College textbooks, resources, and reference books are becoming increasingly expensive. From 2006 to 2016, the consumer price index for college textbooks increased 88%according to a report by US Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The thought of lugging such heavy purchases around campus in your pocket or under your arm only to have them thrown away next semester is a thought that can make even the calmest yogi nervous.
Whether you love the environment, hate lugging around heavy books, can’t afford to buy those college textbooks, or just think you can find other users for the money you have available , you might want to consider downloading e-books from these sites. After all, there is no better price than free.
Why pay full price for a heavy textbook when you can download the e-book version for free? Source: Sia Kambou/AFP
FreeBookSpot
FreeBookSpot is an online source for free downloadable e-books and hosts 4,485 titles in 96 categories. Here you can search for books that fall into categories like science, engineering, computer programming, and even fiction. The best thing about FreeBookSpot? No registration is required to get started.
Genesis of the library
The top contender of many free book lists is still Genesis of the library And with good reason: you can find anything and everything here, from college textbooks to scholarly articles, science books, novels, comics and magazines.
The catalog alone is massive – it’s organized in a format similar to a standard college digital library, which helps fellow students quickly become familiar. You can search by author, ISBN, or year, and multiple download options make it easy for students to try their luck if the first link doesn’t work.
mobilism
Unlike the others on this list, mobilism is not a website – it is a forum where users can share the media they already own. The catalog, like Library Genesis, is so extensive that the chances of not finding what you are looking for is very small. Bonus: There is an option for users to request a specific title if it’s not available on the forum.
Visiting a library can be fun, but it’s easier to have your own e-book, especially for those late-night study sessions. Source: Stefani Reynolds/AFP
Project Gutenberg
Another good option for students is Project Gutenberg, which mainly offers fiction, but also has an extensive collection of downloadable reference books for college students. The site was started – and operated – by volunteers who believe in creating and distributing free downloadable e-books.
The interface is a welcome sight for those who don’t have the patience to navigate a complex site. Humanities students, in particular, will be delighted with the variety of choices for their majors and subjects at Project Gutenberg.
VK
The only non-English site on this list is VK, a Russian social media platform that works just like Facebook. Although Facebook focuses on actual social interaction, VK’s growing community emphasizes media sharing. E-books are the usual file types that are commonly shared here, which means students also upload books that they themselves have used for the benefit of others.
You also don’t need to create an account to get your hands on the free downloadable ebooks in VK. However, remember that there is no centralized search engine on the site – you have to find your e-book of choice in catalogs and communities. If you want to avoid spending hours searching on VK, you can search on Google and end the sentence with “VK” to get results.
The library of Senegalese President Leopold Sedar Senghor at his home in Verson, western France. Source: Lou Benoist/AFP
bookworm
Although bookworm is an online publisher, the site also provides free PDF textbooks for college students in need. Students majoring in engineering will benefit from this site as many of the books featured here are for that specific subject.
No topic or discussion goes unnoticed when it comes to engineering, from basic to advanced. However, to access most of the textbooks and reference books here, you must pay a minimum monthly subscription fee of $5.99.
