Psychology
The book is as or more comprehensive than other publisher-provided Introductory Psychology textbooks I have used, and more comprehensive than another open access Introductory Psychology textbook I have used. The topics commonly covered in Introductory Psychology are covered across each of the chapters. In addition, this textbook has a chapter many others do no - Industrial Organizational Psychology. I like that the Introduction to Psychology and Psychological Research topics are separate chapters, as it is usually too much information for one chapter. Each of the chapters has a glossary.
As far as I can tell, the content is accurate, error-free and unbiased. I did not detect any particular theoretical leanings or unwarranted emphasis regarding particular ideas in the book - the authors appear to be objective in presenting the material. None of the material is inconsistent with my understanding of this content and the way it is presented in other Introductory Psychology textbooks.
This book was published in 2014 and is relevant for 2014. I am curious how often future updates of this textbook will occur. A lot of the content will stand the test of time as it consists of historical studies and schools of thought, theories, principles and anatomy that will remain consistent. The organization of the chapters into sections should make it relatively easy to update as newer theories gain empirical support, new research is conducted, and our understanding of individual differences (cultural, gender and gender identity, sexual orientation, age) in psychological phenomena grows. The only reason I am rating this category a "4" is because the book is several years old now and it is unclear when it may be updated next.
All psychological terms are either in italics or bold and defined in the text where they are introduced and in the glossary at the end of the chapter. The writing is clear and at an appropriate reading comprehension level for an undergraduate Introductory Psychology textbook.
Terms are used consistently in the text within and across chapters, and within frameworks.
The organization of the chapters into sections makes it easy for instructors to assign smaller reading sections if desired. Sections of chapters could be assigned out-of-order/reorganized if instructors want to teach the content in a different order. The use of headings/subheadings, smaller shaded textboxes, and images is effective in preventing enormous blocks of text.
The chapters are organized in a logical fashion. Different Introductory Psychology textbooks organize chapters slightly differently after the first three (intro, research, biology). For example, I am used to then having development come next, whereas in this book development comes much later. In addition, memory builds upon information presented in learning so it would make more sense to me for it to come directly after learning. The topics within the chapters are presented in a logical and clear manner. There are only a few instances where the order of topics within chapters was illogical to me (e.g., "Gestalt Principles of Perception" not included under "Vision" in the Sensation and Perception chapter; experimental design presented under "Analyzing Findings" instead of "Approaches to Research" in the Psychological Research chapter).
I saved the book as a PDF and also interacted with it online. It was easy to navigate both ways and I did not encounter any problems with navigating, distortion of images/charts, or other display features. It would be nice to be able to save individual chapters as PDFs that I could then make available to students.
I did not detect any grammatical errors.
The text provided examples of how psychological phenomena vary by culture, race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic background. It is culturally sensitive and not offensive in any way.