Open-Source Textbooks

* THIS PAGE IS NO LONGER MAINTAINED AS OF SEPTEMBER 2010 *

Instead I am concentrating recommendations and examples within the undergraduate mathematics curriculum, so please visit the Open Math Curriculum page. If you are linking to this site, please use that page for a broad list, or link to linear.pugetsound.edu specifically for the Linear Algebra text. Thanks for your help publicizing open textbooks.

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This page contains some links to similar open-source textbooks. Notice however that a book that is free to download, but with a copyright that reserves the author's rights, is not really free. For a book to have freedom, the copyright holder needs to grant the text additional freedoms through a license that makes these conditions explicit. For this reason, I have included some links to different licenses and essays on open-source.

Free Textbooks

• Abstract Algebra: Theory and Applications, by Thomas W. Judson.
  LaTeX source distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL).
• Whitman Calculus, by David Guichard
  An introductory calculus text. Distributed under a Creative Commons License (Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share Alike).
• Vector Calculus, by Michael Corral
  Third-semester calculus: vectors, functions of several variables, multiple integrals, line integrals. Distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL).
• Linear Algebra, by Jim Hefferon
  An introductory linear algebra text. Distributed under both the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL) and a Creative Commons License (Attribution, Share Alike).
• A Problem Course in Mathematical Logic, by Stefan Bilaniuk.
  LaTeX source distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL).
• Introduction to Programming Using Java, by David J. Eck.
  Distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License (GFDL).
• Programming Languages: Application and Interpretation, by Shriram Krishnamurthi
  Distributed under a Creative Commons License (Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share Alike).
• Introduction to Probability, by Charles M. Grinstead and J. Laurie Snell.
  Distributed under the GNU General Public License (GPL).
• OpenMathText.org, by David Santos and Alain Schremmer.
  A variety of comprehensive lecture notes, many distributed under the Open Publication License (OPL).
• Introduction to Economic Analysis, by R. Preston McAfee.
  Distributed under a Creative Commons License (Attribution, Non-Commercial, Share Alike).
• Calculus-Based Physics, by Jeff Schnick.
  Distributed under a Creative Commons License (Attribution, Share Alike).
• A First Course in Complex Analysis, by Matthias Beck and Gerald Marchesi
  Free to use for educational purposes at institutions of higher learning, source available on request.
  
• Elements of Abstract and Linear Algebra, by Edwin H. Connell.
  See Chapter 5 for linear algebra done at a higher level. Free to view, but copyrighted.
• Light and Matter, Ben Crowell.
  Free physics textbooks.

Freedom

Some thoughts on open-content, intellectual property, open-source software and books.

• The Economy of Ideas An essay on intellectual property, copyright and digital media.
• The Cathedral and the Bazaar A collection of essays on open-source software.
• Free as in Freedom Richard Stallman's crusade for free software.
• Free Culture Larry Lessig's latest on copyrights and creativity.
  
• Articles by Ben Crowell on open-source textbook production and distribution.
  
• Open Knowledge Foundation Weblog, "Dead knowledge: why being explicit about openness matters"
  

Sources of Open-Content

• Textbook Revolution  Careful capsule descriptions of free textbooks in many disciplines.
• The Assayer  Reviews and catalog for free books.
• Online Mathematics Textbooks  George Cain's selective list.
• Textbooks in Mathematics  Alexandre Stefanov's comprehensive list.
• WikiEducator  A site about creating free textbooks.
• Samizdat Press  A collection of free texts in science.
• Global Text Project  A free textbook inititative with a global outlook.
• Project Gutenberg  One of the orginal promoters of distributing public domain texts.
• The Online Books Page  20,000 free books.
• The Book People Mailing List  Traditional, moderated, email discussion list.
• Open Books Project  O'Reilly's open-content books.
• Public Library of Science  Freely available research articles.
• Magnatune  Open-content record label.

Licensing Open-Content

• Free Software Foundation  GNU licenses, popular for software projects.
• Creative Commons  Licensing and promoting open-content.
• Free for Education  An Australian licensing initiative.