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Books and educational journals available for free

Chloe_ScopeChloe_Scope Scope Posts: 10,653 Disability Gamechanger
in Coffee lounge

There's no better time than now to finally read that book you've always wanted to!

With the lockdown meaning we are staying at home to reduce the risk of spreading COVID-19, access to books and information is more important than ever before.

I pile of colourful books on the right hand side, with the background being blurred.

Here are some subscription services that are currently offering access for free:
  • Scribd, a reading subscription service with over 1 million e-books, audiobooks, and magazines, has offered free access to its library for anyone interested in the next month.
  • Audible have cancelled subscription of books and audio stories for children and students of all ages as long as schools are closed down. 
  • BorrowBox is always available for free if you have a library card, it will allow you to access e-books and audiobooks. 
  • JSTOR, a digital library that normally requires a subscription, has announced that 6,000 of its e-books and more than 150 journals will be freely available to the public.
  • Project Muse, a large number of publishers are also making their scholarly content temporarily available. They include the Music Library Association, which has articles on music history; the National Bureau of Asian Research; and the University of California Press.
  • FutureLearn have a wide selection of free courses
What book are you currently reading? Do you have a list of books you would like to read? Are you an e-book or audiobook reader?

Let us know in the comments below!
Scope

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Replies

  • Chloe_ScopeChloe_Scope Scope Posts: 10,653 Disability Gamechanger
    Also, here are some resources for visually impaired students.
    Scope

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  • JenCoJenCo Member Posts: 122 Pioneering
    This is brilliant, thank you
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  • April2018momApril2018mom Posts: 2,869 Member
    Do you know of any good sites that sell educational textbooks or not @Chloe_Scope? I have already used Amazon several times in the past two weeks to order new textbooks. Preferably ones which sell textbooks which are for secondary school pupils please. But I also need recommendations on good textbooks for primary school kids as well. If you have any suggestions please share. Thanks in advance. 
    I’m going to check out futurelearn too! I want to try a new course. 
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  • Chloe_ScopeChloe_Scope Scope Posts: 10,653 Disability Gamechanger
    April2018mom said:
    Do you know of any good sites that sell educational textbooks or not @Chloe_Scope? I have already used Amazon several times in the past two weeks to order new textbooks. Preferably ones which sell textbooks which are for secondary school pupils please. But I also need recommendations on good textbooks for primary school kids as well. If you have any suggestions please share. Thanks in advance. 
    I’m going to check out futurelearn too! I want to try a new course. 
    Not particularly @April2018mom. I know Amazon can be a good place, as well as Scholastic for children at school. 
    Scope

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  • LifeOfPippaLifeOfPippa Member Posts: 15 Courageous
    Love this! In case it's of interest to anyone, I recently found this post full of free (and some affordable) eCourses and eBooks accessible from home. I'm doing the blogging one at the moment!
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  • Chloe_ScopeChloe_Scope Scope Posts: 10,653 Disability Gamechanger
    Thanks @LifeOfPippa! These look great! :)
    Scope

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  • Han_Han_ Member Posts: 154 Pioneering
    Hi Chloe, thank you for this post. I have some suggestions of websites which offer free online courses that may interest some people. 
    Han
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  • Chloe_ScopeChloe_Scope Scope Posts: 10,653 Disability Gamechanger
    Thanks for this @Han_! 

    Have you been doing any courses yourself? :)
    Scope

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  • Han_Han_ Member Posts: 154 Pioneering
    Chloe_Scope said:
    Thanks for this @Han_! 

    Have you been doing any courses yourself? :)
    I completed a few courses a couple of years ago and found them engaging and informative. As they can be completed at your own pace with no deadlines, this takes away any pressure and allows you to enjoy the process of learning something new :)
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  • woodbinewoodbine Community Co-Production Group Posts: 4,141 Disability Gamechanger
    Nice one Chloe, i'm an avid reader usually getting through a paperback very week, i'll read everything and anything, currently getting stuck into Harry Bowlings fictional books about life in the east end during and after ww2
    "Putting a child into care, isn't caring for a child" (T.Rhattigan)
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  • AilsAils Member Posts: 2,268 Disability Gamechanger
    Thanks for this, @Chloe_Scope.  This info looks great and am going to check out your links.  I'm currently re-reading some of my classic books, which I love!  Just finished Pride and Prejudice again for the 3rd time and now just starting Far From The Madding Crowd, which is an old favourite too!  :smiley:
    Winner of the Scope New Volunteer Award 2019.   :)
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  • Chloe_ScopeChloe_Scope Scope Posts: 10,653 Disability Gamechanger
    woodbine said:
    Nice one Chloe, i'm an avid reader usually getting through a paperback very week, i'll read everything and anything, currently getting stuck into Harry Bowlings fictional books about life in the east end during and after ww2
    Sounds great @woodbine! I too have been reading a lot more. :)
    Ails said:
    Thanks for this, @Chloe_Scope.  This info looks great and am going to check out your links.  I'm currently re-reading some of my classic books, which I love!  Just finished Pride and Prejudice again for the 3rd time and now just starting Far From The Madding Crowd, which is an old favourite too!  :smiley:
    Such a good book @Ails!
    Scope

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  • bluesblues Member Posts: 6 Listener
    I've been reading free ebooks from my local library, you have to get a pin number then you can log in and choose from a huge list of books including brand new ones by popular authors. I've also been done 4 free history courses with Futurelearn which have been brilliant.
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  • [Deleted User][Deleted User] Posts: 1,651 Listener
    Up to about the end of last March I did 2 courses on ShawAcademy.com, digital photography and Scratch coding for kids, I passed both courses and got "Diplomas", I would avoid them now, if only I'd read the reviews on Trustpilot.com before signing up for £50 a month :(

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  • HanzRoloHanzRolo Member Posts: 26 Connected
    If you are interested in family history, RootsTech this year was made up of videos on a variety of topics.  Most of them are around 20 minutes long and some of them have notes like a conference.  It was free if you signed up to the Family Search website and they're online until I think March 2022.  There are some really inspiring videos on there too.  

    Nick Vujicic's keynote presentation was superb!  Talking about disability but also the importance of family to him.  Very moving, it had me in tears watching it being played at 5am while the event was running.

    This is the link to the page.  It's free to sign up to the page and with it being audio/visual presentations, it should hopefully make it accessible to some of the users on here  :)  No certificates at the end, but hopefully of interest to some and no reading to learn (which for a dyslexic person like me, is amazing!).

    https://www.familysearch.org/rootstech/rtc2021/
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