<p>I noticed a link to purchase textbooks for the classes I'm already signed up for. Should I do that ASAP, or is there a better time or place to do so?</p>
<p>Also, is buying the "recommended" texts generally a good idea?</p>
<p>I don’t buy mine until I get to school, and then I buy them at the bookstore. However, lots of people buy them online, where you can probably get them for cheaper. If you do this, you’ll want to do it well in advance so you make sure you get them in time for classes. I tried it once and didn’t get some of my books until a month after classes had started.</p>
<p>I’ve never had a class with a “recommended” book, but I wouldn’t get it.</p>
<p>The only advantage to preordering from the school bookstore is that used copies might sell out before you can buy them in person. This has never happened to me though. You can also return the books after you buy them through most of add-drop period.</p>
<p>You can usually get books much cheaper online. Even buying them new from Amazon often gets you the same price as used ones in the bookstore.</p>
<p>For recommended books, it really depends on the class. The only class I’ve taken with a recommended book was Biochem. It was the solution manual, but the professor posted solutions to recommended problems on blackboard, so it was only useful for people wanting to do extra problems.</p>
<p>My Son is taking HIST-111. It has 6 required books !! Did not look excessively costly though. Here I come Amazon.com.</p>
<p>Recommended books are just that… recommended. If you are interested in the subject and you want to start building your own library, then you should go for them. They aren’t required, and there will be nothing you need from them to get an A in the class. Doesn’t mean they aren’t a good resource though.</p>
<p>You don’t need your books right away at the beginning of the semester, but many classes will assign reading on the first or second meeting, and if you are taking a class that has problem sets, you will probably start those the first full week of classes. You can borrow a book, or try the library… So, you don’t need them right away, but by the 2nd week you should have them and be ready to go.</p>
<p>If you buy online and end up dropping the class, what do you do with the book? Send it back, I guess? That is a pain though. You can generally get books online for cheaper though.</p>
<p>I always used the bookstore.</p>
<p>The 6 required books for HIST 111 is probably slightly on the high side, and I would bet that they are not all assigned to be read from cover to cover. That said, it is important to look at your classes, and if you don’t like reading lots of books, don’t load up on reading heavy classes in the same semester.</p>