<p>One of my freshman courses, our required World Cultures class, lists many texts for the class that I know are readily available online. Is there any need to buy the actual copies of the texts?</p>
<p>(the books include The Prince, The Koran, Gilgamesh, Tao Te Ching, Hamlet, The Dialogues of Plato, The Inferno)</p>
<p>u dont HAVE to per se
i mean as long as u read it and r able to understand what u read, u dotn need hard copies of the books u read</p>
<p>I personally like writing in all my books and taking notes within the margins, so perhaps you would consider that when buying them in print.</p>
<p>I would check out Dover Publications in order to get them if there isn’t a specific edition of the text needed. (well, provided you NEED a physical copy) I don’t imagine ALL of your books will be there, but you’ll definitely be able to at least get Hamlet for around $2. Well, you might want to check out shipping first.</p>
<p>You can probably get away with reading them online or borrowing them from the library (check to see if your school library has the required copies on reserve). Since this isn’t a literature class, you probably won’t be doing in-depth textual analysis that requires everyone to have the same translation. But do try to get the correct editions for papers so that your professors/TAs will know what you’re talking about.</p>
<p>I would shy away from online versions. If you don’t want to pay for them, ask the professor if there’s a certain edition or translator he prefers, and then borrow it from a library. You won’t be dependent on a computer, which can be distracting, and you can have it out in class without a screen and without having to print out pages.</p>
<p>The only conflict I could see is if you have to write a paper on it, and the online text doesn’t have page numbers for you to cite.</p>
<p>You might want to take marginal notes while discussing the works in class, so I don’t recommend the online copies. Try Dover editions (they have minimal footnotes, but they’re VERY cheap) or used bookstores, as they almost always have classics.</p>
<p>Since those are readily available online, that also means they are readily available in amazon.com. Popular well known books tend to be cheap because alot of people resell them. Just get them for under 10 dollars and you’ll be better off. I can’t imagine myself trying to read the prince online…I need the book in my hand although our class did have the prince burning party afterwards.</p>
<p>I would ask the prof before buying all those books.</p>
<p>Ok, I took a class last year that involved reading Epic of Gilgamesh, Tao Te Ching, Dante’s Inferno, Plato’s Republic, Bhagavad-Gita, etc…
It’s a required class for all honors students, and the situation was the same in all of the classes…</p>
<p>BUY THE RIGHT COPY OF THE BOOK! EXACT ISBN!</p>
<p>Those who didn’t but the EXACT copy REALLY suffered because we would be actively discussing the text in class, and they’re books were different translations/pages/etc, so they either could not contribute or would waste time finding the right page while the professor took off participation points. Plus, for writing papers, you NEED to have the page numbers that match the professors’ books. I can’t stress this enough. </p>
<p>If you’re not sure, email the professor.</p>
<p>After deliberating and looking through the replies to my original post, I’m definitely going to buy the books. It’d be really cheap to buy all of them anyways.</p>
<p>Often professors will require you to bring the books to class for discussion, so you will probably need a hard copy.</p>