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+The problem
+Textbook fees hit families hard
++ In many countries, families pay hundreds of dollars per child each year for printed textbooks — + on top of tuition, devices, and supplies. When money is tight, students share worn copies, skip + buying books, or fall behind before the term begins. +
++ That cost is not a small inconvenience. It is a barrier to showing up prepared. Open Free Books + exists so every learner can start the year with complete materials, not a receipt. +
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+ The medium
+Long live the web — not the PDF
++ Paper textbooks are fixed: one layout, one edition, no room to fix a typo until the next print run. + Most “digital” versions are the same pages exported to PDF — still static, still hard to search, + still impossible to embed a simulation or a live diagram. +
++ HTML on the open web is different. Chapters can link to sources, resize for any screen, + include interactive figures, and improve over time. The book becomes something you use — not something + you only carry. +
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+ People & books
+Replace textbooks, not teachers
++ A great teacher — whether in person or, someday, assisted by thoughtful tools — still sets pace, + asks hard questions, and notices when a student is stuck. That relationship is not what we are + trying to automate. +
++ Textbooks are different. They are reference and structure: explanations, exercises, diagrams. + Those can be free, forkable, and kept current on the web so teachers spend less + time hunting permissions and more time teaching. +
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+ Agency
+Do not outsource your learning
++ Finishing a chapter is not the same as understanding it. Skimming for answers, copying worked + solutions, or rushing to the end leaves gaps that show up on the next test — and in the years after. +
++ Read slowly. Try the problems before you peek at hints. Sit with confusion long enough to name what + you do not get. The textbook is a guide; the thinking still has to be yours. That habit + is what school is really training, whether the subject is algebra or history. +
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+ Planet
+Open textbooks are gentler on the Earth
++ Core curriculum changes slowly. Newton’s laws, the structure of a cell, and how fractions work do not + need a new AI run every September. Regenerating the same chapter thousands of times burns electricity + in data centers — for text that could have been written once and shared openly. +
++ One carefully reviewed book, published on the web for everyone, means less redundant + compute, less e-waste from disposable PDFs, and fewer trucks moving heavy print runs. Students get + stable material they can trust; the environment gets less waste from doing the same work over and over. +
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+ Craft
+Carefully crafted by brilliant people on Earth
++ A textbook is not a bulk download. It is years of lectures distilled, diagrams redrawn until they + click, exercises tested in real classrooms, and arguments tightened by reviewers who care about + getting it right. +
++ Open Free Books gathers that work from educators and researchers at institutions around the world — + people who have already spent their careers making hard ideas legible. We publish their care + openly so the next student inherits the best version, not a disposable draft. +
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+Contributors and partners from leading universities include
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+People
+Contributors
++ Open Free Books is written and maintained in the open. These are the people building and reviewing the textbooks. +
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+ Want to contribute? Open a pull request on GitHub. +
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