<p>Romani: Yes, it was a private HS. We must purchase all textbooks.</p>
<p>I have bought several international versions of accounting text books. great quality and the same as the US version. Only difference has been that the cover is soft cover. Actually a good thing as it makes the book a little less heavy. Huge savings compared to US version, and i like to keep the accounting books so no worries about reselling.</p>
<p>Calculus - grr - still makes me mad to think of it. My daughter needed just one semester of calculus. Her school had a “custom” version of the required book that came in loose leaf form. It covered 3 semesters of calc (which few disciplines require) and came with the online access for homework for three semesters. The regular book was available used online for a much cheaper price, but had to buy the custom book to get the access code (which unlike connect etc was unavailable elsewhere). To add insult to injury, the bookstore would not buy back the book because it was loose leaf - and of course it was impossible to sell elsewhere. Biggest rip off of any book we have purchased between 3 college careers. The math dept must have been getting a kickback of some sort.</p>
<p>^ It was the same with our Spanish classes. Made me so furious.</p>
<p>Colleges should use the free Gilbert Strang text at MIT OCW. It can be ordered for students that want a printed copy.</p>
<p>One of the biggest issues with e-books is DRM and format change. That e-book doesn’t really belong to you at all. If the publisher or the e-reader manager says that you’ve got an illegal copy, or that they didn’t have the right to sell you the book, they can yank back your purchase. Or, if the e-reader manufacturer decides that they’re going out of production, you could be left with a e-reader with no files. Or the format simply ages. What if your textbooks were distributed as 3.5" floppies last decade? Expect the same deal with any content currently distributed on CDs or DVDs. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, my college calculus textbook, purchased used 3 decades back, got passed on to D1 this year. She told me it was really useful for the examples, which sometimes were clearer than those in her current calculus text.</p>
<p>Bit rot is a major problem with digital stuff. The e-books that I buy are generally science fiction - I read it once (slowly to savor every sentence) and may read it again later on but mostly it’s one-time enjoyment.</p>
<p>I have a dozen calculus textbooks at home - a lot of old stuff going back to the 1940s, some classics and some of the newer stuff from the kids’ courses. If someone has a problem, they can probably find a usable example in one or more of those books.</p>
<p>Even back when the first 3 Harry Potter books had different UK/US version you could not buy a UK version in the US (via Amazon or wherever) and vice versa. I don’t know that this is a “textbook” issue alone.</p>
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<p>Sure you could. I know I bought at least two of them for my son from amazon.uk or Waterstones, back when the UK editions came out significantly earlier than the US ones.</p>
<p>Re: [Amazon.com:</a> Calculus: Early Transcendentals (Stewart’s Calculus Series) (9780495011668): James Stewart: Books](<a href=“http://www.amazon.com/Calculus-Early-Transcendentals-Stewarts-Series/dp/0495011665/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334853307&sr=1-1-spell]Amazon.com:”>http://www.amazon.com/Calculus-Early-Transcendentals-Stewarts-Series/dp/0495011665/ref=sr_1_sc_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1334853307&sr=1-1-spell)</p>
<p>Interestingly, Berkeley has a custom version of this book. It is actually less expensive than the regular version listed above at $157.02 new:</p>
<p>[$59.75</a> new for freshman calculus](<a href=“efollett”>efollett)
[$57.90</a> new for multivariable calculus](<a href=“efollett”>efollett)</p>
<p>(or $117.65 new for those who need both)</p>
<p>Still, not a bargain compared to the free book covering calculus and multivariable calculus here:</p>
<p>[Free</a> Online Course Materials | Resource Home | MIT OpenCourseWare](<a href=“http://ocw.mit.edu/resources/res-18-001-calculus-online-textbook-spring-2005/]Free”>Calculus Online Textbook | Supplemental Resources | MIT OpenCourseWare)</p>
<p>This thread on text books sold abroad reminds me of the cold war tactic the USSR used when I was in school. One of the things they did was to have a publishing house funded by their consulate that published a wide assortment of scientific books in English and sold them at ridiculous prices - the Piskunov Differential and Integral Calc book - almost 1,000 pages long, sold for the equivalent of 50 cents - probably the best deal I’ve ever had. </p>
<p>One thing though about the Soviet vs Western books - the same theorem would have different names. After coming to the US, I remember referencing, I think, Ostragradsky’s (sp?) theorem which even my TA hadn’t heard of till he saw the formula.</p>