way to discover the most minute details of Viking everyday life and society. There are hundreds of highly-detailed and accurate illustrations of various archeological finds, from pottery shards to burial treasure troves. It's not very exciting to read, but definitely a must for anyone interested in the Viking's material world, rather than spiritual.


The Book of the Sagas
by Alice S. Hoffman

This delightful children's book is a short and concise retelling of many of the most famous Nordic Sagas. It is also lavishly illustrated with original drawings and paintings. Though it doesn't contain much scholarly material, it is nevertheless a lovely book.


Eddic Mythology
by John Arnott MacCulloch

British scholar J.A. MacCulloch wrote numerous books on ancient mythology. This one is from the thirteen-volume Mythology of All Races that he also edited. The text is extremely detailed, but very readable; none of the turgid prose so often associated with academia.


Teutonic Mythology
Gods and Goddesses of the Northland
by Viktor Rydberg

This book, the author of which, Viktor Rydberg, was one of the greatest Swedish scholars of his time, is truly the most insightful work ever written on the fascinating subject of Teutonic mythology. It was published in English translation by the Norroena Society, which is an organization devoted to researching the purest teachings of the Asatru faith. The aim of this book was to preserve the old Germanic and Nordic myths by saving them from Christian influences. I myself use this great book extensively in my studies of the religion, mythology, and history of Northern Europe.


Myths of Northern Lands
by H. A. Guerber

This is a wonderful collection of age-old tales assembled by a noted scholar and folklore expert. The myths tell of the creation of the world and the deeds of various Norse gods and heroes. They offer a striking presentation of the ancient Germanic and Scandinavian lore that shaped the literature and cultures of Western civilization. This book is both entertaining and easy-to-read. It is narrated with special reference to literature and art. A terrific resource for anyone interested in northern European mythology and folklore.


The Balts
by Marija Gimbutas

This is a fascinating study of the ancient peoples that lived in the Baltic Sea area. The book has hundreds of drawings and photos of various archeological finds, all of which are extensively discussed. The author, a Lithuanian by birth, is world famous for her ground-breaking studies on the origin of the Indo-Europeans, and especially for her unique theory of a Goddess-centered Old European culture.


Norse Mythology:
Legends of Gods and Heroes
by Peter Andreas Munch

This famous book was a strong instrument of building nationalistic feeling in 19th century Norway. It was written by a famous Norwegian historian, and so it was taken much more seriously than other folklore of the time. The book established a sense of historical continuity between Norway’s independent, warlike past and its ideas of nationalism.


The Arctic Home in the Vedas
by Lokamanya Bal Gangadhar Tilak

This epic work, written by a Brahman scholar, conclusively proves, using examples from the Vedas, that the primeval homeland of the Aryans was in the far Arctic north, before the advent of the Ice Age. Then, the Aryans migrated from their ancient home southwards to Iran, India, and to Europe. Lokamanya Tilak, in the course of the book, quotes numerous passages from Vedic and Avestan literature, which confirm this Arctic home theory.



Asgard and the Home of the Gods
Adapted from W. Wagner by M. W. Macdowall

This book, which was originally written in German in the late 19th century, is a comprehensive account of the old pagan religious beliefs of the Vikings. It also recounts many of the myths, legends, and folk tales of Scandinavia, Germany, and France. Very rare and well worth the reading.


Today the so-called “controversial” books are more and more difficult to find. Mostly these days you can only buy them online, or at some small independent bookstore, or they’re just simply unavailable and out of print. Most libraries also don’t like to stock their shelves with such “unpopular” literature.

Even though there are a lot of e-books already available for reading and downloading all over the Internet (maybe even some of those that I have here). I will try to make them somewhat different from those many others.

For one, I’ve personally proofread all of these books more then once, so errors, I believe, are at their minimum. And, most important of all, every one of these e-books I made to look exactly like the original. I mean, that the page numbering is exactly the same as in the real book. I believe this would be especially useful for readers who are doing scholarly research and who may want to quote passages and thus need to specify the exact page in their footnote.

So far my Public Library is still very small, but I promise to add more and more books as often as possible. I will try to scan some rare old books from my own private collection, and I will also try to obtain such books from various academic libraries across America.

So, keep coming back, there will be many surprises in my e-library!