Friday, January 06, 2012

Matchbook: FREE College Textbooks

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of MatchBook for SocialSpark. All opinions are 100% mine.
 
As any college student knows - textbooks are expensive!  Thankfully UW-Whitewater, where Cory attends school, has a textbook rental program, so the cost of books is included in his tuition.  But for most students the cost of those books is an added expense, one they can't really afford.  The costs can add up to over $1000 per year, depending on the subject and the books.
 
Using Myer’s PsychologyTextbook? | READ FREE!
That's why MatchBooks is so great.  Their textbooks are FREE.  That's right - FREE!  MatchBooks are published under a Creative Commons open license, which makes it possible for students to read online for free! NO catch and NO expiration date. Each MatchBook textbook is an entire textbook, written by an expert author, from a trusted publisher, aligned to content in an expensive textbook - FREE online.  That means that, for whatever reason - whether a student can't afford the expensive textbook or just doesn't have it - all the information is available online. 
 
While a MatchBook is not an exact copy of the original textbook, it has been matched closely to the original and contains the same chapter order, core concepts, and key terms.  For instance, a student taking General/Intro Psychology this spring semester who has been assigned Psychology 9e by Myers can use the MatchBook and get:
  • Number of chapters > same
  • Chapter order > same
  • Topics in chapters > same
All the same knowledge for free.  Compare that to around $100 to buy the original hardcover textbook (from Amazon - I'm not sure what it would cost in a campus bookstore)  or around $60 to get a year's subscription to the  ebook version - and you can see how the savings can add up.  MatchBook for Myers Psych is the very first MatchBook, so Psych students get to be the first to check it out at matchurbook.com.  Early reviews of this MatchBook by students and professors have been very positive.  More MatchBooks are coming later this year.
 
Be sure to check out the MatchBooks site, and share it - because when they reach 1,000 shares, they’re making a $1,000 charitable donation!  Besides, I'm sure you or someone you know can really benefit from free textbooks, right?  Also, be sure to Like Flat World Knowledge on Facebook (Matchurbook.com is a project of Flat World Knowledge, the world’s largest publisher of free and open college textbooks.) for more information and to find other FREE textbooks for all your basic college courses.
 
So what do you think?  Would you use a MatchBook or recommend MatchBooks to someone?  Let me know in the comments.
 
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