Cheap books and textbooks
Posted: Mon Jul 30, 2018 1:19 pm
To be blunt, I have not yet found a better source of cheap books than Amazon. With Prime, the free and fast shipping makes it worth it. I am not happy about having to rely on Amazon because it straight up uses wage slave labor, but given the lack of good and rare books at a price I can afford, especially textbooks, from other sellers, and the hassle required to find them, I have been having to settle for this.
If you are in need of learning about any subject, try this term in a search engine: "what [insert subject here] textbooks do i need for [insert subject here] school" and then read through what links it provides. Make a list of the textbooks that seem interesting and then attempt to find those for cheap. A dirty little secret about college is that most of the time 90% of the course material is in the textbook and not in the class itself.
How about the low low price of free? These are some book swapping sites I have not tried yet, but holy cow, people apparently use them
http://bookmooch.com/
http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php
Speaking of free, there is Project Gutenberg. It used to be absolutely useless but thankfully some good stuff has been popping up. If you need access to a really old book or two, try that. It's free and easy to use.
https://www.gutenberg.org
Public libraries are improving in many locations. If you have a library card and a lot of patience you might be able to read ebooks. That said, the interface sucks and it'll probably log you out after 2 minutes of inactivity. If you don't have a library card in a big city, ask a friend or relative who does so that you can use their account online.
The Internet Archive has a few books, but don't bother signing up to read anything that's behind the subscription wall because it logs you out every two minutes if you try it. Also, the quality of the texts uploaded is usually bad. You'll have to really strain your eyes to read it, if it's decipherable at all.
https://www.archive.org
Also free: If you join Goodreads.com which is an Amazon subsidiary company, they periodically have book giveaways of stuff that's on your "to-read" list. These are basically lotteries, but entering the giveaway is easy and free and you don't have anything to lose. They also have lists of book giveaways that you can look through and sign up for. The only caveat? You should probably review the book if you win one. That appears to be why they are giving them away.
https://www.goodreads.com
Used book stores, thrift stores, garage sales, rummage stores, and of course Craigslist all have books at very cheap prices. If you drive or walk by one, stop by and you might find something. Check Craigslist for textbooks in particular.
https://www.craigslist.org
Ebay has textbooks and just about everything else, and it's often far cheaper than Amazon
https://www.ebay.com
Half-price books also ships their books online, here
https://www.hpb.com/home
Abebooks is cheap as heck and not just for textbooks. Compare books you want pricewise with the stuff from Amazon, even with free shipping. Astounding.
https://www.abebooks.com
Alibris isn't bad either.
https://www.alibris.com
There is the possibility that you could buy books online and then sell the ones you no longer need on eBay or something similar.
Don't forget possibly the oldest and cheapest method of getting books and textbooks: borrowing them. But if you forget to return the book or return it in terrible condition, your reputation will precede you and you will have trouble borrowing more books, so do be careful about that.
If you are in need of learning about any subject, try this term in a search engine: "what [insert subject here] textbooks do i need for [insert subject here] school" and then read through what links it provides. Make a list of the textbooks that seem interesting and then attempt to find those for cheap. A dirty little secret about college is that most of the time 90% of the course material is in the textbook and not in the class itself.
How about the low low price of free? These are some book swapping sites I have not tried yet, but holy cow, people apparently use them
http://bookmooch.com/
http://www.paperbackswap.com/index.php
Speaking of free, there is Project Gutenberg. It used to be absolutely useless but thankfully some good stuff has been popping up. If you need access to a really old book or two, try that. It's free and easy to use.
https://www.gutenberg.org
Public libraries are improving in many locations. If you have a library card and a lot of patience you might be able to read ebooks. That said, the interface sucks and it'll probably log you out after 2 minutes of inactivity. If you don't have a library card in a big city, ask a friend or relative who does so that you can use their account online.
The Internet Archive has a few books, but don't bother signing up to read anything that's behind the subscription wall because it logs you out every two minutes if you try it. Also, the quality of the texts uploaded is usually bad. You'll have to really strain your eyes to read it, if it's decipherable at all.
https://www.archive.org
Also free: If you join Goodreads.com which is an Amazon subsidiary company, they periodically have book giveaways of stuff that's on your "to-read" list. These are basically lotteries, but entering the giveaway is easy and free and you don't have anything to lose. They also have lists of book giveaways that you can look through and sign up for. The only caveat? You should probably review the book if you win one. That appears to be why they are giving them away.
https://www.goodreads.com
Used book stores, thrift stores, garage sales, rummage stores, and of course Craigslist all have books at very cheap prices. If you drive or walk by one, stop by and you might find something. Check Craigslist for textbooks in particular.
https://www.craigslist.org
Ebay has textbooks and just about everything else, and it's often far cheaper than Amazon
https://www.ebay.com
Half-price books also ships their books online, here
https://www.hpb.com/home
Abebooks is cheap as heck and not just for textbooks. Compare books you want pricewise with the stuff from Amazon, even with free shipping. Astounding.
https://www.abebooks.com
Alibris isn't bad either.
https://www.alibris.com
There is the possibility that you could buy books online and then sell the ones you no longer need on eBay or something similar.
Don't forget possibly the oldest and cheapest method of getting books and textbooks: borrowing them. But if you forget to return the book or return it in terrible condition, your reputation will precede you and you will have trouble borrowing more books, so do be careful about that.