And so it begins again ....
>> Sunday, August 16, 2009
The search for reasonably priced textbooks, that is!
Something that I have heard about for the first time this year is textbook swapping sites like TextSwap or Textlister, which allows you to buy, sell, or trade used textbooks.
Me, I've been pretty lucky overall - my undergrad was in English, so I was able to find most of the books my sister couldn't get for me used, or at least easily through Amazon.ca. I also have been known to use Project Gutenberg for older stuff.
Since I've been in grad school, we've been given a lot of photocopies - in many cases, we only need one chapter out of particular book, if that - the photocopying gets expensive, but it sure is preferable to having to buy books and then only needing them for one stinking chapter!
Anyway - what about you? Anyone used any of these sites? Would you?
This is great. I haven't used either one but I am certainly going to try for boooks for my kids, at least, until I get back in the saddle.
I am learning a lot here. Nice job!!
Thanks
Have you ever tried the site http://www.bigwords.com they let you search for multiple textbooks at once and then compare all the prices form all the major sites to see which site has the textbook for the cheapest price. It's really great cause it lets you get all your books at one shot.
I don't use textbooks. I learn best by taking notes and independent research (hence the research-based site I write). I used to buy them, but they're expensive and I would sometimes literally never open them. I'm really looking forward to the adoption of free online textbooks too. If Calculus hasn't changed much since the 1800s, why should students pay $200 for a reference book about it?
Granted, I have never had a teacher that tested on things that weren't in lecture, but my text strategy is to just do without. Nontraditonal!
Kevin is right,
http://www.bigwords.com is nice and helps you to search multiple textbooks at a time and helps to find the cheapest price for book.
will have a look - but I suspect that it will be another one of those sites that is pretty much useless for those who are anywhere other than the US