Posted by Textbooks in colleges these days can be quite expensive, and most students opt for the choice of downloading free textbooks in PDF format online. This is of great help since it brings costs to a minimum, allowing those funds to go into other important areas.
The issue now is that a good number of people don’t know or even understand how to get free textbooks in PDF format online. So, we’ve taken it as a challenge to guide you on how to do that.
Oh, to stress it further, these PDFs also relieve you of stress, as you won’t have to bear the burden of carrying huge loads in your backpack everywhere you go.
Ways to Get Free Textbooks PDF Format Online
Here are some of the ways through which you can access free online textbooks:
- Search on Google
- PDF Search Engines
- Free Textbook PDF websites.
Search on Google
Google is the first place to naturally come to mind whenever you want to find out something on the internet.
It’s a good place to start when looking to download free textbooks in PDF format online.
Reddit is a discussion site where users ask themselves questions and opinions on issues. You can throw a question here, and very likely somebody is going to respond.
PDF Search Engines
Just like Google, there are several websites dedicated to searching only for PDFs. A typical example is www.pdfsearchengine.net. You can also try pdfdrive.com.
Free Textbook PDF websites
Several websites host thousands of PDF textbooks. Websites dedicated to that specific purpose. And in my opinion, this is the best. As a way of helping, I gave a bit below some of these websites.
How to Get Free Textbooks in PDF Format Online
To be able to get free textbooks in PDF format via the web, the following are some of the top sites you need to visit:
- Digital Book Index
- Open Textbook Library
- Free Book Spot
- Library Genesis
- PDF Grab
- Google Books
- Project Gutenberg
- Wikibooks
- Freeditorial
- Online Mathematics Textbooks
- OpenStax
- Bookboon
- Internet Archive
- ScholarWorks
- Saylor Academy
- Libre Texts
- Manybook
- Free E-books
- Mobilism
- VK.
Overview of Online Platforms Where You Can Get Free Textbooks in PDF Format Online
1. Digital Book Index
Digital Book Index is an online database of almost every book you will ever need. You will find books in a lot of categories like science, literature, technology, and so on.
The website has over 25 million books for you to download. The search bar makes it very easy and fast to find any book you are looking for.
The website also includes audio and video books as well.
Visit Digital Book Index
2. Open Textbook Library
This website was launched in 2011 by Mark Almond and Rajesh Deodhar with the sole aim of making the world’s largest collection of free textbooks online.
Today, the website has grown so huge and helpful that it covers over 17 subjects with thousands and thousands of books in PDF, ePub, MOBI, and HTML formats.
Visit Open Textbook Library
3. Free Book Spot
Free Book Spot is a website that offers free textbooks and other educational resources.
The site offers its users amazing summaries just in case one doesn’t have the time to read the whole book. It also helps by having a search bar for you to look up the title, author, and ISBN. You can also browse recommended books that you can read for free.
This website has a collection of over 10,000 free textbooks for download.
Here, you can find books in areas like engineering, biology, education, art, economy, architecture, and many more.
Visit Free Book Spot
4. Library Genesis
Library Genesis is a useful website that allows students to download free college textbooks available in PDF format and other document types.
The main subject fields include technology, art, science, business, history, social science, computers, medicine, and more.
Visit Library Genesis
5. PDF Grab
PDF Grab is a free textbook and e-book PDF source that offers books in several languages including English, Spanish, and Chinese.
These free textbooks are available in various fields such as economics, and computers, to mention just a few. The website is known to have over 3 million books.
Visit PDF Grab
6. Google Books
Known as the world’s most comprehensive index of full-text books. Google Books makes it accessible for you to rent and read books on a wide array of subjects.
Visit Google Books
7. Project Gutenberg
Created by Michael Hart in the year 1971, Project Gutenberg was one of the first to start giving out free electronic books.
Home to one of the world’s greatest literature, most literature students use this site a lot. Of course, there are free textbooks for other subjects as well.
Most books here are in EPUB and MOBI format though, only a few books are in PDF file format.
Visit Project Gutenberg
8. Wikibooks
Wikibooks is a beginning point for students looking for textbooks, particularly in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and social sciences.
Founded in 2003, it has served as a great help to students in need of free textbooks online.
Visit Wikibooks
9. Freeditorial
Freeditorial is home to over 300,000 e-books from history to literature or any subject you desire. Students also use it for their academic essays.
The site is not difficult to use and it allows users to leave a comments about their favorite books as well as search for the specific book they desire to read.
Visit Freeditorial
10. Online Mathematics Textbooks
You can simply search for online Mathematics Textbooks on Google. There are several websites you can download them from.
Some universities have a section of their website dedicated to this.
11. OpenStax
OpenStax is another website that gives college students online access to 100% free college textbooks in PDF format available in English and Spanish. This is an educational initiative of Rice University.
OpenStax publishes high-quality, peer-reviewed, open-licensed college textbooks. These are completely free online and cheap in print.
The textbooks provided by OpenStax are written by professional authors and also meet standard length and order requirements, so they can be adapted to existing courses.
OpenStax is not only a website for free college textbooks in PDF format but also offers textbooks for high school courses.
Visit OpenStax
12. Bookboon
Bookboon provides students with free textbooks written by professors from the world’s best universities, covering subjects from engineering and IT to economics.
However, Bookboon is not completely free. Free access to books is only for 30 days. Then you have to pay a modest monthly fee before you can download the textbook.
Bookboon is more than just a textbook. Students can also learn skills and self-development.
Visit Bookboon
13. Internet Archive
Internet Archive is an easy-to-use website for downloading free textbooks online. It covers a vast array of subjects. It’s a non-profit library that works with over 750 libraries.
Books that have been published before 1926 are available for download plus hundreds of thousands of modern books that can be borrowed.
Visit Internet Archive
14. ScholarWorks
Scholarworks is a free e-book library that offers a wide range of textbooks and academic materials. The website offers over 16,000 books ranging from psychology and sociology textbooks to economics textbooks and even medical textbooks.
Scholarworks also offers many other useful resources for students, including study guides and study tools to help you prepare for exams.
Visit ScholarWorks
15. Saylor Academy
Saylor Academy has a rich collection of textbooks for the majority of subjects. So, using this site is guaranteed to help you in your studies.
There are also categories for other fields like online marketing, social media, and public speaking.
Visit Saylor Academy
16. Libre Texts
Libre Texts is a website where you can download free textbooks in PDF format. The site offers a vast range of textbooks on philosophy, law, economics, history, literature, culture, and more.
An email address is required to register an account on this website. Creating an account gives you access to a database of all books available for download on Libre Texts.
You can also write and publish your book through the site.
Visit Libre Texts
17. Manybook
Manybook is one of the most popular free textbook download websites, especially for those looking for high-quality PDF books.
Oxford and Cambridge University Press published a significant number of the textbooks you will see on the site meaning you will get a lot of value from the books should you read them.
The content of these books is also very good and relevant to all students around the world.
Visit Manybook
18. Free E-Books
Free E-books.net is a site that offers free textbooks and other academic materials.
The books are in PDF format so that you can download and also read it online. This website provides users access to a wide range of titles in all major scientific disciplines.
It also offers users the tool to dictate their reading experience by choosing the chapters they want to read at the moment.
The site also lets you add notes and highlights to the text itself, so you can always have a copy of your book handy when you need it.
Visit Free E-Books
19. Mobilism
Mobilism is a forum where users can share media they already own with others. There are a lot of categories, but this site shines in the e-book space. You can find novels, science textbooks, and comics. You can also request a title if it doesn’t already exist
Visit Mobilism
20. VK
VK.com is a Russian social media platform similar to Facebook. However, there is another thing about it. Facebook is more focused on social interaction, while VK has a huge community of people sharing different types of media.
E-books are one of the main attractions for his VK users, so create an account and join various book clubs. We recommend the free medical books page and the journal and e-book community.
Visit VK
FAQs on How to Get Free Textbooks in PDF Format Online
How to find free PDF books online?
The above list consists of some of the best websites for you to find free PDF books online. You can also make use of Google and PDF Drive.
Does Google have a free PDF viewer?
Yes. PDF Viewer for Chrome is a handy and no-cost tool that enables you to open and make changes to files directly within your web browser.
Are free PDF books safe to download?
Absolutely, PDF files can have harmful software or viruses. However, the free PDF search engine is safe from viruses and won't harm your device. So, always make sure the links in any PDF book come from a reliable source. Nevertheless, having antivirus software is the most effective way to protect your device.
What is the world's most trusted free PDF viewer?
Adobe Reader is a free program that lets you read PDF files and similar document formats. In contrast, Adobe Acrobat, the paid version of Reader, provides extra features such as the ability to edit, change, print, secure, and work with PDF files in more ways.
Also Recommended:
- 35 Best Free PDF Book Download Sites
- 200 Free Medical Books PDF For Your Studies
- Top 25 Sites to Read Free Books Online Without Downloading
- 20 Best Sites To Read Comic Books Online For Free
- 55+ Free eBook Download Sites Without Registration.
Conclusion
This article should have given you the details you need to get free textbooks PDF online. You can check out other of our articles on similar discourse.
Did this writing solve your problem? Let us know in the comment section below.