Print-it-Yourself or read it free, online

WEB WATCH

Stop worrying about the spiralling cost and non-availability of textbooks. You can now download study material easily, and some of it is even free!

A website called Flat World Knowledge publishes textbooks written by experts at  www.flat worldknowledge.com. These peer-reviewed-and-edited textbooks can be viewed through different formats. Students can either browse the book for free, buy a print-on-demand version, or pay for the fully downloadable print and audio versions. All options are available for a fraction of the cost of textbooks.

Viewers can use the contents of the website in three ways:

*The Print-it-Yourself option provides the textbook through a PDF format and can be instantly downloaded.

*The Black and White Book, which is good  for highlighting and note-taking, will be delivered right to your door.

*The Full Color Book is an original version with photos and graphics.

The fourth version is ‘Read Online for Free’ or the ‘Online Reader’, which cannot be downloaded. It is ideal for those who want to use travel time to study. The online reader is user friendly. Pages can be turned by simply clicking the ‘Next’ arrow. Browsers can go back to the previous page by clicking on ‘Previous’ or by simply scrolling down to read the text. The viewer can switch to different parts of the book by using the ‘Table of Contents’ and clicking on a specific Chapter. Note-taking can be done by clicking on the (+) sign on the page.

The website provides users with an account, where their notes are automatically saved. Click on ‘My Flatworld’ account, log in and view notes under the tab ‘My Notes’.
What kind of books are hosted at Flat World Knowledge?

The website has a catalogue for browsing books that are available. For instance, under ‘Business and Economics’ you may find books on:

*Accounting & Tax

*Communication

*Economics

*Finance

*General Business

*Information Systems

*Management

*Marketing

*Business Law

Humanities & Social Scien-ces has books on Psychology, Communication, Sociology, and English.

The Science section has books on Biology, Geosciences, and Chemistry; while the Mathematics section currently includes only one book  which is on  Elementary Algebra.
If a browser wants to buy a book, all she needs to do is print the text, download the audio, PDFs, and Study Aids package.  The Study Aids package is a set of learning tools that break down the key terms in all chapters.

The tools offered are:

*Flyx :A quizzing assessment tool with personalised feedback

*Audiobook: Load your book to any MP3 player to listen anytime, anywhere

*Atlas Black: Graphic novels that encompass key concepts and theories. All ‘Study Aid’ items are digital and appear immediately after they are bought in the browser’s ‘My Flatworld’ account.

Flat World Knowledge text-books can be useful to educators too as the contents  can be used for research,  assignment work or reading material, online or offline, to suit their teaching  require-ments.