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Re: Tools: A less-expensive way to purchase textbooks?
Subject:Re: Tools: A less-expensive way to purchase textbooks? From:eric -dot- dunn -at- ca -dot- transport -dot- bombardier -dot- com To:"TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Thu, 23 Oct 2003 16:54:19 -0400
Ahh, fond memories of being ripped-off by the campus book store.
At my university someone started a business that consisted of renting whatever
space was available near campus and opening a bookstore for two months. The
place was always packed and the books were in piles on the floor, but they were
brand new and at least 30% cheaper.
One year for a vehicle dynamics course, the book store was charging over 125
$can for the book. The SAE was selling it for 25 $us. Most of the class were
already SAE student members. Those that weren't became members and ordered the
book. The book store didn't sell a single copy.
There was also a copy store across from the university that could sell you
complete sets of illegally copied books with plastic covers and ring bound. If
they made a mistake and there was a newer edition they'd exchange it without any
hassles. They got busted by the RCMP on a number of occasions. One of the times
was when a Professor published a Linear Modelling and Analysis textbook that was
selling for more than 100$can and NOBODY in his class bought a copy. A month or
so into the class, he came in all steamed and demanded to know how we were all
doing our assignments. No one answered, but one unfortunate individual had a
copied version open on his desk. The worst thing was the book had virtually no
content. It was printed triple space on small pages and was worse quality than
we could have printed on the computer lab printer.
One of the real scandals is that only the hardcover versions are available in
North America. For example look at the Kreyszig Advanced Engineering Mathematics
textbook. Amazon US has only the hardcover of the text. Amazon UK has both. I
was lucky and got my copy of Kreyszig for 40 $can used. That book was a true
pain. I actually sprained my ankle and needed a half-cast due to tripped on the
stairs and landing with the weight of my bag on one badly placed foot.
If you follow these links it seems the gap in price is due to the
hardcover/soft-cover versions. The two hardcover versions seem to be priced
about the same.
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