Books

[Roman]

I'm headed to Waterloo next year, and I want to buy used books. I know the Federation of Students has their "Used Books" program, but I'm wondering if there's a better (read cheaper) alternative.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

-RZ

[Tony]

You don't always need a textbook, for some courses I got away with not getting one at all. There are copies of textbooks available at the library, though don't expect it to be there during the exam study week.

Sometimes you can borrow books from friends.

If you are looking to buy a used book, it might be cheaper if you buy it from a student directly, rather than going though the Used Book Store.

Another alternative is to get a hold of the "International Edition" textbooks. I don't think they are supposed to be sold in North America. They don't have a hard cover. Though it's the same material at a fraction of the cost.

[octopi]

Try looking them up on amazon.com, I bought a text book for a math class last year, and was able to sell it back to the school (they have a textbook buy back thing at end of semester) for more than I paid for it!

I looked up a couple of mine I need this year, and there's one that's 0.81 cents!
Make sure you get the correct edition though, and also check to make sure it says it includes all the cd's and stuff, cause sometimes used ones don't.

[Tony]

octopi @ Thu Aug 21, 2008 11:29 am wrote:

Make sure you get the correct edition though

This reminds me. If by some chance you will be using an edition of the book that is not the latest (because really, a lot of the "updates" are there simply to increase the sales), you can almost guarantee that some school, somewhere, has switched over to the newer edition, and now there are a bunch of students there who can't find a buyer for their outdated edition (so will sell of less). Shop around, look into other schools, etc.

This brings up another interesting point though. It could end up being cheaper to buy a new book and then sell it at the end of the term (effectively "renting" the book); than buying a used textbook, having its edition expire, and not being able to sell it back.

[Roman]

Hmm... do I wait until the first couple of days of classes to get the books?

I mean... I heard how if you get the books they used in the course last year they could be outdated and such, is there some sort of list? I'll be looking for one..

[jbking]

My suggestion would be to wait and see what the instructor recommends as sometimes it may be that a book is merely suggested and not really recommended, or that older editions are fine, etc.

I got burned a few times by not waiting and just getting everything that book store list had for my courses.

JB