Keeping Past Books

[swak]

I have a hard time parting with old textbooks, and am in 2nd semester - 2nd year now...
Have your old textbooks helped you at all (the ones that are major related).

The option books are usually sold, but....
Do you keep your old textbooks?
If you do, have they been helpful?
If you dont, have you wished you have kept the old books that you wilingly sold back?

[nismodrifter]

From my experience, keeping old books from undergrad is a waste of space and money. Thats just me though. I have always sold mine immediately after the semester is over (have had many sales through Beyond and the others were sold very quickly by taping some posters around University). I always tried to buy used and then sell ASAP.

I personally have never felt the need to go back and search through my textbooks from undergrad as that same material can be found on the internet, in a lecture from a higher level course, or in a textbook being used for a higher level course.

Everybody is different. :dunno:
I know some people who never bought a single textbook, and others who bought every single one and KEPT them all.

[black_2.5RS]

Keeping your old text books - even if in your major / concentration is a complete waste of space. We have a bookshelf of old text books that we can't do anything with (you can't even donate old textbooks) - so when you move out, you end up packing 15 tonnes of old books that will never come out of boxes. Honestly, get rid of it, if you need to find something after graduation - use the Internet.

[swak]

Originally posted by black_2.5RS
if you need to find something after graduation - use the Internet.

I will definitely sell them after graduation, but i mean in the mean time - for reference purposes, etc.

[tch7]

I sell them, as long as I get a decent value for them.

In 4 years I've never needed to look back at one. On the rare occasions when I need to look up something, I can either find what I need on the internet or in my notes.

That said, I don't even use the textbooks when I'm in the class and quit buying them a long time ago (unless the assignment questions are straight out of it or if I need some appendices from it or if the prof is horrendous).

[FiveFreshFish]

Sell them fast before the publisher issues a new edition, or the instructor changes the book.

[no_joke]

Depends on what you are taking and how keen you are to stay fresh on what you have learned. Like others, I would sell everything ASAP to maximize your selling price. One thing is that if you want to OWN the textbook, you might be able to find an old edition for cheaper. Sell them now, then look for an old edition or a cheaper copy of the current edition down the road...

[Nusc]

Originally posted by FiveFreshFish
Sell them fast before the publisher issues a new edition, or the instructor changes the book.

Listen to this guy. I already graduated and I regret it. Especially when you can find the better books online via PDF.

[chkolny541]

Originally posted by swak


I will definitely sell them after graduation, but i mean in the mean time - for reference purposes, etc.

have you EVER..ONCE... even used them for "reference purposes, etc.".

sell them quick!!

anything you need can be found on the internet in literally 0.261 seconds or however fast your google search comes up.

[TomcoPDR]

Originally posted by chkolny541


have you EVER..ONCE... even used them for "reference purposes, etc.".

sell them quick!!

anything you need can be found on the internet in literally 0.261 seconds or however fast your google search comes up.

:werd: SELL SELL SELL, new edition comes out every 2-3 semesters, then they become useless in terms of value... but then again, I don't even use my books to study in the first.

[diamondedge]

Depends on the book. I've sold Calculus ones the second I was done with them. However, I still have an electromagnetics textbook from third year.

I would like to know that if I had to dredge up something from memory I could just look into a textbook and then find the corresponding chapter - the internet doesn't have the answers to everything, so keep the ones you know you'll have an interest in later.

[XylathaneGTR]

I could only ever recommend holding onto a book if it's for a technical subject that you know you're going to be using quite a bit later on. For example, the only book i've ever held onto was my old MatLab textbook and that actually has been quite useful for referencing when I needed to use matlab and forgot how to do anything.

Everything else, I got rid of as soon as I had completed the class.

Before you sell everything off though, make sure no classes that you're going to be taking later require the same textbook. There's a few classes in Engineering that use the same textbook that a prerequisite class used, even though they're more than a year apart. In that case, it'd be worthwhile just to hang onto the textbook rather than potentially re-buying it.

[dandia89]

Originally posted by XylathaneGTR
I could only ever recommend holding onto a book if it's for a technical subject that you know you're going to be using quite a bit later on. For example, the only book i've ever held onto was my old MatLab textbook and that actually has been quite useful for referencing when I needed to use matlab and forgot how to do anything.

Everything else, I got rid of as soon as I had completed the class.

Before you sell everything off though, make sure no classes that you're going to be taking later require the same textbook. There's a few classes in Engineering that use the same textbook that a prerequisite class used, even though they're more than a year apart. In that case, it'd be worthwhile just to hang onto the textbook rather than potentially re-buying it.
ENME485 :facepalm: sold my book to my friend and had to rebuy it haha.

i think theres a few good matlab websites that teach everything, i never bought it for 337 and i did fine in it

[XylathaneGTR]

Originally posted by dandia89

ENME485 :facepalm: sold my book to my friend and had to rebuy it haha.

i think theres a few good matlab websites that teach everything, i never bought it for 337 and i did fine in it

haha, ouch man. I was JUST about to sell off my Thermo textbook last year when I realized that i just miiiight need it for Thermo II.

Yeah, there's a lot that's available on the internets for Matlab, but I figured I had the book anywas and it was cheap (30 or 40 bucks) and it already had everything I ever needed, so it might save time instead of googling if I needed to look something up.

Not totally necessary and it wouldn't have hurt me to sell it, but whatever.

[FiveFreshFish]

This is the one of the few books from my school life I keep at my desk.

http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/0c/42/5ea351c88da073a1cd272210.L.jpg

[Canmorite]

I kept all my finance/math books, and a tax book. The rest are out.

[msommers]

I have a hard time parting with mine as I keep thinking I could use them for something later. But I'm slowly coming to terms that I'll more than likely never use them, and when I do they won't be handy anyways lol. Look for a massive incoming of books

[inline6turbo]

What would you guys suggest I do with all my old books? I never once made it back to return them or try to sell them. I have boxes full (yes I know I wasn't so smart).

I'd feel bad using them as kindling, but is there any better use?!

[FiveFreshFish]

Keep them to fill bookshelves. Then progressively toss them out to make more room for new books that you actually want to keep.

[Zero102]

I do 2 things with my old books:
1) Check calgarybookstore.ca on their ISBN checker to see if they will give me any money for them
2) Check abebooks.com (canadian section of that site) to see if they will give me any money for them

UofC book store typically gives more money and is local, but once you accumulate $50 worth at abebooks they provide you a label to mail them all in at their cost then issue you the payment. Its not big cash but it is better than having them sit in your shelf.

For all books I can't sell, I was able to donate some of them, but for the most part they are still on my shelf with no real use. I am also wondering what to do with the crap of the crap?

[diamondedge]

Originally posted by Zero102
I do 2 things with my old books:
1) Check calgarybookstore.ca on their ISBN checker to see if they will give me any money for them
2) Check abebooks.com (canadian section of that site) to see if they will give me any money for them

UofC book store typically gives more money and is local, but once you accumulate $50 worth at abebooks they provide you a label to mail them all in at their cost then issue you the payment. Its not big cash but it is better than having them sit in your shelf.

For all books I can't sell, I was able to donate some of them, but for the most part they are still on my shelf with no real use. I am also wondering what to do with the crap of the crap?

Crap of the crap? You mean your notes? Sell them to frosh.

[pinoyhero]

Used to keep a few of the real classics that are good reference and never used em. The internet works just as well most of the time.

Dump em.

[elmo909]

nah almost never.

IMO sell the current edition, and buy an older one for a fraction of the cost if you want a technical reference.

[safe123]

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