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Book Search

Millions of books and free ebooks

Book Search searches a massive catalog of books by title, author, subject, or ISBN — and gives you full access to 60,000+ public domain ebooks you can read in full. Get cover images, descriptions, publication details, author bios, and trending titles, all in one place.

It's useful for readers discovering what to read next, researchers tracking down specific editions, and developers building book recommendation or reading features. The free ebook library includes classic literature, history, philosophy, and science texts from Project Gutenberg that you can read directly without downloading anything.

What you can do

  • Search books by title, author, topic, or any keyword combination
  • Look up exact editions by ISBN for precise publication details
  • Browse by author name or subject/genre
  • Get full author biographies and their top works
  • Discover trending and popular books
  • Search 60,000+ public domain ebooks and read their full text

Who it's for

Readers looking for their next book or exploring a genre. Researchers tracking down source texts or specific editions. Writers and content creators looking for source material. Developers building reading apps, recommendation systems, or research tools.

How to use it

  1. Use search_books for open-ended discovery — try a topic, author, or genre
  2. Call get_book_details with a work key from search results to get the full description, cover, and publication history
  3. Use lookup_isbn when you need details for a specific edition
  4. Use search_free_ebooks to find public domain books, then read_ebook to fetch the full text

Getting started

search_books needs no setup — run it with any query to start exploring the catalog immediately.

Search Books

Search for books by any query including title, author, or topic. Returns matching books with cover images, authors, publication year, and page counts.

Returns: List of matching books with title, authors, cover image URLs, publication year, page count, subjects, and work keys for detailed lookup
Get Book Details

Get full details for a specific book by its Open Library work key. Returns the complete description, subjects, cover images, publication date, and related links.

Returns: Complete book details including description, subjects, subject places and times, cover image URLs, first publish date, and related links
Lookup ISBN

Look up a book by its ISBN (10 or 13 digit). Returns the specific edition details including title, publisher, page count, publish date, and cover image.

Returns: Edition details including title, publishers, publish date, page count, cover images, physical format, and work key for further lookup
Search by Author

Search for books by a specific author name. Returns all matching books by that author with cover images, publication years, and subjects.

Returns: List of books by the specified author with titles, cover image URLs, publication years, page counts, subjects, and work keys
Search by Subject

Find books in a specific subject or topic area. Uses the Open Library subject catalog to return curated book lists for categories like fiction, science, history, and more.

Returns: List of books in the specified subject with titles, authors, cover image URLs, publication years, and edition counts
Get Author Details

Get detailed information about an author by their Open Library author key. Returns biography, birth and death dates, photo, and their top works with publication details.

Returns: Author details including name, biography, birth/death dates, photo URLs, total works count, and top works with titles and publication dates
Trending Books

Discover trending and popular books on Open Library. Returns books that are currently being read, wishlisted, or talked about, with daily, weekly, monthly, or yearly trends.

Returns: List of trending books with titles, authors, cover image URLs, publication years, edition counts, and reading activity stats (already read, want to read, currently reading)
Search Free Ebooks

Search over 60,000 public domain books from Project Gutenberg. Find free ebooks by title, author, or topic with download links in multiple formats including plain text, HTML, and EPUB.

Returns: List of matching free ebooks with titles, authors, subjects, download counts, and download links in HTML, plain text, EPUB, Kindle, and cover image formats
Read Ebook

Fetch the actual text content of a free ebook from Project Gutenberg by its book ID. Use this to read, summarize, analyze, or quote from public domain books.

Returns: The book text content with title, authors, format, character count, truncation status, and a URL to the full text for reading the complete work
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v0.042026-03-22
  • Added subtitle, expanded description, and agent instructions
v0.032026-03-21
  • Added search_free_ebooks skill for Project Gutenberg public domain books
  • Added read_ebook skill to fetch full text of free ebooks
v0.022026-03-20
  • Added sort and language filters to search_books
  • Added get_author_details skill
  • Added trending_books skill
v0.012026-03-20
  • Initial release with search, book details, ISBN lookup, author search, and subject browsing

Book Search Use Cases(6)

Browse all 6 Book Searchguides →
Open Find Books by Topic

Find Books by Topic

Search for books on any subject to discover the best titles for learning, research, or leisure reading.

Book Search icon
Book Search
4 agent guides
Open Research Business Books

Research Business Books

Find and evaluate business, leadership, and management books for professional development and organizational learning.

Book Search icon
Book Search
4 agent guides
Open Search Papers by Topic

Search Papers by Topic

Find relevant academic papers on any research topic across millions of scholarly publications.

Academic Research icon
Academic Research
4 agent guides
Open Geocode Addresses to Coordinates

Geocode Addresses to Coordinates

Convert street addresses into precise latitude and longitude coordinates for mapping and spatial analysis.

Address Geocoding icon
Address Geocoding
4 agent guides
See every Book Searchuse case (Claude, ChatGPT, Copilot, OpenClaw guides) →

Related Tools

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I search books by title, author, subject, or ISBN?

Yes. `search_books` handles broad queries, `search_by_author` and `search_by_subject` browse by category, and `lookup_isbn` is best when you already know the exact edition.

How do I get full book details after a search?

Use `get_book_details` with the Open Library work key from search results. It returns the description, subjects, cover images, publication date, and related links.

Can I read free public domain ebooks here?

Yes. `search_free_ebooks` finds Project Gutenberg titles, and `read_ebook` fetches the actual text so you can read, summarize, or quote from it.

Is there a way to browse popular or author-specific books?

Yes. `trending_books` shows popular titles by period, and `get_author_details` gives author bios plus top works with publication details.