Using This Site
How to Use The Free Textbook List
Obviously, the Free Textbook List is designed to help students find free online textbooks. Many of the textbooks in the list are being offered quietly by their authors on their personal university pages. Others have built entire websites and learning portals to showcase their work. And still others are participating in Open Textbook Initiatives.
Ideally, this site will make it easier for students to find open source textbooks that have been assigned as the primary text or supplementary reading.
Where I hope to make the Free Textbook List stand out from other similar websites is the following:
- The List contains only materials that are truly free – no registration or fees required to access the textbooks.
- The List contains primarily complete textbooks, not just lecture notes, slides or journal articles.
- The List can function as a personal tutor and homework helper.
The Free Textbook List as a Personal Tutor & Homework Helper
By including the table of contents from each listed textbook, students can search for help on specific topics. How often does that light bulb of understanding flash brightly when you simply hear something explained in a slightly different way? How often does a different diagram suddenly have everything falling into place? It might be a biology textbook’s brief explanation of something you are working on in your chemistry class. It could a psychology professor’s explanation of statistical analysis that helps you pass your Probability and Statistics class.
Use the search function to get homework help, help understanding new terms or get a quick refresher course on material your assigned textbook wrongly assumed you already knew. You might be surprised where you can find your own aha moment.
