maximilianfragglebottom
153698
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Oct 2, 2020 6:17 PM
maximilianfragglebottom
153698
5460
57
RosieRose06
University libraries have textbooks on reserve that can be scanner for reference
980tihelp
Some of the teachers in my college were the writers of the book they required you to buy
tummpi
In my 7 years of college, I didn't have to pay for a single book but to be fair I paid like 130€ tuition each year, it included healthcare.
ArcaneConjecture
Teacher here. We give zero fucks about intellectual property. Our whole lives are dedicated to SPREADING information.
evillibrarian42
I checked out my textbooks from the library or asked some of my cooler professors to request they be put on reserve
StubbDubya
Used to work in the same building as McGraw Hill, I can still remember them celebrating the first textbook to eclipse $100. Bunch-o-wanks.
Affray
Sounds familiar:https://vinepair.com/wine-blog/how-wine-bricks-saved-the-u-s-wine-industry-during-prohibition/
JackHarknessNerdySidekick
Chaotic good teacher
burlyqlady
I wish they had these sites when I went to university. Couldn't even afford them on. 75% scholarship & a loan. Forced to drop out :/
stray51
SpaceTaco22
I thought the prof was being serious. Then I read the list and choked on my drink. +1
JustAnotherOwlOnImgur
pandajack
My professors WROTE the text books they assigned. And they made updates every year where all that really changed was the page numbering.
PeebRow
Wish these sites had been around when I was in university ?
3dartwork
PDF textbooks weren't available for me in college or I would have taken every one of them without question.
reddawndalton
Now what they do is add a code into the purchased textbook that you need to even submit the work online
LuciusNeedful
I had a professor who was so fed up with the text book racket, he wrote his own book, and had the PDF linked on the course site, for fee. 1/
LuciusNeedful
He said that we paid for college and that included his teaching, and aught to include the book too. Good man Doc Brown at VT. 2/
ChrisYourself
Now they get around this by having you buy an access code
TedMoris
My college has a library where you check out books for the semester for $75 as part of tuition. Everyone gets the correct editions too.
Madringo
We had book exchanges and rarely did you have to buy one new. I paid about the same, and one had perfect notes taken in the margins.
TedMoris
That would result in fines.
Falconbridge
The college where I teach does this too, and I'm so grateful for it. I can teach any book I want as long as I use it for 4 years.
t113
plz tell your librarians i love them
TedMoris
Just to clarify, $75 for all class books, not $75 each.
iamthugnasty
I only went to 1 year of college and every professor insisted we have the textbook or they would fail us. Most were written by them.
iamthugnasty
We never used them, but if you didn't have it with you then you would be kicked out of the class or straight up given an f.
Andrick88
NonZeroSumGame
It's not only students who get policed for this type of stuff, academics do too.
ChiLLeCheeze
Glad the professor told them NOT to access those websites that he listed. Wouldn't want him getting in trouble for NOT telling them.
SmokyDoggg
No Piracy!It's illegal and the education fatcats need that money to buy a small island.Please think of them
Klaaism
iamspartan1262
Fuck the publishers for charging so much for these books
HammerBreaker
Yeah. I thought we want free college.
TheobromineAddict
Tuition is free. Books are $15,000 per course.
corbingablona0
I paid more for textbooks at community College than I did for classes
JohnSmithterms
"Aaron Swartz" never forget - https://youtu.be/zBfXYysvXSU
MrJ0ker
Shes helping people not get caught. As in use a different site lol
InfinityDragon
Could have had that but OOPS! We MiGhT dO a SoCiAlIzUm!!!1(reeeeeeee!)capitalizums go BRRRRRR!!!
grantplant
While I agree with your sentiment, this comment is cancerous
alwaysupvotefuturama
Scihub was strictly necessary to write my doctor thesis. Even large universities can't cover the cost to access all scientific journals.
DreamWeavr
Long live the pirate queen.
HenryLongfellowIII
Send her some bitcoin, she is in danger.
InternetPeasantry
Yeah, fuck you, Elsevier.
ZiggyStardust80085
As a non-American, how expensive are those damn books??
ladyatlas777
Over 10 yrs ago a C+ book was $350.00 USD and that was with a discount. I can only imagine the price has gone up since.
oddfinrir
$200-$300. We also have to pay to do our HW. We all used an account on Chegg to cheat. I gave my students scans and sites to help (was a TA)
RevolutionOnHerLips
12 years ago I paid $300 for a *used* math textbook. Sold it back to the university at the end of the semester for $18.
RevolutionOnHerLips
I'll add that I kept some of my textbooks because the buyback cost was so laughably low that the books were more useful as emergency TP.
poughdrew
$300 and up
alwaysupvotefuturama
This for once is not a problem endemic to the US. Scientific publishing is daylight robbery.
FaustsAccountant
College was 20+ yrs ago, I still remember one of my required core books costing $275 USED at the university bookstore. Tooted we could 1/
FaustsAccountant
we could sell them back at the end of term. Back back price? $8. I kid you not. And if you sold back 5 or more at the same time, got a 2/
FaustsAccountant
got a free roll of Lifesavers candy. 3/
DiedAndHauntingImgur
My best example will always be my Ancient Greek translation book. 27$ on Amazon, 250$ in the bookstore.
abitskeptical
Over 15 years ago I remember being proud to find 6 used text books and pay under $500 in total
graft
1/1 In the early 2000s I paid between $600 - $1200 per semester. The publishers make new versions and then contract with colleges to enforce
graft
2/2 that new editions are built into the syllabus. I was a genetics major. It is an absolute racket.
epoke
Depends on the subject. Hard sciences textbooks tend to cost $200+.
CheesecakePi
Depends on subject and edition. My most expensive one was an accounting textbook, because that edition came out just a couple months /1
somt
My most expensive book was $8/page
CheesecakePi
before the class and it reflected some important recent changes in financial regulations. That was like... $650. My math textbooks on the /2
CheesecakePi
other hand tended to be pretty cheap, because the general principles don't really change. So most of those classes still used editions /3
CheesecakePi
from 5-10 years ago that you could pick up for like... $50. 4/4
kahless01
a lot of colleges publish their own copies of textbooks so you cant buy one online from elsewhere cheaper. perfectly legal
HiVizDiver
As an example, think I paid ~$150 for a text book in a gen-ed 100 level class, and that was 30 years ago.
Melusin
If the book is written by the professor then whatever people say, double it
Upgreyed
I spent 200 on my psychology book and I was attending devry which courses are only 3 months. Worse part was my car got broken into
SumptuousMeat
My cnc programming book was, 220$, blueprint was 175$, manual milling was 250$... Thankfully my courses reuse most of these.
Neoeon
Public paid education is over rated. Youre paying for papers, not knowledge.
browsererror
That depends on so many factors it isn't really an arguable position.
Neoeon
Uh-huh. Say, how are people learning now? By home schooling and online courses is it? Hm. Those expensive to make/deploy? No? Interesting.
fortfantastic
homeschooling is expensive. online courses that have real teachers doing the work is the same as paying for the same person to teach live
Neoeon
Bullshit. During this plague, if you havent noticed you stupid ass, people are working from home just fine. Employers dont want that tho,
Neoeon
schools dont want that tho, both want employees in their hamster wheels and in their class rooms paying lots and lots of money for
TheLoyalVike
I still have my stupidly overpriced textbooks years after graduation. They're my trophies.
Artebudz
Just starting uni. Think its around £200 for the year for nooks. Including a couple of optional. Expensive ones are provided free online
magila
I used my college chemistry text to teach Chem to my daughter when she was in High School. Now she has a masters in Biomedical Engineering.
WhatsAnAndrew
I still have all of mine, too! I remember my first year biology textbook being about $600. It was insane.
Alfadorfox
The ones I couldn't get bought back. On occasion they have been used to prop up furniture.
BeefyByDesign
I kept mine mostly because it's electrical engineering and they can still be helpful if I need to lookup/remember something.
Noldona
Working on my EE degree right now. Got the whole math series, starting in on the actual engineering series of books now myself.
ThoseWeidmanns
Same, just chemical engineering. Perry’s is a beast but it does prove useful.
Patches3000
Biochem here, same!
EyeSpyABreathtakingPerson
Same. Trophies for my refusal to help the bookstore turn a 95% profit on some poor kid next semester. Now what if profs bought the used
EyeSpyABreathtakingPerson
books cheap from students at the end of the semester and sold them next semester to their new students for cheap. If done honestly, just
EyeSpyABreathtakingPerson
think of the positive rate my professor reviews!
pandemicmodedad
The university would never let them. The university owns the bookstore and only cares about profits over education
JohnSmithterms
"Aaron Swartz" never forget - https://youtu.be/zBfXYysvXSU
mektel
Kept my books and notebooks for a while but after 3 moves I said enough and got rid of all but one book.
FeifonGitz
What did you keep?
mektel
Something boring to most: Deep Learning by Ian Goodfellow. I'm a machine learning researcher/engineer.
FeifonGitz
I see! I know a Goodfellow, Geoff Goodfellow. He is an Australian poet :)
Dahliaisahedgehog
#same
thunderking1890
I use mine as monitor stands. try to find a more expensive monitor stand than 9 text books lol
Lassannn
I tried to resell mine but they wouldn't take more than $10. It cost me $100. I set it on fire in a trash can outside the bookstore.
callmethelizardqueen
I bought a science book off craigslist for $30, still had the disk. He paid $150 & the store offered him $15.
Schmooooo
That’s win-win
TheLoyalVike
Fuck you Lassannn
ElevenAndCounting
My grandma uses my college text books as a night stand. Lol
ImpeachAllInvolved
I can understand one, but how did you find two f****** morons to downvote this? Probably academic authors
nightripper
There are people pathetic enough to spend their time downvoting not only the posts but also all the comments on it.
hwatL4bloopy
Maybe people who would have loved to buy discounted books with good notes in the margins
N0ticeablyFAT
Trust me when I say that nobody is missing out on any good notes from the books I kept.
hwatL4bloopy
Lol
TheLoyalVike
University bookstores who didn't get to buy them back for $5 and resell for 150 "used"
FistfulOfAssholes
“Looks like you may have flipped through it a couple times. Best I can do is $5.”
DustyMcKnuckles
"Is it used?" ...yes ...I read this book "ok, heres $.50 towards your next purchase at the bookstore"
MoonMoon89
My final year in college I didn't buy a single textbook. The profs never used them. Aced the semester.
Dissipo
Best is when the prof wrote the book and its required. What a scam!
JohnSmithterms
"Aaron Swartz" never forget - https://youtu.be/zBfXYysvXSU
GrandPubabofMoldistan
I I only used one three textbooks in all of college/ medical school Greys, Robin's, and the anatomy drawings book are actually worth it
GreaterDog
I would buy old editions ultra-cheap so I could have a copy for open-book tests, then pirate the latest ed. for the problem sets
Grambot
Its sort of a weird thing, If you can find it free online, its probably useful. If you can't find the book, it was prob crap anyway.
Bmxrider70763
I had one teacher give lecture but assign readings from the textbook every day. The tests were never on the lectures, only the readings wtf.
fruitspunchsam
Dunno when you went but recently they have homework and even tests that have to be accessed via the e-book so there’s no way around it.
Roqinn
After the first couple of semesters, I stopped buying them too, unless they actually used them.
nopenononope
Straight Bs. They called him Ace.
DancingPanther
B's get degrees
BisForBiznus
realscrumpysteve
My first year our history prof required us to buy a 400 dollar text book and only used the first page of each chapter...
override367
If I didn't provide proof of ownership of some of my business classes' textbooks I auto-failed the class. We never used them.
fitchy0812
I honestly think I bought maybe 5 books total my entire college career
providedlava
Same.
callmethelizardqueen
I went to a high school that charged $100 for books, if you lost 1 it was $30 to replace. We also paid $30 for mandatory gym class. I was
callmethelizardqueen
In 10th grade when a parent finally sued and they stopped it. After bro & sis graduated. They had to work part time just to buy books
Noob3rts
That's what is happening for me right now. They are using the textbooks, but all the quiz/assignment/exam shit is in the lectures lol
providedlava
A shame you didn't figure it out sooner!
AmbroseGudmaker
One of my profs hosted the pdf of his own book on the departments FTP server because, and I quote, "publishers are cunts."
Dinos91
Had a professor who had us by a textbook he wrote so he'd make money. Never even opened it...
Syk0tik0ne
The college I worked for printed a couple on campus and sold through the bookstore. Bookstore had to buy them from the college to resell.
devrocket
I had a prof that wrote the book for advertising -- he was intense! Used the book daily
Eyia
Was your professor Gilderoy Lockhart?
HoeBagSupreme
Hahahaga
providedlava
This happened at my uni. Every year he releases a new edition and went around the class to check everyone had it.
eswindy
Had to buy a $120 one this term bc the homework AND class work is attached to it, WTF. Fuck you Pearson
LuminoZero
I bought mine only cause I was on the GI Bill and your taxes paid for my overpriced textrbooks.
perkocetts
Yeah I never bought textbooks until after attending a few lectures. You get a feel for how much it's used or the prof will just tell you
invaderkong
I used the same strat. Avoided buying books unless I had to and split cost of books with friends in class. Photocopy what we needed.
CaptVito
My agronomy classes were great in that most textbooks were older editions that didn’t need those damn codes.
TotallyNotASnail
My entire college career I only bought 3 because I had to have the digital code to access the assignments and quizzes
CritterrCatcher
That’s what I’m sitting here thinking, all my courses have access codes
CyranoDeBurlapSack
My professors: Question #2: What is the fourth word on paragraph three of the nine page of chapter 19?
DancingPanther
I spent $500 on books my first semester of my pharmacy school career. All undergrad stuff. Chem book, etc. Never again. I'm a pharmacist now
dmoore182
I had to spend $50 on a book that he told use we were going to use all semester and we only read one chapter of it.
Gianttesticlemonster
The one that pissed me off the most was a prof who made us buy books he wrote.
GetSmartBeEvil
Never ever get any college textbooks unless there are problem sets in them being used by the class for grades.
bigbabyjesusicantwait
Same. I even passed a lit course that way.
amop
But they all said you should get the newest edition of the book they co-authored even though only the cover changed, right?
RichardJohnsonMD
One of my textbooks was only used for homework problems. So I went into the bookstore and took photos of those pages instead of buying it.
providedlava
Library usually has reference copies as well.
swedishbutthurtguy
*owns a scanner* "Its free real estate"
mt77932
This is why many places wrap them in plastic
KenjiHimura
Lol same. Or took pics from a classmates book.
FieldTester96
I've just had a subscription to chegg and used the book answers to figure out the question. Hardly even used it to copy answers
Syk0tik0ne
I worked at a college bookstore, we had to ask a guy to leave after we found him taking pictures of every single page of a book.
RichardJohnsonMD
Lmao. I only had to take like 12 pictures. That's how little it was used for the class
lynnluna
It’s only theft if it’s more than 5 or 10% of the book. It’s been a long time since I worked making copies in a library though.
RichardJohnsonMD
Wait, really?
Syk0tik0ne
Most books are barely used. I used to tell people to wait until after classes start to buy them. Professors would usually say much they used
Frederf
But what about the unique one-time use code in the brand new book only which is used to login to the site to submit your homework?
DavidBrooker
As a prof, I am required to list a course textbook. However, I always make sure I pick one where older editions are fine, and I always 1/2
Klaaism
Used textbooks and older editions are awesome
MrBuncat
You sir are a god tier professor
alekexodus
Are you allowed to use open source/access materials?
DavidBrooker
Yes, but, despite my looking, no open-source/open-access texts in aerodynamics or fluid mechanics has really met my expectations.
alekexodus
Ah, yes there is that. If you’re so inclined, you may be able to publish your personal lecture notes, etc. under the creative commons
alekexodus
License to circumvent the textbook requirement. Then you’d have the liberty to add or curate other materials you like. Regardless, good on
DavidBrooker
try to pick one that I have kept using well after my own coursework when I was an undergrad. 2/2
RichardJohnsonMD
Keep it up man, you're one of the good ones
DhuQarnayn
What subject? Every class ive ever taken has required a book and access to an online homework thing. :/ UNCC sucks.
DavidBrooker
Aerodynamics and fluid mechanics
DhuQarnayn
Ah, math for my bs, doing chem for my ms, never had to take it