When a big company announces that it has made the PDF versions of its books free for download, researchers, academicians and students feel as if they’ve hit an e-gold mine. That’s exactly how WE felt here at iSPeak App.
Last June 2, 2011, the National Academies, comprised by the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, the Institute of Medicine and the National Research Council made several thousands of their books’ PDF versions available for download–free of charge–to all Web visitors via the National Academies Press homepage. The NAP releases over 200 books per year that explores crucial issues in the fields of engineering, science, and health.
We’ve explored NAP’s homepage and came up with these gems, to name a few:
- Educating Children with Autism (2001) by the Committee on Educational Interventions for Children with Autism and the NRC
- From Neurons to Neighborhoods: The Science of Early Childhood Development (2000) by J.P. Shonkoff and D.A. Phillips
- Early Childhood Assessment: Why, What, and How (2008) by C.E. Snow & S.B. Van Hemel
- Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children (1998) by C.E. Snow, M.S. Burns and P. Griffin
- Minority Students in Special and Gifted Education (2001) by the Committee on Minority Representation in Special Education, M.S. Donovan and C.T. Cross
- The Aging Mind: Opportunities in Cognitive Research (2000) by P.C. Stern and L.L. Carstensen
- Neurological, Psychiatric, and Developmental Disorders: Meeting the Challenge in the Developing World (2001) by the Committee on Nervous System Disorders in Developing Countries, and the Board on Global Health
Each of the linked titles above brings you to the book’s information page. Look for the 
button to get your own ebook (NOTE: You may be asked to either sign in if you are a Registered User, or continue as a Guest). Fire up iTunes, sync your iDevice, do a little magic and sync it to your iBooks, GoodReader, Stanza or Bookman (even PDF Notes if you’re the type who likes to make annotations on your PDFs), sync again, and enjoy the lightness of the once-several-pounds-heavy book in your gadget.
Share this news on Facebook and retweet on Twitter. Forward our article and links to anybody whom you think can benefit from these ebooks. Remember, 4,000 FREE titles on engineering, medicine, healthcare, and research is too good NOT to share.