Brigid in NC Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 I should be used to this by now, but my job dropped anew when I saw the $195 physics textbook my soon-to-be freshman ds is expected to purchase. I know that writers and publishers need to be compensated, but good grief! I guess I can look at the $119 used price as a bargain. :glare: I've used Amazon with some success in the past. Any great suggestions for other (maybe not-so-common) textbook sources? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dana Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Textbook prices are ridiculous. When I was in undergrad, my most expensive book included software and cost $80. As a warning, double-check with the college (or instructor) before buying the book. The math text I teach from comes bundled with an online access code for online software students are required to use for the course. If they have to buy access separately, it runs $70 since it includes a copy of the text online. I'd likely still buy the text since the software access is only good for one year, but I have seen students who bought the book online then have to buy access to the software and end up spending more money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 (edited) I should be used to this by now, but my job dropped anew when I saw the $195 physics textbook my soon-to-be freshman ds is expected to purchase. I know that writers and publishers need to be compensated, but good grief! I guess I can look at the $119 used price as a bargain. :glare: I've used Amazon with some success in the past. Any great suggestions for other (maybe not-so-common) textbook sources? Contact the instructor and ask if an older edition of the same text can be used. In introductory physics, the changes between editions are solely cosmetic because the content is physics that has not changed for the last hundred years. Very often, an older edition works just fine. the text will be almost identical, so the assigned reading is no problem at all. If the professor assigns the homework from the new book, all a student needs to do is either borrow the new book for a few minutes to write out the homework, or in most cases just find out which numbers in the new edition correspond to which numbers in the old - the homework problems themselves usually do not change, they only renumber them. Frequently, tables with these correspondences can be found on the internet. Here is the 3rd edition of your book http://www.amazon.com/Physics-Scientists-Engineers-Douglas-Giancoli/dp/0132431068/ref=sr_1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1342444065&sr=1-2&keywords=physics+for+scientists+and+engineers+3rd available for under $10 used. Edited July 16, 2012 by regentrude Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
creekland Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 We use dealoz to look for bargains. Oldest's Cost Accounting book is $305 (!) if bought at the bookstore, but I found one that is hopefully good for $65 using dealoz. It bugs me how many people put international editions listed by the same ISBN number, so you need to watch out for that - look at all the print carefully... but so far, so good with books we've received. We've saved hundreds. I can't fathom how one book costs so much personally. Even used prices are high, but they at least are better. Plus, I agree with checking about older editions... I fell in love with one prof who purposely used a 5th edition History of Theater book (available online for a couple of bucks + shipping) over the current 8th edition. Seriously, how much can the HISTORY of theater change??? Supplement the most recent stuff and you're all set... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathwonk Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 (edited) The world's largest used book site, including technical books, is abebooks. http://www.abebooks.com/ One can sometimes find excellent old calculus books there for as little as one cent. Here are some for one dollar plus shpg. http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=george+thomas&sts=t&tn=calculus http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=edwards%2C+penney&sts=t&tn=calculus Here are some apparently good physics books for less than $50. http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=purcell&sts=t&tn=physics The following lectures on physics, some for under $10, are by the most famous physicist since Einstein, Richard Feynman: (they may not be adequate alone, to learn the subject thoroughly, but are excellent for insight.) http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=feynman&bi=0&bx=off&ds=30&recentlyadded=all&sortby=17&sts=t&tn=lectures+on+physics&x=63&y=10 This problem is one some professors do not even think about since it does not affect them, and many students do not mention it either, as long as mom and dad are paying. If it were really the only option one could even argue that the price is not really so much compared to the value, the years it takes to write a good book, or the tuition, but that ignores the many other much cheaper options. In fact older editions are often vastly cheaper and contain almost the same material. In some cases the older edition is superior in that the new edition is not enhanced, but "dumbed down". It is possible for a professor to accommodate using older editions by photocopying the homework. In this way one can often reduce the price of a book to ones class from over $130 to under $30. Just pointing this out to the professor can possibly raise his/her consciousness about this matter. However someone has to speak up. I followed the practice for years of eschewing obscenely expensive books, especially when better cheaper ones were available. In all those years not one student expressed appreciation for this on class evaluations or orally (until I mentioned it, after which one student did so), so it felt like a thankless quixotic task. Other students had "hope scholarships" that paid for books and they preferred the newer overpriced ones thinking them better, not caring about the taxpayer, or lottery player, who footed the bill. In the world of math books, due to the age and scientific stability of the subject, there are essentially no cases known to me of a newer math book being better just by being newer. Producing newer editions is a task forced on the authors by the publisher wishing to beat out the used book market by making used books appear worthless. In all cases known to me, the first edition is actually far superior, being the version the author actually wanted to publish, and that survived the competitive review process. Th second edition is apparently usually motivated by a desire to increase new sales, by adding superfluous material, or "dumbing down" the old one to increase its audience. This can occasionally result in a book that some of us may find easier to read. I can think of two such cases of rewritten graduate math books over the past 40 years, that are actually easier to read than the originals, but these books were so thoroughly rewritten as to have different titles. It is true, as I have written elsewhere about high school math books, that the difficulty (and quality) of textbooks has decreased consistently in the USA over time. Hence today's student may well have difficulty reading a book written in 1960 when standards (stimulated by sputnik) were far higher than today in math and science. But that seldom affects different editions of the same book. Edited July 16, 2012 by mathwonk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 This problem is one some professors do not even think about since it does not affect them, and many students do not mention it either, as long as mom and dad are paying.... I have tried to assign an older edition as the required course textbook - only to hear from my university bookstore that they can not guarantee that they get enough used copies of the old book for a whole class, and thus I may only request the current edition as the text. I would love to work around that, but have no idea how. On my website, I clearly state that the older edition will work just fine - but barely one out of 100 students bothers to get the dirt cheap old one and deal with the minor inconvenience of sorting out the homework; everybody else gets whatever the university bookstore provides. Not sure how to change that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quiver0f10 Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 My boys rented most of their books through www.chegg.com and never had an issue. The math books came with the online access codes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mathwonk Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 (edited) I had better success in a small class of around 15 or 20 students. I did the research myself on abebooks.com, and if I found enough copies available at reasonable cost, I referred my students there. (A few still complained if they got the $30 one instead of the $15 one. I was saving everyone over $100, but those who saved $100 didn't feel treated "equally" with those who saved $115. Not to mention the book I was having them buy was worth 10 times as much intrinsically, as the watered down ones costing $130.) Once I wrote the author of an excellent modern but out of print book, and got permission to reproduce copies for my class at nominal cost (around $30 for 600 pages). i sent him a thank you gift out of my pocket for his kindness. Edited July 16, 2012 by mathwonk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ereks mom Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 We use dealoz to look for bargains. ... Plus, I agree with checking about older editions... :iagree: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 My boys rented most of their books through www.chegg.com and never had an issue. The math books came with the online access codes. My daughter has also had good experiences with renting textbooks through Chegg. Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
swimmermom3 Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 I have tried to assign an older edition as the required course textbook - only to hear from my university bookstore that they can not guarantee that they get enough used copies of the old book for a whole class, and thus I may only request the current edition as the text. I would love to work around that, but have no idea how. On my website, I clearly state that the older edition will work just fine - but barely one out of 100 students bothers to get the dirt cheap old one and deal with the minor inconvenience of sorting out the homework; everybody else gets whatever the university bookstore provides.Not sure how to change that. If my kids were in your class, they would have older editions!:D None of them need their books to be new, and they really wish publishers would return to the standard size texts instead of those unwieldy over-sized texts. But in your students' defense, many of them will see what the professor requires and think that is the only option. They might check Amazon for used for the same edition, but that is probably about it. How easy is it for the student to contact a professor before classes start to ask about another edition or do they have to wait for the first class to do so? If the second is the case, then I know I would have been most anxious if I did not already have my book and wouldn't want to risk starting out behind. As to how to change the situation, I think some enterprising former WTM students who are now in college could come up with an alternative. If I were a college student, I would love to be able to check a campus website for the text title and be able to see if the professor requiring the book has approved the use of an earlier edition. I could then link to sellers offering the books. Amazon offers free second day shipping for students. When I received my book, I could check back on the site to see if any previous users had linked a chapter match-up between editions. The goal would be to make buying a used text or an older edition as easy as it to buy new, and be able to reassure the student that the text will work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 But in your students' defense, many of them will see what the professor requires and think that is the only option. They might check Amazon for used for the same edition, but that is probably about it....How easy is it for the student to contact a professor before classes start to ask about another edition or do they have to wait for the first class to do so? . Extremely easy. Students know which professor is teaching the course they are signing up for at the time they enroll which happens typically in April for the fall semester. Putting the name into the university's online directory yields the professor's email address. Any student who is interested could contact the instructor months before the beginning of the semester My website for the fall semester courses that I teach beginning late August is up and running with current information. The textbook info, including "Older edition is OK for reading" is on top of the syllabus. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
freerange Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 I use book butler to compare prices on used books. I'd post a link, but I'm posting from my phone. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Marple Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 If I were a college student, I would love to be able to check a campus website for the text title and be able to see if the professor requiring the book has approved the use of an earlier edition. I could then link to sellers offering the books. Amazon offers free second day shipping for students. When I received my book, I could check back on the site to see if any previous users had linked a chapter match-up between editions. We just did this. #3 son is taking college algebra online this summer using the 10th edition of Lial's. #4 son will be taking it at the brick/mortar university this fall - same professor. The university "buy your books" website gives the books, editions, cost new/used (from them), etc. so we were able to compare. Wouldn't you know it, the college algebra fall class uses the 11th edition. How convenient. A new edition each year - require it and totally rip off the students. There is no significant difference between the editions (no totally revamped, side bar explanations, etc.). So I emailed the professor and asked if the 10th would work. He said it would but I just needed to by the MyMathLab access. Yay! It paid off to check. So, for any of you in the position of paying lots of money for books (and it seems the STEM majors have some of the most expensive), check with the professors individually to see if an older edition will work. Oh, the other rip-off scam I've seen the past few years is that a university will have a "XZY university edition" pack which will include a textbook, answer key, workbook, or any combination of the before mentioned. But the ISBN number is unique for the package and you can't find it on Amazon. But if you go into the bookstore and physically look at the set you will see that you can purchase each of the items individually and usually save a lot of money. Our Spanish course was like that. Instead of offering a full book, they divided it into Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 (Beginning Spanish 1 and Beginning Spanish 2). Well, each of these were the same price as the hardback complete book on Amazon. Knowing that ds would need 2 semesters, I just bought the Amazon book. Download the Amazon app on your smartphone, take it to the bookstore, and check the prices. :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Barbara H Posted July 16, 2012 Share Posted July 16, 2012 Oh, the other rip-off scam I've seen the past few years is that a university will have a "XZY university edition" pack which will include a textbook, answer key, workbook, or any combination of the before mentioned. But the ISBN number is unique for the package and you can't find it on Amazon. This stuff gets so complicated. Some universities will have their own edition produced that actually has different numbers and problem sets. One thing this does is foil cheating students who want to purchase complete answers to all of the problems in the book. These are available on places like ebay for some of the more popular textbooks. The thing we've found most helpful in keeping textbook costs down is to buy used online and always look at the value we will get by reselling it ourselves (online, not to the campus bookstore). Over time this has been much less expensive for us than renting. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brilliant Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 (edited) Thinking about the amount I'm spending on textbooks for 2 college students literally makes me queasy! As someone mentioned...the STEM books are the worst. For example, they break up pre-calculus into 2 semesters, college algebra and trig, and each class requires a textbook that costs >$200 new. $400 for pre-calc, when I have a perfectly good Larson's book sitting on my shelf, grr. Edited July 17, 2012 by OC Mom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
anne1456 Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 This is so annoying, each of my daughters has one of the "custom" school specific edition packs for a class this fall (at two different schools), which are impossible to find used. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bostonian Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 I have tried to assign an older edition as the required course textbook - only to hear from my university bookstore that they can not guarantee that they get enough used copies of the old book for a whole class, and thus I may only request the current edition as the text. I would love to work around that, but have no idea how. On my website, I clearly state that the older edition will work just fine - but barely one out of 100 students bothers to get the dirt cheap old one and deal with the minor inconvenience of sorting out the homework; everybody else gets whatever the university bookstore provides.Not sure how to change that. More work for you, but when you assign reading, specify the page numbers for more than one edition, and when you assign problems, give the problem numbers for multiple editions. You need to check if the readings and problems you assign in the new edition are also present in an older edition. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sebastian (a lady) Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Actually, I think she does list the alternate readings/homework problems for the two editions of the book assigned. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Marple Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 This is so annoying, each of my daughters has one of the "custom" school specific edition packs for a class this fall (at two different schools), which are impossible to find used. If you can physically see what is in the custom packs you might be able to purchase each part individually. I have never had trouble doing that. It might be different for others, but our "custom editions" have always just been regular texts/workbooks found at Amazon, just bundled together. Spanish was the exception. For some reason, some just take 1 semester and they didn't want to purchase a book that was used for 2 semesters. So they had the publisher break the book into two volumes. But it is exactly the same book. Since we are doing 2 semesters, I bought the single volume on Amazon for the same price the bookstore wanted for 1 volume :tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
regentrude Posted July 17, 2012 Share Posted July 17, 2012 Actually, I think she does list the alternate readings/homework problems for the two editions of the book assigned. I did that only in one semester, when the bookstore had messed up my order and we ended up with half the class using the new and half using the old edition. Apparently, it caused confusion and some students actually complained in the evaluation. It only takes a few minutes for students to correlate the problems; it is a small effort for large savings. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Buckeye-n-CA Posted July 18, 2012 Share Posted July 18, 2012 Our daughter has learned to create a spreadsheet when researching her needed textbooks for the next semester. She compares new prices, used prices, rental of new, rental of used. As a first-year college student, she was eligible for Amazon prime shipping for free (not sure yet if this will be extended for her second year). The rental option seemed best for the most expensive books. Once she made her decision, that information was entered into the spreadsheet so she could keep track of which ones were rented to make sure they were returned on time (and with the appropriate label/shipping info). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jelbe5 Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 My older dd took a college comp class this summer. The text was $75.00 used. I used the Amazon app on my phone to scan the bar code of the book. It pulled up used copies of the same book. Total cost for a used copy from Amazon, including shipping was $25.00. And the book we bought from Amazon was in much better shape. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzyBee Posted July 21, 2012 Share Posted July 21, 2012 OTOH, I budgeted $1,000 per semester for my dd's textbooks, but her bill at this point is $241.95. Her physics class says no textbook is required, so I don't know if the professor writes his own materials or what. She is waiting for an opening in Calc 3, so we may have another textbook to buy if she gets into that class. I was shocked in a happy way at how little her textbooks for this semester are costing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janice in NJ Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 I haven't read all of the responses..... If you decide to purchase a used copy of the text and need to align the homework assignments, check with the college library. At the cc where my dd is dual-enrolled, the reference librarian has copies of all the current textbooks. Craigslist has lots of copies of local-college special-editions. Peace, Janice Enjoy your little people Enjoy your journey Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Miss Marple Posted July 22, 2012 Share Posted July 22, 2012 I haven't read all of the responses..... If you decide to purchase a used copy of the text and need to align the homework assignments, check with the college library. At the cc where my dd is dual-enrolled, the reference librarian has copies of all the current textbooks. Craigslist has lots of copies of local-college special-editions. Peace, Janice Enjoy your little people Enjoy your journey :iagree: Craigslist was helpful for us this past year. Check it out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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