Textbooks are quite annoying to purchase, especially when the back to school late rush hits the stores. The University store is usually too expensive for those in the market of the elusive “Psychology of the Scranton Wildebeest, 20th edition” and you get no significant payback from the books you do buy. But accumulating textbooks this year does not have to break your wallet. Instead, here are some suggestions so you can find a way to save a couple dollars in the pursuit of higher learning.
1. Amazon.com
Amazon.com is the world’s largest online store and also one of the best resources to find used textbooks floating around the country. It can be a one stop shop for most users in the market for low cost books. And with the competitive marketplace for used books, Amazon allows for cheaper listings first, and will certainly offer far better deals for the erstwhile scholar.
There are millions of books floating out there in the public domain that for the genuine consumer are easily accessible. For the literature major of modest means who tends to procrastinate and shirk purchasing books, Project Gutenberg has thousands upon thousands of digitized volumes of books that you would need for your class. With a miasma of formats and books from Fitzgerald to Homer, this is an excellent resource for students on a tight budget.
There are probably still places within the depths of Reddit that haven’t been discovered by mankind, and some that probably should lay dormant from them too, but this hidden subreddit is a superb outlet for students looking for free ebooks. Be sure to take advantage of the resources that this subreddit provides. Mobile users and students with E-readers and Kindle devices will certainly find plenty of that, this area of Reddit is chock full of literature and occasionally textbooks for the hungry bibliophile.
4. The University of Adelaide Library
This public university located in Adelaide, South Australia is the third oldest and one of the most distinguished institutions in the country, offering hundreds of volumes of books to those who need it most. And that’s you, the student. It’s open to the public and offers scanned texts of books for easy access. It’s another wonderful resource for primary and secondary sources as well as those who need quick access to digital editions of books.
5. DealOz.com
If you need a site that offers significant discounts on new and used books, DealOz.com is cetainly worth its weight in typerface. It offers an easy outlet to buy and sell textbooks simply and also offers low prices on textbooks you might be looking for.
6. Bookbyte.com
This website exclusively deals in the buying and selling of textbooks. It has a stylish interface for new users and a relatively breezy search function that allows for very simple transactions. And it also features a useful blog for new students entering college life and is an all around useful resource. And if you purchase a textbook over $49, the shipping is free.
7. Abebooks.com
If you weren’t able to find any of your books on the websites featured. Abebooks.com is another website that offers discounts on textbooks and easy shipping charges. Its blunt pointed interface allows users to get straight into searching for textbooks they need with simple categorical structured tabs. This can be one of the best bets for students looking for more deals as the semester approaches.
8. Chegg.com
Chegg.com is another site which offers deals on texbooks, but it also features an ability to purchase eTextbooks too. So for users of mobile devices this website offers plenty of chances to snap up books at a relatively lower cost than normal. An engaging interface, with a large amount of inventory should be more than enough to satisfy your need for those ten pound tomes.
9. Archive.org
Looking for Francis Fukuyama’s “The End of History and the Last Man” for a course on global policy? How about the war poetry of Wilfred Owen? Archive.org has them as well as thousands of concerts and audio for research and a helpful forum for people looking for help searching for books they need. It’s a fantastic resource for students in political, literature, and business areas of study.
dkahen-kashi@theeagleonline.com
