Did you know that you can access thousands of computer science books over the internet, for free? You may not be able to read the latest title on the nonfiction bestsellers list. But, you can read a lot of classic computer sci books without paying a dime.
Why would anyone post the full-text of computer books, at no cost? Some authors choose to make their books available after the publication goes out of print. Some publishers put books online after the book has been in stores for a year or two. This makes it possible for independent learners to study anything from PhotoShop to C++.
Here are a few of the best places to find free online computer science books…
FreeTechBooks.com - This website is a great place to start. It has hundreds of links to websites hosting free, full-text books. The links are neatly organized by topic, and the site is regularly updated with new additions.
ORielly.com - O’Reilly’s open book project makes dozens of high quality computer science books available for free. Most books are in PDF format.
ACM.org - The Association for Computing Machinery offers PDF versions of classic computing books. The books were chosen by a vote amongst ACM members.
NAP.edu - The National Academies Press allows users to read several of their for-sale computer science books over the internet.
WikiBooks.org - If you’re looking for a textbook, WikiBook has a lot to choose from. Not all books are complete, but there’s still a lot of good information.
TechBooksForFree.com, FreeSoftWareBooks.com, and IntelligentEdu.com - Similar to FreeTechBooks, these websites publish lists of links to free computer science books. If you can’t find what you’re looking for on the other sites, take a look at their massive book lists.
The above sites have more than a thousand free online computer science books. Happy reading!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
Please add http://www.freebookcentre.net to your list
There are two more reasons why a computer science text might be free online:
*They want market share. Many topics have been killed for future authors
by a really stellar book covering that subject.
Some people want to be read, and to be known as an authority
on a certain subject.
*They believe in open-sourcing knowledge. Open source got its start in software.
Amplifying on the comments of Anon. Computer science as a science/branch of applied math (not the technology aspect) doesn’t change in its fundamentals very fast. Therefore those books that “kill” a topic for future authors should definitely be read by checking them out of the library or ordering them through interlibrary loan. A few have online versions too. Unless you have unlimited time to read bunches of books on the same topic and its a topic you want to specialize in, it’s best to start with those.
Could you suggest any free audio resources for people who have too little time to read every day.