Material Detail

I have been very pleasantly surprised by this textbook! I thought that a free online resource couldn’t possibly be as high-quality as the paid nonmajors microbiology text that my colleagues and I have been using for years. However, I was wrong! This textbook covers all of the required topics that I teach (nonmajors microbiology for pre-allied health students), and actually frequently goes into more depth than the paid textbook I’ve used in the past. For example, when describing major breakthroughs, it mentions the scientist who is usually credited with the discovery as well as providing additional information about other scientists whose work may have been overlooked / who also contributed to the ideas. In the metabolism chapter, it includes simplified diagrams to understand the basics, but also includes more complex diagrams in an appendix. It includes more connections to the “real world,” for example industrial applications and information about current strategies for antimicrobial drug discovery. I won’t go into further examples here, but suffice it to say that I learned quite a few new anecdotes while reading this book that I’m excited to share with my students! The text is definitely readable and concepts are clearly defined and explained. There are many practice questions for students, as well as case studies to illustrate clinical applications. The diagrams are clear and simplified so that extraneous or distracting information is omitted (unfortunately, some diagrams are a bit small and thus look grainy when placed on a PowerPoint slide). In short, this is an excellent resource that I am looking forward to using in place of a paid textbook for my course next semester. It’s amazing that it is available for free for my students!

I am considering adopting this OpenStax textbook for Fall 2017 rather than the OER Boundless Microbiology textbook, mainly because of the option to download this text as a PDF, which Boundless does not offer, and also because of its affiliation with Rice University rather than a commercial company. Is there anyone else who prefers the Boundless text over this one and can you give me reasons why?