<p>A couple questions regarding books. First of all when my son printed out the list of books they either had an "R" for required or an "O" for optional. How important is it to buy the optional books? There are 5 Optional books for his Math 20A and one required. is this escessive or will they help him. Also in regards to new vs. used, how "used" are these books and is it worth it if they are available?</p>
<p>try half.com ..they have some really good deals on books..i got a bio book and suppliments that were supposed to be like 200 bucks for around 70</p>
<p>used books are good for the savings long run..and for the optional books, i personally liked buying the hw solutions and guides, so i didnt have to share during study time</p>
<p>did you guys do the book reservation program? I think i signed up for it, but I dont think they will give me the best prices--it is possible to cancel it?</p>
<p>err...how do we know what textbooks we need?
I already signed up for classes but I haven't seen a list of req books...</p>
<p>You can find some decent used books at the bookstore, but some are VERY used. All the books are just sitting on the shelves, though, so you can go through them to find a decent (if there are any left). </p>
<p>I prefer to not buy optional books and just check them out at the library (the math 20a solutions manual can be checked out for 3 hours at a time at the science and engineering library). But then again, I actually study at the library, so it works for me.</p>
<p>But pay attention to the optional books listed. There are really only 3 books listed on the book list: the textbook, the solutions manual and the single variable portion of the book. The e-book is also there, and there are bundles of the books I mentioned (bundles are usually cheaper than buying the books individually). You don't need to buy all of them, because then you would be have multiple copies of the same books. Also beware that the single variable book is IDENTICAL to the first part of the early transcendentals book. It is just smaller and doesn't include the multivariable chapters, which means that you would need to buy multivariable book for 20C, and the two smaller books together is more expensive than the big early transcendentals book...</p>
<p>But if I do buy an optional book, I never buy it until after the quarter has started so I can be sure that I would really need it (or use it, for that matter).</p>
<p>And to jellybelly. When you go to classes/waitlists or the schedule of classes, click on the book icon to the right of the class name.</p>
<p>well if you haven't paid for the book reservation program, what's the worry?</p>
<p>On the list of books, it states that they have new and used available. Are these used ones in better shape if you order them now then the "used" ones you mentioned sitting on the shelf? Or for the extra few dollars is it worth it to just buy all new. Also, if we chose not to order from the bookstore, how reliable are the "online sites" or e-bay? Don't want to chance ordering and then get a crappy copy and have to buy new afterall!</p>
<p>the few times i bought from the bookstore, the used ones were in great quality.</p>
<p>new books are never worth it unless it's the first quarter they're using the text, but even then, i buy online.</p>
<p>i've never had a problem ordering from ebay/half/amazon. in fact, i just ordered a book a couple of weeks ago...i can't even tell that it's been used. that's usually the case for the books i've ordered. a couple times i got more buffed up copies but that's just the cover; the pages were still pretty much immaculate.</p>