A free offline library for learning, reasoning, building, repairing, growing, organizing, and understanding the world.
The MT Open Knowledge Library is a growing set of downloadable, offline knowledge collections from Dan Peters Designs. The goal is simple: put useful books, manuals, reference works, and primary documents into packages people can actually keep, copy, archive, and use without an account, subscription, cloud service, or permanent internet connection.
The library is organized into downloadable Book Cases. Each Book Case is a self-contained collection arranged into shelves by subject, so people can keep only the parts of the larger library they want.
Book Case 1 — The First 100 Books You Need is a deliberately broad starter library covering critical thinking, political and economic ideas, founding documents, history and classics, math and science, health and sanitation, agriculture, construction, practical engineering, preparedness, organization, and reference.
This collection is not intended to tell anyone what to believe. Competing ideas are included on purpose. The point is to give people material to compare, question, learn from, build with, and preserve.
Book Case 1 — The First 100 Books You Need — v1.0
Status: Final release package prepared — 100/100 slots included.
Archive: The-First-100-Books-You-Need-v1.0.zip
Approximate size: 3.0 GB
SHA-256:c8a832026ccc966aa82cb9d1f40f4f3bf89a6626d3e89d79ae591327e26294c5
Download: Download The First 100 Books You Need v1.0 (ZIP, ~3.0 GB)
Checksum: SHA-256 checksum file
How to use it
- Download the ZIP and verify the SHA-256 checksum if you can.
- Extract it on Windows, Linux, macOS, a NAS, home server, or removable drive.
- Open
00_START_HERE/START_HERE.mdfirst. - Browse Book Case 1 by shelf or slot number. No special reader, server, login, or internet connection is required for normal use.
- Copy it to a USB drive, laptop, home server, school lab, workshop machine, emergency-information drive, or other offline store.
- If you redistribute the package, keep the required rights, attribution, source, provenance, and checksum files with it.
The package includes exact file manifests, source/provenance records, applicable license and attribution notes, and per-file SHA-256 hashes so future copies can be checked and traced back to their release sources.
Book Case 1 is only the beginning
The First 100 Books You Need is Book Case 1 in the MT Open Knowledge Library. Each Book Case is a self-contained downloadable collection arranged into subject shelves. Rather than turn one download into an endless multi-hundred-gigabyte pile, future Book Cases can be released separately. People can keep only the cases they want, or stack them together into a much larger offline library.
Next separate collection: the U.S. Army Field Manual Library, scheduled to follow later today. That package is being built as its own government-manual collection instead of mixing hundreds of field manuals into the general book shelves. The collection target is the full Library of Congress U.S. Army Field Manuals inventory, with distinct editions/dates treated as separate items where available.
After that, the MT Open Knowledge Library can continue growing through additional Book Cases and separate government/publication collections such as Technical Manuals, training and doctrine publications, practical reference collections, and other material that can be sourced and redistributed responsibly.
Every Book Case and special collection is intended to carry the same basic release discipline: a start-here guide, rights/source information, exact provenance where available, a file manifest, and cryptographic checksums.
Book Case 1 — complete v1.0 title and rights list
The descriptions below summarize the redistribution basis used for this specific U.S.-oriented release. The files inside the archive contain the more detailed source URLs, attribution notes, and provenance records.
| # | Title | Rights / redistribution basis |
|---|---|---|
| 001 | How We Think | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 002 | A System of Logic | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 003 | Logic, Inductive and Deductive | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 004 | Novum Organum | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 005 | An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 006 | The Problems of Philosophy | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 007 | Discourse on the Method | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 008 | Rhetoric | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 009 | Gorgias | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 010 | The Art of Controversy | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 011 | The Republic | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 012 | Politics | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 013 | The Prince | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 014 | Leviathan | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 015 | Second Treatise of Government | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 016 | The Social Contract | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 017 | On Liberty | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 018 | Considerations on Representative Government | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 019 | The Communist Manifesto | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 020 | The Conquest of Bread | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 021 | The Wealth of Nations | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 022 | Principles of Political Economy | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 023 | Progress and Poverty | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 024 | Mutual Aid | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 025 | Rights of Man | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 026 | Reflections on the Revolution in France | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 027 | Democracy in America | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 028 | A Vindication of the Rights of Woman | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 029 | Socialism: Utopian and Scientific | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 030 | The Federalist Papers | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 031 | The Magna Carta — Project Gutenberg #10000 | Public domain (U.S.); Project Gutenberg notice retained |
| 032 | English Bill of Rights (1689) | Public-domain work; Wikisource transcription CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| 033 | Virginia Declaration of Rights (1776) | Public-domain U.S. government edict; Wikisource transcription CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| 034 | Declaration of Independence | U.S. government / public domain |
| 035 | Articles of Confederation | U.S. government / public domain |
| 036 | U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Amendments | U.S. government / public domain |
| 037 | Pamphlets on the Constitution of the United States, 1787–1788 (Anti-Federalist-era primary sources) | Public domain (U.S.); Project Gutenberg notice retained |
| 038 | Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen | Public-domain U.S. translation; Wikisource transcription CC BY-SA 4.0 |
| 039 | Declaration of Sentiments | U.S. government / public domain |
| 040 | American Civic Speeches collection | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 041 | Walden + Civil Disobedience | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 042 | The Iliad | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 043 | The Odyssey | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 044 | Nicomachean Ethics | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 045 | Meditations | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 046 | Discourses + Enchiridion | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 047 | The Analects | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 048 | Autobiography | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 049 | Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 050 | World Wisdom set: Tao Te Ching + Bhagavad Gita + Dhammapada | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 051 | Prealgebra 2e | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 |
| 052 | Algebra and Trigonometry 2e | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 |
| 053 | Introductory Statistics 2e | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 |
| 054 | College Physics 2e | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 |
| 055 | Chemistry 2e | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 |
| 056 | Biology 2e | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 |
| 057 | Anatomy and Physiology 2e | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 |
| 058 | Writing Guide with Handbook | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 |
| 059 | U.S. History | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 |
| 060 | World History, Volumes 1 and 2 | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 |
| 061 | TC 4-02.3 Field Hygiene and Sanitation | U.S. government public-release source |
| 062 | ATP 4-02.11 Casualty Response, Tactical Combat Casualty Care, and First Aid | U.S. government public-release source |
| 063 | Microbiology | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 |
| 064 | Healthy Housing Inspection Manual — CDC/HUD (2008) | U.S. federal public-domain publication |
| 065 | The Ship’s Medicine Chest and Medical Aid at Sea — USPHS (2003) | U.S. federal government publication; see bundled provenance |
| 066 | NIDCR Oral Health Reference Packet | Public-domain NIDCR materials + U.S. federal excerpt |
| 067 | Emergency Disinfection of Drinking Water | U.S. government source; see bundled provenance |
| 068 | Groundwater basics and wells reference | U.S. government / public domain |
| 069 | FEMA — Are You Ready? An In-depth Guide to Citizen Preparedness | U.S. federal government publication; see bundled provenance |
| 070 | Public Health Emergency Response Guide, Version 2.0 | U.S. federal government publication; see bundled provenance |
| 071 | USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning | NCHFP: not-for-profit personal/educational copying with attribution |
| 072 | Soil Survey Manual + field soil reference | U.S. government source; see bundled provenance |
| 073 | Manual of Gardening | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 074 | Agriculture for Beginners | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 075 | The Farm That Won’t Wear Out | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 076 | The Story of the Soil | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 077 | Farm Poultry | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 078 | Irrigation and Drainage | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 079 | The Farmstead | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 080 | NRCS Engineering Field Handbook selections | U.S. federal government publication; see bundled provenance |
| 081 | Shelters, Shacks and Shanties — Daniel Carter Beard | Public domain (U.S.); Project Gutenberg notice retained |
| 082 | Builder 3 & 2 — NAVEDTRA 14043/14044 | U.S. government public-release source |
| 083 | Blueprint Reading and Sketching — NAVEDTRA 14040 | U.S. government public-release source |
| 084 | Basic Machines — NAVEDTRA 14037 | U.S. government public-release source |
| 085 | Construction Electrician Basic — NAVEDTRA 14026 | U.S. government public-release source |
| 086 | Utilitiesman Basic — NAVEDTRA 14265/14279 | U.S. government public-release source |
| 087 | Army engineering reference: Carpentry | U.S. government source; see bundled provenance |
| 088 | USACE Standard Practice for Concrete for Civil Works Structures — EM 1110-2-2000 | U.S. federal government publication; see bundled provenance |
| 089 | Practical Hand Book of Gas, Oil and Steam Engines | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 090 | The Radio Amateur’s Hand Book | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 091 | Robert’s Rules of Order Revised | Public domain (U.S.) |
| 092 | Principles of Accounting, Volume 1 | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 |
| 093 | Principles of Management | CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 |
| 094 | FM 3-25.26 Map Reading and Land Navigation (2001) | U.S. government public-release source |
| 095 | ATP 3-50.21 Survival | U.S. government public-release source |
| 096 | ATP 3-90.96 / MCTP 12-10E Arctic and Extreme Cold Weather Operations | U.S. government public-release source |
| 097 | Boy Scouts Handbook, First Edition (1911) | Public domain (U.S.); Project Gutenberg notice retained |
| 098 | Family Shelter Designs — Office of Civil Defense H-7 (1962) | U.S. federal government publication; see bundled provenance |
| 099 | Nuclear War Survival Skills — ORNL-5037 (1979) | U.S. federal government publication; see bundled provenance |
| 100 | Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary + Roget’s Thesaurus | Public domain (U.S.); Project Gutenberg notice retained |
Rights, licenses, attribution, and redistribution
This page is a practical release summary, not legal advice. Copyright and public-domain status can differ by country. Public-domain determinations for this release are primarily U.S.-oriented.
- Individual works keep their own rights. Being inside this collection does not replace, expand, or erase an author’s, publisher’s, source site’s, or license holder’s terms.
- Project Gutenberg: public-domain underlying works are included with the applicable Gutenberg notices retained. Project Gutenberg trademark/license conditions still apply to Gutenberg-branded files.
- OpenStax: the OpenStax titles in this release are distributed under CC BY-NC-SA 4.0. Attribution, NonCommercial, and ShareAlike conditions must be preserved. OpenStax license and provenance files are included with the offline editions.
- Wikisource: where a Wikisource transcription is used, the underlying historical work may be public domain while Wikisource transcription/site contributions are attributed under CC BY-SA 4.0. The package contains an attribution notice for the affected slots.
- NCHFP / USDA canning guide: this release relies on the National Center for Home Food Preservation’s permission for not-for-profit personal and educational copying with attribution. No broader commercial-use right is claimed by this project.
- U.S. government publications: government/public-release material is identified per the exact release sources recorded in the archive. Government hosting does not automatically make every possible embedded third-party element public domain; the bundled provenance records describe the basis used for these exact release files.
- Hesperian Health Guides: Hesperian’s A Community Guide to Environmental Health, Where There Is No Doctor, and Where There Is No Dentist are not included in v1.0 while written digital-redistribution permission is pending. Slots 064–066 use redistributable substitutes. If permission is later granted, a later release may replace those substitutes.
If you mirror or redistribute this library, keep START_HERE.md, Appendix A, license/attribution files, CORE100_RELEASE_STATUS.tsv, SOURCES_RELEASE.tsv, FILES.tsv, and CHECKSUMS.sha256 with the package. Do not present a modified package as the unmodified v1.0 release unless its manifest and checksum information are also updated.
Safety and accuracy
This library contains historical books, older technical publications, health references, preparedness information, and government manuals. Inclusion does not mean every statement remains current or is appropriate for every situation. When safety depends on current information, use current professional guidance, current codes and standards, current product instructions, and qualified medical, legal, engineering, or other professional help where appropriate.
In particular, the 2003 edition of The Ship’s Medicine Chest and Medical Aid at Sea is included as an austere-care reference and carries a date warning inside the library. Newer guidance should take precedence when available.
No warranty or endorsement
The collection is provided for educational, research, preservation, and practical-reference purposes, without a promise that every file or instruction is suitable for a particular use. Dan Peters Designs and the MT Open Knowledge Library are not claiming endorsement by Project Gutenberg, OpenStax, Wikimedia/Wikisource, NCHFP, USDA, CDC, HUD, NIH/NIDCR, FEMA, the U.S. military, or any other source organization unless an organization explicitly says otherwise.
Use, copying, modification, and redistribution remain subject to the rights and license terms attached to the individual works and to applicable law in your jurisdiction.
Verify your copy
The canonical v1.0 archive should hash to:
c8a832026ccc966aa82cb9d1f40f4f3bf89a6626d3e89d79ae591327e26294c5 The-First-100-Books-You-Need-v1.0.zip
If the checksum does not match, the file is not byte-for-byte identical to the audited v1.0 archive.
Why we’re doing this
Useful knowledge should not disappear because a service closes, a subscription ends, a connection goes down, or an old machine is the only computer someone can afford. The MT Open Knowledge Library is an attempt to make a durable starting point: material that can live on a cheap drive, an old laptop, a family server, a school or makerspace machine, or a box of offline media and still be useful years from now.
The library is free. Keep a copy. Make another copy. Read the ideas you agree with and the ones you don’t. Fix what can be fixed, learn what you don’t know yet, and preserve the useful parts for whoever comes next.