Show HN: Free textbook on engineering thermodynamics
A free educational resource for engineering thermodynamics.
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A free educational resource for engineering thermodynamics.
This offering provides a free, accessible resource for a fundamental engineering discipline. The availability of high-quality educational materials without cost democratizes learning and supports academic and professional development. While not a SaaS product, it contributes to the broader ecosystem by fostering knowledge dissemination, potentially reducing educational barriers for students and self-learners. Its impact is on human capital development, indirectly benefiting industries reliant on skilled engineering talent by making foundational knowledge more widely available, thereby enhancing the overall talent pool.
Author here. Feel free to send questions of any kind.
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What is Free textbook on engineering thermodynamics?
Free textbook on engineering thermodynamics is analyzed by our AI as: A free educational resource for engineering thermodynamics.. It focuses on This offering provides a free, accessible resource for a fundamental engineering discipline. The availability of high-quality educational materials...
Where did Free textbook on engineering thermodynamics originate?
Data for Free textbook on engineering thermodynamics was aggregated directly from the Hacker News community ecosystem, representing raw developer and early-adopter sentiment.
When was Free textbook on engineering thermodynamics publicly launched?
The initial public indexing or launch date for Free textbook on engineering thermodynamics within our tracked developer communities was recorded on April 27, 2026.
How popular is Free textbook on engineering thermodynamics?
Free textbook on engineering thermodynamics has achieved measurable traction, logging over 117 traction score and facilitating 30 recorded discussions or engagements.
Which technical categories define Free textbook on engineering thermodynamics?
Based on metadata extraction, Free textbook on engineering thermodynamics is categorized under topics such as: engineering thermodynamics, textbook.
What are some commercial alternatives to Free textbook on engineering thermodynamics?
Our semantic intelligence engine identifies potential commercial alternatives in the SaaS space, such as Databerry, which offers overlapping value propositions.
How does the creator describe Free textbook on engineering thermodynamics?
The original author or development team describes the product as follows: "Author here. Feel free to send questions of any kind."
Community Voice & Feedback
Nice. Good to see actual hard science books popularized and available for free.The textbook industry is a criminal cartel shafting both the students/knowledge seekers and authors/professors. Hence i really appreciate the way you have made the pdf available both for free and for a nominal price; so thank you.We need more hard science (Physics/Chemistry/Biology/etc.) content (books/articles/videos/etc.) on HN. For example, the interdisciplinary field of "Materials Science" (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Materials_science) is one the most practical and important for our modern world and yet there is hardly any discussions/popularization about it.
Cool, putting that to my reading list. And the pricing comparison is fun!
Tangentially related: It appears that TD ideas pop up in diffusion models, VAEs and neural net training dynamics. Any author/reading advice on links between thermodynamics, information, and neural nets?
I'd love to send you a few euros; but the checkout process requires both an email and a cell number. Are those strictly necessary to authorize a cc payment?
Hello,The textbook seems nice and clear. The only nitpick i have is that it should talk more about equations of state. I understand that it may not be the focus of the text, but mentioning the current state of equations of state (SAFTs, cubics, multiparameter) would help guide readers looking on how to generate their own steam tables for their fluid of interest, even if the advice is just "go use CoolProp"On the other hand, i really like the ilustrations on turbomachinery, helps ground the theoretical content.
Engineering books are very expensive in my country. I want to give calculus a spin. Spivak is a hundred dollars.
Love the price transparency, the obvious followup question is where the other ~85% of the pie goes when I buy a ~50€ paper book, if the author only earns a little under 15%?I imagine printing will be about 2 to 5€, if it's not ultra cheap print on demand refuse. Is the rest all for publishers and Amazon dot com?
Nice, I’ll definitely check this out.
You might want to look at optimising the PDF, it’s sitting at 40MB right now.
You might want to look at optimising the PDF, it’s sitting at 40MB right now.
Discovery Source
Hacker News Aggregated via automated community intelligence tracking.
Tech Stack Dependencies
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Deep Research & Science
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SaaS Metrics
Also, this quote feels relevant:
"Ludwig Boltzmann, who spent much of his life studying statistical mechanics, died in 1906, by his own hand. Paul Ehrenfest, carrying on the work, died similarly in 1933. Now it is our turn to study statistical mechanics." - David Goodstein's States of Matter, Introduction