good idea to get books early?

<p>I've found some very cheap prices for textbooks online for classes I'm for sure taking so would it be a good idea to order them now or wait until classes start? I know at my brother's school no one buys their books until they've gone to the first day of classes because many times a professor will tell them they dont need/use a book that they put in their syllabus. Is this common everywhere or does it depend on the university? Anybody had this problem at Cal?</p>

<p>yeah, i’ve had some professors that did that…</p>

<p>Plus the edition sometimes changes so that a book bought a semester earlier might be the wrong version. Plenty of reason to hold off.</p>

<p>I actually had a question about textbooks and since I put it in the Cal Bar and no one looks at that thread, I’ll just post it here lol.</p>

<p>So about editions, I need this book for my MATH 16B:</p>

<pre><code>* TITLE:Calculus & Its Applications V2 (Custom)

  • AUTHOR:Goldstein
  • EDITION:2nd
  • COPYRIGHT YEAR:2010
  • PUBLISHER:Pearson Custom Publishing
  • ISBN:9780558372743
  • NEW:$46.75
  • USED:$35.25
    </code></pre>

<p>But I found one online that was only $5, I assume it’s edition 1 since it seems edition 2 was rather new. So does it even matter? I mean editions usually just change a few pictures or the wording or something, is it a big deal if I get an edition earlier?</p>

<p>The textbook for 16B is a custom edition, which means it is specific to UC Berkeley. The book you found online is probably not the same book you need. Someone correct me if I’m wrong.</p>

<p>Yes it is custom edition, but the one I found online also said Custom for UC Berkeley Mathematics Department Volume II, or something like that. My concern is just that it says Edition 2, so I assume there was an edition 1 of this custom version. I’m just wondering if it will make a huge difference in the class if I have edition 1 instead of edition 2 of this custom version.</p>

<p>For $5, it is worth it to just buy it, bring it to class on day 1, and if you do indeed need a different book, you are only out five dollars.</p>

<p>Yea that was my thinking too lol, thanks though.</p>