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https://github.com/alexgand/springer_free_books
Python script to download all Springer books released for free during the 2020 COVID-19 quarantine
https://github.com/alexgand/springer_free_books
Last synced: 25 days ago
JSON representation
Python script to download all Springer books released for free during the 2020 COVID-19 quarantine
- Host: GitHub
- URL: https://github.com/alexgand/springer_free_books
- Owner: alexgand
- License: gpl-3.0
- Created: 2020-04-05T11:14:34.000Z (over 4 years ago)
- Default Branch: master
- Last Pushed: 2022-12-08T09:31:23.000Z (almost 2 years ago)
- Last Synced: 2024-10-01T12:22:27.721Z (about 1 month ago)
- Language: Python
- Size: 160 KB
- Stars: 1,646
- Watchers: 49
- Forks: 366
- Open Issues: 23
-
Metadata Files:
- Readme: README.MD
- License: LICENSE.txt
Awesome Lists containing this project
- awesome-video - alexgand/springer_free_books: Python script to download all Springer books released for free during the 2020 COVID-19 quarantine - Python script to download all Springer books released for free during the 2020 COVID-19 quarantine - alexgand/springer_free_books (Learning)
README
## The script is not working anymore, due to the reCAPTCHA step Springer added.
## Python script to download all Springer books released for free during the 2020 COVID-19 quarantine
### Books available
It used to have 409 english books (it took about 4 hours to complete the download ~ 14 GB, both PDF and EPUB, on my machine), but Springer has since removed some of them from the open access.
### Usage
**Note**: If you want just one or two specific books, get [the excel file](https://resource-cms.springernature.com/springer-cms/rest/v1/content/17858272/data/) and manually download those or use the script to help you download (see **Download book selectively** sub-section).
By default the script stores the books in `./downloads` subfolder according to the subject ("English Package Name" column of the excel file).
#### Download all English books (PDF and EPUB)
Use the following command to download all PDF and EPUB books to the default download folder `./downloads`
```bash
python3 main.py
```
To download them to a subfolder of your choice, say `books`
```bash
python3 main.py -f ./books
```
You can download to an absolute path, say `C:/ebooks/springer/`
```bash
python3 main.py -f C:/ebooks/springer/
```
To download books in separate chapters (PDF only)
```bash
python3 main.py --dl_chapters
```
#### Download all German books (PDF and EPUB)
To download the German books use
```bash
python3 main.py --lang de
```
This language flag can be combined with any of the above and below mentioned options. If not specified, `--lang en`, i.e. English, is
the default.
#### Download all books of specific format
To download all PDF books only, run
```bash
python3 main.py --pdf
```
or all EPUB books only
```bash
python3 main.py --epub
```
#### Download only specific book categories
You can download selective books by categories. Make sure category name with space(s) is enclosed in double quotation marks, like so
```bash
python3 main.py -c Engineering "CoMpuTer sciEnCe"
```
The category name is case-insensitive.
#### Download book selectively
You can download books by indices (refer to the excel file for the titles)
```bash
python3 main.py -i 2 345 70 90 0 213
```
#### Verbose mode
If you need to know what you are downloading, enable the verbose mode with `-v` option
```bash
python3 main.py -v -c "Behavioral science and psychology" "chaos AD" UFO "Life science" -i 2 34 400
```
You will get the following summary before the downloading starts
```
Book Title English Package Name
2 All of Statistics Mathematics and Statistics
34 Essential Astrophysics Physics and Astronomy
37 International Perspectives on Psychotherapy Behavioral Science and Psychology
40 Applied Behavior Analysis Behavioral Science and Psychology
70 Psychology of Perception Behavioral Science and Psychology
95 Handbook of Consumer Finance Research Behavioral Science and Psychology
311 Clinical Methods in Medical Family Therapy Behavioral Science and Psychology
313 Motivation and Action Behavioral Science and Psychology
381 Perceptual Organization Behavioral Science and Psychology
396 Evidence-Based Practice in Clinical Social Work Behavioral Science and Psychology
397 Foundations of Behavioral Health Behavioral Science and Psychology
398 Social Psychology in Action Behavioral Science and Psychology
400 A Course in Rasch Measurement Theory Education
13 titles ready to be downloaded...
The following invalid book categories will be ignored:
1. chaos AD
2. UFO
3. Life science
```
### Running in a virtual environment (Bash commands):
```bash
python3 -m venv .venv
source .venv/bin/activate
pip install -r requirements.txt
python3 main.py
```
### Virtual environment on Windows (auto-detects Python version):
Just double-click the `run_VirtualEnv.bat` file from Windows Explorer, or type-in its name at the command-line and press ENTER.
Do install Python first, either from [python.org](https://www.python.org/downloads/)
or from the [Microsoft Store for Windows 10](https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/search?q=python).
### Virtual environment on Windows (Python 3.x):
```winbatch
python -m venv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate.bat
pip install -r requirements.txt
python main.py
```
### Virtual environment on Windows (Python 2.7.x):
```winbatch
python -m virtualenv .venv
.venv\Scripts\activate.bat
pip install -r requirements.txt
python main.py
```
### Sources:
* https://group.springernature.com/gp/group/media/press-releases/freely-accessible-textbook-initiative-for-educators-and-students/17858180
* https://www.springernature.com/gp/librarians/news-events/all-news-articles/industry-news-initiatives/free-access-to-textbooks-for-institutions-affected-by-coronaviru/17855960
* https://resource-cms.springernature.com/springer-cms/rest/v1/content/17858272/data/
Thanks Springer!
## Docker container to do all the work
Considering you cloned the repo in a folder, as:
```bash
cd \home\[user]\workspace
git clone https://github.com/alexgand/springer_free_books.git
cd springer_free_books
mkdir downloads
```
You can run the scripts like that:
```bash
docker build . -t springer-image
docker run --rm -v [local_download_folder]:/app/downloads springer-image
```
and the downloads will be at [`local_download_folder`].
## Troubleshooting
On macOS, if the script produces a `[SSL: CERTIFICATE_VERIFY_FAILED]` error, then security certificates may need to be installed. Instructions for doing so can be found [here](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/50236117/scraping-ssl-certificate-verify-failed-error-for-http-en-wikipedia-org). If that doesn't work, see alternate instructions [here](https://stackoverflow.com/questions/44649449/brew-installation-of-python-3-6-1-ssl-certificate-verify-failed-certificate/44649450#44649450).