The textbook price problem is getting out of hand.
CollegeBoard estimates that, on average, undergraduate students at public universities will have spent about $1,298 on textbooks and supplies in the 2015-2016 school year. For in-state students, this number is actually higher than their annual tuition!
There is good news, though:
The open content movement is on the rise, and there are hundreds of open source textbooks and educational resources available online.
What are open source textbooks and educational resources?
The definition is rather simple: they are textbooks and online classes licensed under open copyright licenses (e.g., Creative Commons). Since they are freely available, you can either read them online or download them as PDFs at no cost. (You may, however, have to pay a small amount if you wish to get a hard copy.)
So this list is essentially a free online textbook library. Here, we’ve gathered hundreds of links to open textbooks and online courses from different websites and sorted them by subject. To improve your research even more, we’d recommend you to look through an essay database with thousands of academic paper samples written by real students.
Who are the open source textbooks for?
- College and high school students who can use them as a free or cheap alternative to their textbooks
- Educators who can adapt the textbooks to their courses and distribute copies to their students (read more about what’s permissible under different Creative Commons Licenses)
- Anyone who wants to learn and study
How do you use this list?
- The textbooks and educational resources are listed by subject. You can navigate to a specific section using the links below.
- If you’re looking for a specific textbook, author, or topic, just press Ctrl+F to search for any keyword.
- If you can’t find a specific book, there is another list of links to free textbooks listed by subject.
Open Textbooks Library
- Anthropology and Archeology
- Art and Design
- Biology and Genetics
- Business
- Chemistry
- Computer Science and IT
- Economics
- Education
- Engineering
- English and Writing
- History and Civilizations
- Languages and Communication
- Legal Studies
- Literature
- Mathematics
- Music
- Nursing and Health
- Philosophy and Ethics
- Physics and Astronomy
- Political Science
- Psychology
- Sciences
- Sociology
- Statistics
Cultural Anthropology/Human Rights | WikiBooks | CC-BY-SA |
Folklife and Fieldwork: A Layman’s Introduction to Field Techniques | Peter Bartis | PD |
Introduction to Paleoanthropology | WikiBooks | CC-BY-SA |
Native Peoples of North America | Susan Stebbins | CC-BY-NC-SA |
Art and Contemporary Critical Practice: Reinventing Institutional Critique | Gerald Raunig, Gene Rey | CC-BY-NC-ND |
Art Appreciation and Techniques | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Art History | WikiBooks | CC-BY-SA |
Art History | Boundless | CC-BY-SA |
Digital Foundations: Introduction to Media Design with the Adobe Creative Suite | xtine burrough, Michael Mandiberg | CC-BY-NC-SA |
Introduction to Art: Design, Context, and Meaning | University of North Georgia Press | CC BY-SA |
Internet for Performing Arts | Tal Sanders, Pacific University | CC BY-NC |
Media Studies 101 | BCcampus OpenEd | CC-BY |
Open Content Photography Program | WikiBooks | CC-BY-SA |
Graphic Design and Print Production Fundamentals | Graphic Communications Open Textbook Collective | CC-BY |
BioFundamentals: Introductory Molecular Biology | Michael W. Klymkowsky, Melanie M. Cooper | CC-BY-SA-NC |
Biology | Jean Brainard | CC-BY-SA |
Biology Advanced Concepts | CK-12 | CC-BY-NC |
Biology Concepts | Douglas Wilkin, Jean Brainard | CC-BY-NC |
Biomechanics | WikiBooks | CC-BY-SA |
Cell Biology and Genetics | Charles Twesigye | CC-BY-SA |
Computing Life | National Institute of General Medical Sciences | PD |
Diversity of Algae and Plants | Memory Tekere | CC-BY-SA |
Ecology and Environment | John Kiogora Mworia | CC-BY-SA |
Encyclopedia of Life | EOL | CC-BY-SA |
Evolution Biology | Jassiel Nyengani Zulu | CC-BY-SA |
Genes and Disease | National Center for Biotechnology Information | PD |
Help Me Understand Genetics Handbook | Lister Hill National Center for Biomedical Communications | PD |
Human Biology – Breathing | CK-12 | CC-BY-NC |
Human Biology – Circulation | CK-12 | CC-BY-NC |
Human Biology – Digestion and Nutrition | CK-12 | CC-BY-NC |
Human Biology – Ecology | CK-12 | CC-BY-NC |
Human Biology – Genetics | CK-12 | CC-BY-NC |
Human Biology – Lives of Cells | CK-12 | CC-BY-NC |
Human Biology – Nervous System | CK-12 | CC-BY-NC |
Human Biology – Reproduction | CK-12 | CC-BY-NC |
Human Biology – Sexuality | CK-12 | CC-BY-NC |
Human Biology – Your Changing Body | CK-12 | CC-BY-NC |
Human Physiology | WikiBooks | CC-BY-SA |
Inside the Cell – Biology | National Institute of General Medical Sciences | PD |
Laboratory Exercises in Microbiology: Discovering the Unseen World Through Hands-On Investigation | CUNY Academic Works | CC BY-NC-SA |
Introduction to Molecular and Cellular Biology | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Microbiology | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Microbiology and Mycology | Jassiel Nyengan Zulu | CC-BY-SA |
Modern Biology | Open Learning Initiative | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Nucleic Acids and Chromatin | OpenLearn | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Online Biology Book | Michael J. Farabee | Custom |
Physiology | Boundless | CC-BY-SA |
Plant and Animal Physiology | Rémi Rakotondradona | CC-BY-SA |
Sensory Systems | WikiBooks | CC-BY-SA |
The New Genetics | National Institute of General Medical Sciences | PD |
The Structures of Life | National Institute of General Medical Sciences | PD |
Understanding Biodiversity | Douglas Wilkin | CC-BY-NC |
What is Biodiversity | Melina Laverty, Eleanor Sterling | CC-BY |
Accounting Principles: A Business Perspective (Financial) | Merlot | CC-BY-NC-ND |
Advanced Business Law and the Legal Environment | Don Mayer, Daniel Warner, George Siedel, Jethro K. Lieberman | CC-NC-BY-SA |
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Budget & Finance Administration in Recreation & Sport | Daniel McLean | CC-BY-SA |
Business | Boundless | CC-BY-SA |
Business Plan Development Guide | Lee Swanson, University of Saskatchewan | CC BY-SA |
Business Communication for Success (Canadian Edition) | Scott McLean, Murray Moman | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Business English for Success | Scott McLean | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Business Ethics | Aims Community College | CC-BY-SA |
Business Ethics | William Frey, Jose A. Cruz-Cruz | CC-BY |
Business Fundamentals | Global Text Project | CC-BY-SA |
Business Information Systems: Design an App for That | Raymond Frost, Jacqueline Pike, Lauren Kenyo, Sarah Pels | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Business Law and Ethics | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Business Law and the Legal Environment (EMBA Edition) | Don Mayer, Daniel Warner, George Siedel, Jethro K. Lieberman | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Business Law and the Legal Environment (2 Volume Set) | Don Mayer, Daniel Warner, George Siedel, Jethro K. Lieberman | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Business Law and the Legal Environment: MAcc Edition | Don Mayer, Daniel Warner, George Siedel, Jethro K. Lieberman | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Building Strategy and Performance. | Kim Warren | CC BY-NC-SA |
Business Statistics | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Communication Skills for Personal and Professional Development: The Seven Challenges Approach | Dennis Rivers | CC-BY |
Core Concepts of Marketing | John Burnett | CC-BY |
Corporate Communication | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Democratizing Innovation | Eric Von Hippel | CC-BY-NC-ND |
eMarketing: The essential guide to marketing in a digital world | Quirk | CC-BY-SA |
E-Commerce and International Business | Ulrich Werner | CC-BY-SA |
Economics: Theory Through Applications (2 Volume Set) | Russell Cooper, Andrew John | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Effective Article Marketing for Promotion and Profit | Motown Terri | CC-BY-SA |
Ethics and Economy | Dag G. Aasland | CC-BY-NC-ND |
Exploring Business | Karen Collins | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Finance | Boundless | CC-BY-SA |
Financial Accounting Fundamentals | The University of Virginia | CC-BY-SA |
Foundations of Business Law and the Legal Environment | Don Mayer, Daniel Warner, George Siedel, Jethro K. Lieberman | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Green IS: Building Sustainable Business Practices | Marie-Claude Boudreau, Adela Chen, Mark Huber | CC-BY |
How to Use Microsoft Excel: The Careers in Practice Series | Joseph M. Manzo | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Human Relations | Laura Portolese | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Human Resource Management | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Human Resource Management | Laura Portolese | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Information Systems: A Manager’s Guide to Harnessing Technology | John Gallaugher | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Innovation Happens Elsewhere | Ron Goldman & Richard P. Gabriel | CC-NC–BY-SA |
Intercultural Communication | Scott McLean | CC-NC-BY-SA |
International Finance: Theory and Policy | Steve Suranovic | CC-NC-BY-SA |
International Trade: Theory and Policy | Steve Suranovic | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Introduction to Business | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Introduction to Business, Management, and Ethics | William Frey | CC-BY-SA |
Introduction to Contracts, Sales and Product Liability | Don Mayer, Daniel Warner, George Siedel, Jethro K. Lieberman | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Introduction to Financial Accounting | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Introduction to the Law of Property, Estate Planning and Insurance | Don Mayer, Daniel Warner, George Siedel, Jethro K. Lieberman | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Involvement of Banking in the Commonwealth of Independent States | Saydullo Abdullaev, Valentin Antonovich Kotov | CC-BY-SA |
Launch! Advertising and Promotion in Real Time | Michael Solomon, Lisa Duke Cornell, Amit Nizan | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Law for Entrepreneurs | Don Mayer, Daniel Warner, George Siedel, Jethro K. Lieberman | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Law of Commercial Transactions | Don Mayer, Daniel Warner, George Siedel, Jethro K. Lieberman | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Legal Aspects of Corporate Management and Finance | Don Mayer, Daniel Warner, George Siedel, Jethro K. Lieberman | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Legal Aspects of Marketing and Sales | Don Mayer, Daniel Warner, George Siedel, Jethro K. Lieberman | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Macroeconomics: Theory Through Applications | Russell Cooper, Andrew John | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Management | Boundless | CC-BY-SA |
Management Accounting Concepts and Techniques | Introtocost | BY-NC-SA |
Management Information Systems | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Management Leadership | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Managerial Accounting | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Managing Groups and Teams | WikiBooks | CC-BY-SA |
Marketing | Boundless | CC-BY-SA |
Mastering Strategic Management | Dave Ketchen, Jeremy Short | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Money and Banking | Robert E. Wright | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Negotiations and Conflict Management | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Operations Management | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Organizational Behavior | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Organizational Behavior | Talya Bauer, Berrin Erdogan | CC-BY-NC-SA |
Personal Finance | Rachel Siegel | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Principles of Accounting | Larry Walther | ACARR |
Principles of Economics | Libby Rittenberg, Timothy Tregarthen | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Principles of Finance | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Principles of Macroeconomics | Libby Rittenberg, Timothy Tregarthen | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Principles of Management | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Principles of Marketing | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Project Management | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Project Management | Merrie Barron, PMP, CSM, Andrew R. Barron | CC-BY |
Project Management from Simple to Complex | Russell Darnall, John M. Preston | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Remix: Making Art and Commerce Thrive in the Hybrid Economy | Lawrence Lessig | CC-BY-NC |
Risk Management for Enterprises and Individuals | Etti Baranoff, Patrick Lee Brockett, Yehuda Kahane | CC-BY-NC-SA |
Six Steps to Job Search Success | Caroline Ceniza-Levine, Connie Thanasoulis-Cerrachio | CC-BY-NC-SA |
Small Business Management | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Small Business Management in the 21st Century | David T. Cadden, Sandra L. Lueder | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Statement of Values | William Frey | CC-BY-SA |
Strategic Information Technology | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Strategic Management | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Survey of Economics | Libby Rittenberg | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Sustainability, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship | Andrea Larson | CC-BY-NC-SA |
The Art of Leadership and Supervision | Laura Portolese, Phil Upperman, Bob Trumpy | CC-NC-BY-SA |
The Business Ethics Workshop | James Brusseau | CC-NC-BY-SA |
The Environments of the Organization | William Frey | CC-BY-SA |
The Legal and Ethical Environment of Business | Terence Lau, Lisa Johnson | CC-NC-BY-SA |
The Legal Environment of Business | Don Mayer, Daniel Warner, George Siedel, Jethro K. Lieberman | CC-NC-BY-SA |
The Market-Led Organisation | OpenLearn | CC-BY-NC-SA |
The Principles of Management | Mason Carpenter, Talya Bauer, Berrin Erdogan, Jeremy Short | CC-BY-NC-SA |
Tourism: The International Business | Robert Christie Mill | CC-BY |
Unleashing the Ideavirus | Seth Godin | Custom |
American Literature Before 1860 | Theodore L. Steinberg | CC-BY-NC-SA |
English Literature: Victorians and Moderns | BCcampus OpenEd | PD |
Literature, the Humanities, and Humanity | Theodore L. Steinberg | CC-BY-NC-SA |
Open Shakespeare | Columbia University | CC-BY |
Acoustics | WikiBooks | CC-BY-SA |
Guitar | WikiBooks | CC-BY-SA |
Music Fundamentals 1: Pitch and Major Scales and Keys | OpenStax CNX | CC BY |
Introduction to Music Theory | Catherine Schmidt-Jones | CC-BY |
Musictheory.Net | Musictheory | CC-BY |
Reading Music: Common Notation | Catherine Schmidt-Jones | CC-BY |
Sound of Physics | James McLean | CC-BY-NC-SA |
The Basic Elements of Music | Catherine Schmidt-Jones | CC-BY |
Understanding Basic Music Theory | Catherine Schmidt-Jones | CC-BY |
An Introduction to Philosophy | Philip Pecorino | CC-BY-NC-ND |
Computers, Information Technology, the Internet, Ethics, Society and Human Values | Philip Pecorino | CC-BY-NC-SA |
Consciousness Studies | WikiBooks | CC-BY-SA |
David Hume | OpenLearn | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Environmental Ethics, Justice, and World Views | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Existentialism | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Formal Logic | WikiBooks | CC-BY-SA |
Historical Introduction to Philosophy | Wikiversity | CC-BY-SA |
Introducing Philosophy | OpenLearn | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Introduction to Ethical Studies | Lee Archie, John G. Archie | GDFL |
Introduction to Formal Logic | P.D. Magnus | CC-BY-SA |
Logic and Proofs | Open Learning | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Medical Ethics | Philip A. Pecorino | CC-BY-NC-ND |
Modern Philosophy | BCcampus OpenEd | CC-BY |
Moral and Political Philosophy | Saylor Academy | CC-BY-NC-SA |
Philosophy of Religion | Philip A. Pecorino | CC-BY-NC-ND |
Reading for Philosophical Inquiry: A Brief Introduction to Philosophical Thinking, An Open Source Reader | Lee Archie, John G. Archie | GFDL |
American Government | Imothy O. Lenz, Mirya Holman | CC-BY-NC-ND |
American Government | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
American Government and Politics in the Information Age | David L. Paletz, Diana Owen, Timothy E. Cook | CC-BY-NC-SA |
Basic Political Concepts | Paul Delespinasse | CC-BY |
Elements of Political Communication | WikiBooks | CC-BY-SA |
Ethics and Public Policy | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Global Justice | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Human Rights in Brief | AZS Index | PD |
Introduction to Comparative Politics | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Introduction to Politics | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Introduction to Western Political Thought | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Nationalism, Self-determination and Succession | OpenLearn | CC-BY-NC-SA |
Political Science | Boundless | CC-BY-SA |
The 9/11 Commission Report | 9/11 Commission | PD |
The CIA World Factbook | Central Intelligence Agency | PD |
eSource: Behavioral and Social Science Research | E-course | PD |
Social Problems: Continuity and Change | University of Minnesota Libraries Publishing | CC BY-NC-SA |
Introduction to Social Network Methods | Robert A. Hanneman, Mark Riddle | Custom |
SOC101: Introduction to Sociology | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Introduction to Sociology | WikiBooks | CC-BY-SA |
Introduction to Sociology 2e | Heather Griffiths, Nathan Keirns, Eric Strayer, Sally Vyain | CC-BY |
Living in a Globalised World | The Open University | CC-BY-NC-SA |
Minority Studies: A Brief Sociological Text | Ruth Dunn | CC-BY |
Negation: Essays in Critical Thinking | Herbert Marcuse | CC-BY-NC-ND |
Sociology | Boundless | CC-BY-SA |
Sociology of the Family | Sociology of The Family | CC-BY |
Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, Brief Ed. | Steve Barkan | CC-BY-NC-SA |
Sociology: Understanding and Changing the Social World, Comprehensive Ed. | Steve Barkan | CC-BY-NC-SA |
The Art of Community | Jono Bacon | CC-BY-NC-SA |
Causal and Statistical Reasoning | Open Learning | CC-NC-BY-SA |
Collaborative Statistics | Susan Dean, Barbara Illowsky | CC-BY |
Concepts and Applications of Inferential Statistics | Richard Lowry | Custom |
From Algorithms to Z-Scores: Probabilistic and Statistical Modeling in Computer Science | Norm Matloff | CC-BY-ND |
Introduction to Probability | Charles M. Grinstead | GFDL |
Introduction to Statistical Thought | Michael Lavine | CC-BY-NC-SA |
Introduction to Statistics | Saylor Academy | CC-BY |
Introductory Statistics | Douglas S. Shafer, Zhiyi Zhang | CC-BY-NC-SA |
Introductory Statistics: Concepts, Models, and Applications | David W. Stockburger | CC-BY-NC-SA |
Online Statistics: An Interactive Multimedia Course of Study | David Lane | PD |
Probability and Statistics | AP Statistics Curriculum | Custom License |
Probability, Statistics and Random Processes | Pishro-Nik | CC-BY-NC-ND |
Quantitative Information Analysis III (subset of Collab. Stats) | Susan Dean, Barbara Illowsky | CC-BY |
Statistics | WikiBooks | CC-BY-SA |