In 2020, looking for a little joy in a very tough year, we decided to celebrate the incredible work of the open education community by having the whole Pressbooks team choose their favorite PB creations of the year. It was such a fulfilling experience—marveling at all the incredible contributions to education that we’ve played a small role in—that we’ve decided to make it a yearly tradition. So here we are in 2021, no doubt a year with its own set of challenges, with our favorite books of the year. Our team is a little bigger than it was a year ago, and with our growth comes a growing list of amazing books. We hope you enjoy these examples of excellent open educational resources as much as we do! Happy New Year!
A brief celebration of an important open philosophy textbook
We start this list with some words from our Founder & CEO, Hugh McGuire, about a series of books that was recently released and exemplifies the power of open.
“My favourite book of the year in the Pressbooks ecosystem is Introduction to Epistemology, edited by Brian C. Barnett. This is the fifth book in the amazing Introduction to Philosophy Open Textbook series, conceived by series editor Christina Hendricks. This ambitious open education project, with scores of participants from around the world, is expected to cover topics in philosophy in nine volumes. In addition to Introduction to Epistemology, five of the series have now been published, including Philosophy of Mind, Philosophy of Religion, Ethics, and Logic. Four more are underway: Aesthetics, Metaphysics, Philosophy of Science, and Social and Political Philosophy. I am in awe at this project and will continue to watch the series closely as it grows.”
This series, published by Rebus Community, is an example of how the open education community comes together to make publishing magic happen!
Now on with the list!
Leigh Kinch-Pedrosa, Head of Marketing & Communications
Gendered Lives: Global Issues
By Katie Nelson and Nadine T. Fernandez.
Published by State University of New York Press
Bumble bees of Unama’ki: A Guide to Becoming a Buzzing Naturalist
By Hannah Kosick
Published on the Atlantic OER Pressbooks Network
Note: This book is an incredible example of student-authored OER
Felipe Dalcin, Full-Stack Developer
Open Music Theory, Version 2
By Mark Gotham, Kyle Gullings, Chelsey Hamm, Bryn Hughes, Brian Jarvis, Megan Lavengood, and John Peterson
Published on the Virtual Library of Virginia Pressbooks Network
A Brief Introduction to Philosophy
By Yoni Porat
Published by the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT)
Business Communication for Success
By Marion Synnott, Academic Chair, and many faculty members from the Communications department at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology.
Published by the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT)
John McLeod, Account Manager
Foundations of Neuroscience
By Casey Henley, PhD
Published by Michigan State University Libraries
The Lymphatic System of the Dog
By Hermann Baum
Translated by Monique Mayer, Leonie Bettin, Isabell Stamm, and Tony Carr
Published by the University of Saskatchewan
Travis Wall, Librarian
Introduction to Philosophy: Philosophy of Mind
By Eran Asoulin, Paul Richard Blum, Tony Cheng, Daniel Haas, Jason Newman, Henry Shevlin, Elly Vintiadis
Edited by Heather Salazar (Editor) and Christina Hendricks (Series Editor)
Published by Rebus Community
Dress, Appearance, and Diversity in U.S. Society
By Kelly L. Reddy-Best
Published by Iowa State University Digital Press
Başak Büyükçelen, Chief Operating Officer
Critical Employment, Ethical, and Legal Scenarios in Human Resource Development
By Claretha Hughes
Published by the University of Arkansas Libraries
Mythoi Koinoi: An Open Access Anthology of Greek and Roman Myth
By Kate Minniti, Tara Mulder, Pippa Rogak, and Luoyao Zhang
Published by University of British Columbia
Amy Song, Customer Success Manager
Jacob Lawrence in Seattle
By Juliet Sperling, Alexander Betz, Thomas Star, Ashley Tseng, Bailee Strong, Elizabeth Copland, Elizabeth Xiong, Grace Fletcher, Kate Whitney-Schubb, Kira Sue, Ryan Hawkins, Samantha Seaver, Mingjie Ma, Maya Green, Nicolas Staley, and Monica Ionescu
Published on the University of Washington Pressbooks network
This book is another beautiful example of creating open textbooks with students.
Cheese Making Technology e-Book
By Arthur Hill and Mary Ann Ferrer
Published on the University of Guelph Pressbooks network
Elsie Kluvia, Administrative Assistant
Human Nutrition in a Canadian Context
By Karine Hamm
Published on the BCcampus Pressbooks Network
Ricardo Aragón, Full-Stack Developer
Translating for Canada, eh?
By Lynne Bowker
Published by University of Ottawa
Oscar Arzola, Full-Stack Developer
Open Music Theory, Version 2
By Mark Gotham, Kyle Gullings, Chelsey Hamm, Bryn Hughes, Brian Jarvis, Megan Lavengood, and John Peterson
Published on the Virtual Library of Virginia Pressbooks Network
Hyunsoo Kanyamuna, Sales Executive
Jacob Lawrence in Seattle
By Juliet Sperling, Alexander Betz, Thomas Star, Ashley Tseng, Bailee Strong, Elizabeth Copland, Elizabeth Xiong, Grace Fletcher, Kate Whitney-Schubb, Kira Sue, Ryan Hawkins, Samantha Seaver, Mingjie Ma, Maya Green, Nicolas Staley, and Monica Ionescu
Thomas Weideman, Documentation & Support Specialist
I’m All Ears: Spanish Pronunciation Course for Speakers of English
By Jorge González Casanova
Published on University of Washington’s Pressbooks Network
Ho Man Chan, DevOps Engineer & Full-Stack Developer
Introduction to Geographic Information Systems
By R. Adam Dastrup, MA, GISP
“This looks soo geeky,” – Ho Man Chan, excellent geek
Christopher Murtagh, Senior Infrastructure Consultant
A Brief Introduction to Philosophy
By Yoni Porat
Published by the Southern Alberta Institute of Technology (SAIT)
Sarah Simpson, Sales Executive & Team Lead
Starting A Conversation About Mental Health: Foundational Training for Students
UBC Student Health and Wellbeing Staff, Jewell Gillies, Barbara Johnston, Liz Warwick, Dagmar Devine, Jenny Guild, Arica Hsu, Hamza Islam, Mehakpreet Kaur, Malena Mokhovikova, Jackson Mackenzie Nicholls, and Calla Smith
Published by BCcampus
Apurva Ashok, Director of Open Education, Rebus Foundation
Pulling Together: Manitoba Foundations Guide (Brandon Edition)
By Manitoba Foundations Group
Published by Manitoba Campus
This book is an adaptation of Kory Wilson’s Pulling Together: Foundations Guide. The team behind the book worked on the project as part of the Textbook Success Program.
Introduction to Philosophy: Epistemology
By Guy Axtell, Brian C. Barnett, Todd R. Long, Jonathan Lopez, Daniel Massey, Monica C. Poole, William D. Rowley, K. S. Sangeetha, Brian C. Barnett (Book Editor), and Christina Hendricks (Series Editor)
Published by Rebus Community
Education For All: Ten years of open education luminaries from around the world
By David T. Kindler, Marcela Morales, and Paul Stacey
Published by Open Education Global
Steel Wagstaff loves open education!
And as has become part of the tradition, we turn it over to Steel Wagstaff, Educational Product Manager, to get very enthusiastic about open books.
Décoloniser les sciences sociales – Descolonizar las ciencias sociales
Created under the direction of Liliana Diaz and Baptiste Godrie
Published by Québec : Éditions science et bien commun
This book is a bilingual, published in French and Spanish.
Introduction to Permaculture
By Andrew Millison
Published by Oregon State University
The Languages of Berkeley: An Online Exhibition
By Claude H. Potts, curator
Published by The University Library, University of California, Berkeley
Music in World Cultures
By Justin R. Hunter and Matthew Mihalka
Published by University of Arkansas Libraries
Parenting and Family Diversity Issues
By Diana Lang
Published by Iowa State University Digital Press
Queer Fashion and Style: Stories from the Heartland
By Kelly L. Reddy-Best, Dana Goodin, and Eulanda Sanders
Published by Iowa State University Digital Press
A note on “of the year”: When it comes to open educational resources and digital books, publishing dates can be tricky. Part of the beauty of OER is how they are living documents that grow as the learning community evolves. For this reason, we are using the loosest definition of “of the year” possible. For a book to be a favorite book of the year, it just needs to have been updated between 2020 and 2021.
Note on the publisher: We have listed the publisher only when the creator entered publisher information into the book information. If no publisher was listed, we noted the Pressbooks network where the book is hosted.
