<p>I just got the email about getting our books and how you can buy them through the bookstore. I'm assuming that many students buy their books used or like new or just not from the bookstore. But the bookstore fails to give out the ISBN's of the books. </p>
<p>So my question is...if you are buying books like new or from a different place how do you obtain the ISBN. Also, what are some online sites used to get books. I have heard that half.com is the most reliable but there are tons of sites out there so I'm wondering what current students have been doing.</p>
<p>you can get the isbn number either by google searching (i wouldnt recommend because there are all sorts of editions and stuff), or the most reliable way is to actually go to the bookstore and write them down. i guess you could try emailing your professors as well to get the isbns. the bookstore purposely doesnt post the isbn's because then itd be too easy to order from cheaper places.</p>
<p>thanks! i figured they purposely weren't giving out isbn's but it seems like you can get them much cheaper if you do not go through the vandy bookstore.</p>
<p>what sites have you used to buy books off of?</p>
<p>well i usually just buy books at the bookstore because i have friends that have had absolute nightmares with ordering books online, in terms of getting the wrong editions, missing "classpaks", etc. but if you have just a generic book that you need to get... for a philosophy/soc/poli sci etc type class, id say go ahead and order the books online. but i def. wouldnt reccomend it for foreign language, math, and science books as they are often packaged by the bookstore in bundle packs and then u have to go through the hassle of making sure you have everything that you would have gotten in the bundle. </p>
<p>the few times i have purchased online books i used amazon and found it to be very reliable and the distributors were honest about the book conditions.</p>
<p>Though the bookstore won't give you the ISBN, they do give you all the information you need to find the book on amazon. For example, suppose you are taking HIST 101 (Western Civ). Here is the information, I found the following information on the bookstore website:</p>
<p>Confessions, Augustine
Prince, Machiavelli
On Christian Liberty, Luther</p>
<p>Readings in Western Civilization (V5: Renaissance), Cochrane
Readings in Western Civilization (V4: Medieval Europe), Kirshner
Readings in Western Civilization (V1: Greek Polis), Adkins</p>
<p>Using, the following information, I went to Amazon. The first three books are trade books, meaning they are many, many versions of them. It's best if you get the version the instructor will be using, and most likely, you won't need the book immediately. On top of that, the books aren't expensive. So I would wait until you get to campus to buy them, either from the bookstore or online.</p>
<p>As for the latter three, they are textbooks, so there is only one version of them. I entered "Readings in Western Civilization, Volume X" and got these:</p>
<p>There are websites that do meta-searches of several textbook sites if you give them the ISBN. The one I use is bigwords.com but there are others.</p>
<p>On a related note, I noticed that the bookstore website doesn't list the book needed for ECON 100 (or any other economics class, it looks like). Does this mean I'll just have to wait till I get to school to know what book I need for that class? Or will the info most likely be up online shortly?</p>
<p>The book information is put up by the professors, so perhaps the econ professors haven't selected their books yet or haven't contacted the bookstore. It may be up any day now, or it may not be available until school starts...it's a crapshoot.</p>
<p>i'm flying down so i didn't want to order and ship my books to my house (i'm buying them offline elsewhere). are you able to ship them to vandy and they can hold them from you. has anyone else ran into this situation</p>
<p>ECON 100 does not have a book. Or rather, they don't use an externally published textbook. The use a class pack, which can only be bought from Campus copy store in Rand. (I'm reasonably sure about this.)</p>
<p>econ 100 doesn't have a book depending on the teacher (i could be mistaken). There are some classes that require other materials such as clickers and online services for homework that aren't packaged in books that you buy online. you can get these on the supplier's website.</p>
<p>nicole, if you're ordering from the bookstore, you can have them held at the bookstore. if you're ordering offline, have them sent to your VU Station B box. the standard format for your mailing address @ vandy is below... my only warning is that the mail system tends to be backed up at the beginning of the year because so many people ship stuff so know that you will probably have a long line waiting at the mailroom when you go to pick up your books.</p>
<p>Your Name Here
VU Station B#35XXXX
2301 Vanderbilt Place
Nashville, TN 37235</p>
<p>The XXXX is your 4 digit box #, if you don't know it yet or forgot it, check on People finder off the main vanderbilt.edu page and check. (you have to be logged in to people finder in order to see address of students i believe)</p>
<p>Okay, the info for ECON 100 is up, and like you guys said, the required material listed is "Response Card XR Clicker."</p>
<p>What exactly is that? (What's a "clicker," in general?) I mean, there is some sort of text that we can read, somehow, right? It seems weird not to have a textbook....</p>
<p>Are we expected to have our books by the first day of class? Will I be able to come to school and order them online during the first week and be alright?</p>
<p>A'ight -- do you have buckles or vrooman for econ 100? i'm assuming you have buckles... if you do, you DO have a textbook, and lucky for you (sarcasm, seriously), buckles wrote it himself so it's actually sold in the campus copy center instead of the bookstore. the campus copy center is right next to the bookstore and that's where you can pick up your econ 100 book. beware, that class is a killer. if you have some type of econ background, i suppose u'll be ok. but if you're like me and came in as an "econ major" you might change your mind pretty quickly. that's the last econ class i will ever take. </p>
<p>as for the clicker, it's a remote control thing in order to record attendance. he uses it to ask MC questions for class participation, but essentially it monitors daily attendance since it's a large class. if you do miss class, give your remote to a friend and have them remote u in. dont make a habit out of it though, you probably wont pass the class if you skip often.</p>
<p>alex, it's really kind of dependent on the class as to whether or not you can wait until the first week of class to buy your books online. i would say if u do that option, id check on the first day with each of your professors and see if thats fine. some of them will assign work right away so if you do choose to order your books after you've arrived on campus, be prepared to be playing catch up early or find a friend in your classes quick and borrow their book for the time being.</p>
<p>VandyManiac1228: Yeah, I have Buckles. It's odd that you say that about him, since although I've heard some people who agree with you, there are also people who think he's the best professor they've ever had (including a guy I know who's going on to an econ Ph.D. program). I'm coming into Vandy with the intention of being an econ major (and becoming an economist, in fact), so I'm willing to work (very) hard in that class if the work means something, although of course if the teacher is simply an idiot/jackass and the work is mindless drivel, then indeed I wouldn't want the class to be a "killer"! I never took a high school econ class (my HS doesn't offer one), although I've personally read stuff in the subject (not enough, though, for the class to be a breeze, by any means). So I guess it'll be interesting to see whether I agree with your side or the other side about Buckles....</p>
<p>Thanks for the explanation of the clicker. Oh, and just out of curiosity, what about the people who have Vrooman? Do they have a textbook? If not, how does that work?</p>