So I was sitting in French class talking to an acquaintance when I decided to impress my classmate with my French book. Cost $11. I asked "How much was yours?" She goes $150. She counters "I buy all my text books new." Why, I'm wondering? I mean when I was 18 and didn't have a concept of money or what things are worth... I bought new too. But being I'm a stingy old-schooler now, I go the cheap route. More to the point, with news reports of college students turning to food-stamps, and many people just scrounging up enough for their text-books, why would anyone in college pay more if they didn't have to? I mean, the college book-store has the market cornered. They (GTCC) deliberately repackages text-books with their own ISBNs so you can't turn to the Internet to order your college texts. Worse is the greedy authors who are professors somewhere at UCLA writing a new edition every year just to make more bank. I've written a book. They don't cost $150. While they may be bigger and contain more information, they're also mass produced, often compilations of many previous versions. No where else in life do you spend that much money on books... (unless you're the government) ...books you'll use for 16 weeks then return, burn, or use to hold up your bed.
- So here's how I got super cheap text-books:
Step 1: Get the ISBNs. If your university repackages the books using their own ISBNs to screw with you.... email the professor. I did, and they were happy to help. My Psychology professor even suggested it was okay not to buy the DVD and I could buy a previous edition.
Step 2: Hunt.
- -AMAZON.COM (US) My first win was the $11 French book complete with CD-ROM on U.S. Amazon. Easy breezy. It didn't list the CD-ROM, so no one bought it, but I was very surprised when indeed it came with one. The rule at college is: 98% of the time if the book includes a CD/DVD etc. you probably won't need it in class. My sister who is also in college confirmed this.
-AMAZON.UK, AMAZON.CA, AMAZON.FR - I crap you not. My World Civ book is a brand new book and edition. The cheapest I could find it anywhere including used was $110. That's when I turned international and found it on Amazon.co.uk. That's right in Britain. Even with the currency difference I ended up with a used book in new condition for $56. If you're counting that's almost $60 cheaper than anywhere else... including the good old red-white and expensive United States of Capitalism. Don't believe me... check the pictures above. I have a history book from Surrey, England. God I love socialism.
-Ebay - Obviously, you're going to check eBay. But also look for some really damaged stuff too. I bought a Psychology book, DVD, study guide and every thing for $55 dollars. Normal cost? Over $200. How did I do it when the text-book alone was selling for $90 on EBay? I bought the one that was damaged. The guy selling this one decided to disassemble the book to scan each page. It meant the book was in 500 separate sheets. I broke out the three hole punch, bought a $3 binder and re-assembled it. Shoved the covers in the sleeve and voila. He (the seller) even included a (pirate) copy of the scans for a book-reader too. I don't plan on using it, but clearly I could have just used that alone.
So that's it. Cheap college text books. Overall I believe I saved several hundreds of dollars. When books cost more than tuition one must really question if college serves to educate or perpetuate capitalism. This is a great way to fight the power and still juice the mind.
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