College started again, and I heard there are websites that will let you download or view textbooks for FREE. Most textbooks are severely overpriced so I want to know if any of you know of any such website.
this is what i do. is a a trial version with the e-book? if yes i use google chrome and download every page and compile them into one PDF file. if not, i mostly buy e-books because i don't like carry the books. it's also easier for me to search certain topics i'm looking for. my friends torrents them so yea?
you can definitely find them on torrents or on file sharing websites, just search google for a few minutes. OR, buy them and scan the chapters you need at the library by looking at your syllabus, even say it takes an hour to scan like the whole book, that's like working and getting $100 per hour in pay since you won't have to buy the book. Return it after you are done scanning. If you missed something, just borrow the book from a friend.
elbitz is a educational torrent site with a lot of textbooks. registration and invites aren't open now, otherwise I would send you an invite. look on filestube.com as an alternative
How long does it take to download every page and compile into PDF? Also, sort of on topic, but i need this specific text book (ebook is fine) AND an online lab as well. I found this link, but I'm confused as to whether or not this product includes the ebook and online lab. Anybody know? http://www.mypearsonstore.com/books...h-pearson-etext-instant-access-for-0133049752
dear god please. my differential equations book cost $200, and I don't feel like spending phacking $1000 dollars on books this semester.
n00bies, goto your departmental library. all the textbooks are avail for reference and older editions can be rented home. torrents/pdfs work too
Good idea, although not exactly ethical. Then again, it's not like the textbook companies or the entire educational industrial complex are treating students fairly.
IDK about free online books, but definitely go international editions if you want to buy the book, but not spend crazy amounts of money. Unfortunately the top textbook sellers have banned them (Amazon/Half), but you can still find them places. I use AbeBooks.com.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure it's just the publishers. The authors don't make that much. I'm sure the professors who write these only do so for reputation, which helps them make more money from their real job. I had a co-worker who was published with Cisco Press. He was already into the 7th edition of his book and he told me he makes like $1-2 a book... off of a book that costs $70.
Profs don't write textbooks (especially undergrad. ones) for the money or any sort of prestige. It is just usually a labor of love, or it happens when a prof just hates all the existing textbooks and is basically writing a new one for their course anyway. For prestige or professional standing, it's all about research chops. There are a couple of profs developing completely free on-line textbooks now, so you wouldn't even be cheating if you got one of those. I am thinking seriously about adopting one of those for the physics courses I teach. Would save students a ton of money.
Well, I don't rock *yet*. I try to save my students money but this term I added an on-line homework system (which is actually pretty cool, and has extra tutorials, etc), but it costs another $66 (price doubled to students *after* I decided to use it last spring). But I wanna rock, and will do so in the future. The problem is that the open source texts so far don't give you many homework options, etc, as the established books. But enough's enough.
