<p>Is it advisable to buy textbooks ahead of time? I found all of the titles/editions of the textbooks that were used last year for the (first year) classes that I plan on taking this upcoming year, and I'd like to read/work-out some the material ahead of time if I could. I found some pretty good deals on most of the books via Amazon, but I just don't want to waste a few hundred dollars on textbooks if they normally change from year to year. Also, is there any cheaper way to get textbooks than just buying them used from Amazon (like do upperclassmen ever hand down textbooks to underclassmen amongst the dorms?)? Thanks.</p>
<p>dude. the only money i spent on textbooks this year was the irritating BRAND NEW edition of the 3.091 textbook, which i shared with three other people so each of us only paid like 40 bucks, and i didn't even use it. luckily we sold it at the end of term and got most of the money back. i don't know about other dorms, but at east campus i have found that the best solution for freshman year at least is to borrow books from upperclassmen. sometimes this means being willing to share (though not always, esp. with 8.012 and 8.022 some people buy the book after the class because it's so great), but it was never a problem for me. </p>
<p>also i just scored a purcell in a reuse pile! the front cover is hanging on by a thread but still!</p>
<p>The books don't normally change from year to year, but they do change often enough that I wouldn't want to buy them in advance. The official books for the term will be available at the Coop about a week or two before school starts -- which books are required for which class won't be available anywhere but the physical Coop, because the Coop doesn't want you to buy your books online. And if you think Amazon's prices are bad, I can assure you that the Coop's are probably worse.</p>
<p>Upperclassmen do often hand down books, either for free or for some pizza money or something, or you can do what carmel did and share books among several members of your class. Definitely don't buy new if you can help it.</p>
<p>i suppose it was a little annoying sometimes that i couldn't write in or highlight the textbooks, because at the end of term i had to give them back to their upperclassmen owners.... but really only for physics. for 18.02 and 18.03 i relied almost solely on the excellent class notes my (esg) professors put online and rarely needed the books.</p>
<p>Are older editions of the same book "good enough" for GIR classes?</p>
<p>The information in them is almost definitely good enough, but if the class assigns problems from the book, the problems might not be the same. But you could always buy the earlier edition and check the problem set problems with a friend.</p>
<p>I dont know, I generally hate having the wrong edition of the book, esp griffiths, the problems are all a mess. It's almost not worth having, since you'll always be asking to borrow other people's for problem sets anyways.</p>
<p>Hmm...I'm thinking of doing ESG (<em>crosses fingers</em>) and taking 8.012 & 18.03. It seems like the 8.012 book hasn't ever changed - would it be safe to buy this? I also have an older edition (5th) for 18.03 that I received for free, so I guess I didn't lose anything by getting this book. Any chance ESG profs would provide equivalent psets from the 5th edition book? (carmel - were there psets from the book?)</p>
<p>Does anyone know how much the Purves 7.01x book changes from 7th edition to 8th edition?</p>
<p>(Heh MIT's so expensive that I'm trying to save as much money as I can...)</p>
<p>Another way to save money with textbooks is to just go to the libraries. Since you will rarely NEED to have a book, even if you cannot borrow a book, chances are that MIT libraries will have a copy or two to use. Of course this means that they could not be available at a certain time, but most of the common books are there and there are copies that are marked as reference, which means they cannot be checked out.</p>
<p>i was in esg this year. for 18.03 in esg jerry's psets were almost /entirely/ from the supplementary notes, with very, very few problems from the book. i had the 6th edition (found it on the bookshelf in my hall's lounge) so i don't know if the 5th differs very much.. but yeah don't buy it, it's not worth it for just those very few problems.</p>
<p>regarding 8.012, yeah you're safe with k&k, as far as i know it has not changed in quite some time-- but i would highly recommend waiting on buying the textbook. i loved that book but listen, for one thing you may start out in 8.012 and realize after the first test, or even after the first pset, that it is NOT for you (happens to many); for another it costs a lot, and as part of my own very expense-conscious freshman year i felt that if i loved the book THAT much i could buy it later. i did not have to share my 8.012 book with anyone-- there were several people on my hall who owned a copy they'd purchased after the class to keep around as a reference, and they had no problem lending it out for the term.</p>
<p>now that this has become a ridiculous essay... let me just say, somewhat tangentially, that taking 8.012 and 8.022 in esg was the best decision i have ever made. i do not think that i had the preparation/smarts/brainz/discipline to make it through mainstream "hard physics"... i suspect i would have given up very soon. peter, the esg 8.012/22 professor, was incredibly supportive and did not let me give up when i was struggling. there were some mega geniuses in my class, also--- they started two extra physics seminars outside of class with peter-- but for the less than brilliant it was an opportunity to fight my way through a really great class. a few super duper ta's also, many of whom live at e.c. and were available pretty much all the time.</p>
<p>ok done! sorry for the novel.</p>
<p>(although as a caveat esg is NOT for everyone. it happened to work really well for me, and i got to know my professors very well, but it has downsides. ok now done for real!)</p>
<p>Seriously, I would wait until getting on campus and getting books from either the COOP or upperclassmen. (Besides, less to carry/ship over.) The biology book last term was apparently a pretty big change.</p>
<p>If you want to prepare for classes, try OpenCourseWare and other internet sources =).</p>