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So today I got my textbooks for college in the mail today... Overall there are not many complaints. I mean they are overpriced as always, but that's to be expected.
Anyways let's get to the real problem here. I have business stats this semester, and the book was far and away the most expensive book so far. $170 dollars. It's a new edition.This means there's no used option, so I have to pay in full...unfortunately. Even at this absurd price, I don't really mind TOO much, but when I got to this book I flipped the fuck out. IT WASNT EVEN BOUND. SERIOUSLY??? If you're going to charge that much money for a book at least fucking bind it. This shit pisses me off. I don't even have a binder. Professors seriously need to stop requiring new editions of books immediately after they come out. There is literally NOTHING different about the material (especially for a damn statistics class for fucks sake) except that it is arranged differently or uses different graphics. It's not about the students to the authors. It's about the money, and that is just plain unacceptable to me.
Anyways I just had to vent. If anyone has anything to say about textbooks, then they can use this as a forum to do so.
 
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My college math books were always ridiculously overpriced. My math analysis book (~ calculus 5) was 200 pages, the tiniest college book I've ever received, and was nearly $200. I could almost put it in my pocket.
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sometimes you can get out of buying a text. this year i've avoided buying stats, symbolic logic, computer science, texts because they're fairly simple and the profs go over anything you really need to know.
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On January 26 2012 08:15 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:
My college math books were always ridiculously overpriced. My math analysis book (~ calculus 5) was 200 pages, the tiniest college book I've ever received, and was nearly $200. I could almost put it in my pocket.
that's so stupid. $2 per page (since front and back is counted) is sickening
On January 26 2012 08:19 Roe wrote:
sometimes you can get out of buying a text. this year i've avoided buying stats, symbolic logic, computer science, texts because they're fairly simple and the profs go over anything you really need to know.
yeah this was something i learned fairly quickly. if there's any way I can skip buying the textbook I do, even if they are beneficial
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I've found a few of my textbooks online / on torrent sites as ebooks or pdfs ^^ saved like 300 dollars from that this year...
Stuff like MyMathLab can go the fuck to hell. $100 for an access code? seriously?
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Our University keeps a handful of each textbook required in the library for reference. Works pretty well to rent them out as long as it's not exam time, also if you get it right before the day ends you can keep it over night.
I only had to get one textbook last semester (Thermodynamics, needed the property tables in the back for open book exams) and don't need to get any this semester. Saves a lot of money ^_^
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Find out exactly how the book will be used, will there be hw assigned? Or just reading/mild references. Usually in the case of math/stats (took my fair share), the professor (if competent) does all the teaching and the book is for reference and hw. You just photocopy the hw pages from the library, friend, or go in on the book with a bunch of people. I've found math teachers to be more understanding if you just go up and ask if you can use the older text book.
My theory is that math and science teachers are usually very cool and believe that they know best so whatever they teach is way better then any book and the book is just there because the department heads says you need a textbook. Of course if the professor wrote the book, you are out of luck, though many times they are even more understanding! All academia, why do you attract so many oddballs!
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16997 Posts
Just don't buy textbooks. I haven't bought one in years.
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Go to your nearby printing machine and print out all the pages.
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On January 26 2012 08:33 Empyrean wrote:
Just don't buy textbooks. I haven't bought one in years.
how do you get by other than sharing with other people in the same class? my college doesnt offer the texts in the library, and very rarely have books to rent t_t.
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On January 26 2012 08:26 synapse wrote:
I've found a few of my textbooks online / on torrent sites as ebooks or pdfs ^^ saved like 300 dollars from that this year...
Stuff like MyMathLab can go the fuck to hell. $100 for an access code? seriously?
Agreed, I always first serach for ebooks/pdfs online, my uni also has a good used book website students can use to sell books to each other, I didn't have to buy any books this semester, other than an access code online for $40.
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On January 26 2012 08:33 Empyrean wrote:
Just don't buy textbooks. I haven't bought one in years.
Yup, for most of the classes you don't really need a textbook even though the professors say you do. If you end up really needing it for some reference or something, just ask someone in your lecture if you can photocopy a page out of the textbook or something. Or just split the cost with a friend and you guys can share the textbook?
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A lot of the time you might be able to find pdf books for relatively old books in technical fields. Also some textbooks could be sold back to Amazon for 60-80% of the original cost.
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fuckin access codes... btw OP you got ripped off big time my business stats book was only like 90 and it was a hard cover with nice quality images etc, although it might have been a custom book for our business school idk.
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yeah i wouldn't be upset if it was bound. these unbound books are nothing but a big mess. last year i got one too, but it was well below $100 (which is pretty reasonable). thanks for the responses though. I will definitely be looking into book torrents for next year
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Unless the professor himself/herself wrote the book, most of my professors just let me get an edition somewhat close to the most current one. Some of my professors go as far as literally writing up the problems and putting them on the web. As long as the edition isn't way too outdated, most of my professors just let me have something similar. As for actually buying the books, I generally check amazon and ebay for the book, and the university book stores for used or rental books and just find the cheapest among them. As for the non-bound book, I had a circuits book like that, my professor chose it because: 1 it was cheaper than the hardback, 2 you could take out specific pages that you needed for certain sections, 3 you more or less cannot sell it, so if your going to keep one book from your electrical engineering classes, it should be a circuits book. Regardless, I still disliked it. Tough luck bro, the textbook industry in the US is outright ripping us students off.
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is there a reason they come unbound? that boggles my mind.
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On January 26 2012 10:01 OrangeSoda wrote:
is there a reason they come unbound? that boggles my mind.
the reason the companies would probably give me is that "it's more convenient for me as i can put certain pages in my binder and not carry around the whole thing."
the REAL reason is that it's cheaper for them. it's bullshit
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I got all of mine in .djvu mostly. I bought a couple cos they were damn handy to have in print i.e. I'd use them for more than just one course. If they were basically one offs I just got e-copies and printed and my lecturers allowed students to use printed out copies in open book exams so it was all good.
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I've always bought previous editions used, for approximately $10-$30 max. If there are homeworks assigned from the book, ask another student if you can double check the problem numbers.
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......those are some seriously overpriced books, and we used to complain about books that cost 1000 rupees (25$).
PDFs are good for the odd reference here and there, but it's really tough to study off those for exams etc.
Mass photocopying works. One guy wold get hold of the book, go to a photocopier who does it for cheap, and all of us would get a copy and pay him later.
Or do you have book banks there? A lot of people in college used those here.
Back in college I used a combination of high quality pirated books, photocopies and borrowing from the library. If the book was really important and good, I'd get the actual book (price was nowhere near that high as you mentioned though).
Didnt like book banks too much cause you had to return all the books at the end of the semester, ideally want to keep some of them for reference later on.
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I've taken a liking to using torrents to get textbooks.
When they charge $200+ because they release new editions every year, it gets a bit ridiculous.
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EPT
