// Books Online, Global Systems Science

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Frequently Asked Questions

How do I get and implement GSS?

  • All GSS instructional materials (online books for student reading, investigations, software and image downloads) are available for free on this website. There are also teacher guides that you may access by contacting gssmail@berkeley.edu.

Are there PDF versions of the GSS books that are better for printing?   

  • Answer: Not at present. This was a decision that was made in 2005 to make GSS all-digital online, for cost savings as well as for facilitating rapid implementation of revisions and improvements. Most students are perfectly happy to read the material online where there are no printing flaws are introduced, and of course no paper is consumed.

Is GSS up to date/How does GSS stay up to date? Answers: 

  • GSS staff can evaluate and implement a change very quickly, usually within days or even minutes. This is something textbook companies for the most part don’t do. Thus the student books reflect automatically the most updated version. Updates do not need to wait for any multi-year cycle. 
  • The GSS “Stay Current” email service sends updates, mostly in the form links to articles relevant to specific GSS chapters, about once a week. You may sign up for this service by contacting gssmail@berkeley.edu and requesting to be on the GSS email list (it’s a Google Group that serves as email list). The archive of GSS Stay Current postings may be found on – http://www.globalsystemsscience.org/uptodate.

If I have suggestions for improvement, find errors, or notice issues (links that don’t work, information that is not correct…), who should I contact?  

  • Answer: Contact gssmail@berkeley.edu. The student books are on a web site that is very easy for us to update it at anytime.

What did GSS originally cost?

  • Answer: Originally GSS was only available as hard copy books that cost about $12 each or over $100 for a complete set of the original 9 books. In the early 2000s GSS was made available as PDFs with license pricing of $5/student. That was also a mechanism for donations to GSS as well.  E.g. if someone wanted to donate $150, they would purchase 30 licenses. By 2020 GSS became a legacy product of The Lawrence Hall of Science, available for free on this website.

Is there a teacher guide?