150 Free Textbooks: A Meta Collection. Free textbooks (aka open textbooks) written by knowledgable scholars are a relatively new phenomenon.
Below, find a meta list of 200 Free Textbooks, and check back often for new additions. Also see our online collection, 1,700 Free Online Courses from Top Universities. Art History A Textbook of the History of Painting by John Charles Van Dyke, Rutgers. Free eBooks at Planet eBook - Classic Novels and Literature You're Free to Share. O'Reilly Open Books Project. O'Reilly has published a number of Open Books--books with various forms of "open" copyright--over the years.
The reasons for "opening" copyright, as well as the specific license agreements under which they are opened, are as varied as our authors. Perhaps a book was outdated enough to be put out of print, yet some people still needed the information it covered. Or the author or subject of a book felt strongly that it should be published under a particular open copyright.