In first year I bought almost all my textbooks.
In second year I bought maybe a quarter of my textbooks.
In third and fourth year I bought one textbook.
I noticed as I went through my engineering degree I never really used my textbook at all. Most of the information I needed I could find online or I could just find a digital copy of the textbook online. I also found reading the textbook was not helpful in preparing me for exams. I found that doing more practice problems was what benefited me the most in succeeding in my midterms and finals.
One thing I thought that was pretty ridiculous was the price of the textbook! Some of the text books the professors wanted us to buy could range either from $80 to $300. I remember buying a textbook in second year that was worth close to $200 I believe. It was a microelectronics by Sedra Smith. I did not use that textbook at all. However, there are times when I did use the textbooks quite often.
In fourth year I bought a textbook for my Semiconductors course. I found this course really interesting and I usually don't enjoy reading things off a computer. So I ended up buying it ($80 I think). I didn't read the textbook as often as I would have liked, but when it came to exam time and midterms I would read the textbook like crazy!
I love how one or two hours before the final exam people read their textbook for the first time and try to learn 100's of pages worth of information. I wonder how much information they actually retain haha.
Another thing I hated was authors who changed the edition of their textbooks. I'm pretty sure they just used a random number generator to randomize their textbook questions and maybe added one or two pages to their textbook to change the page numbers. I'm glad some of my professors said it was okay to use old textbooks. If you plan on buying textbooks try to buy used ones!
Here's a question for the readers. Do you buy your textbooks? Or do you usually find a digital copy or find the information you need online? Also what was the most expensive textbook you have bought?
Engineering Fact - Textbooks by Engineer Memes is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
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ReplyDeleteYeah the internet is so popular now a days :p
DeleteU are very luck, in Italy only now we have on line some lecture's slides :(
DeleteI think if you search you will find almost every thing online
DeleteI actually try to read as much as possible. Your taking the course to learn, minus well try and get as much knowledge from it as possible. Just passing isn't enough... Bc you guys are my competition.
ReplyDeletePlus, electronic reading just isn't the same as having actual paper. In my Computer Organization book, I've read maybe 300 pages in there so far. I want to finish the book even after the semester ends bc I feel that I could still learn more.
I want to buy all the textbooks I find usefull for my future, because I hate to study from the PC.
ReplyDeleteThe most expensive right now has been James Walerk's "Physics", which I use to review some basics.
I also hate to study from my PC I just dont understand anything
Deletethe last one that I bought it's kalpakjian but it's not the most expensive :( about 50€
ReplyDeleteI'm in fifth year (Spanish system) and I think I've bought 3 books in my whole career... And one of them was just because we were abled to take it to the exam...
ReplyDeleteWOW. I'm actually using the Sedra Smith book right now, because I got it my first year when I took electronics. Then the school switched microelectonics books while I'm taking electronics II. I have a digital copy of the book required only for homework. But online and library rentals for me. I've maybe bought 5 books for school.
ReplyDeleteThe most expensive book I bought was Computer Networks by Tannenbaum
ReplyDeleteWell, I'm on my fifth year (Polish system), and I've bought only one book, just to sell it after the semester. Funny thing about my field of studies, is that there are almost no textbooks for our courses. Of course, uncle google is always there to help :)
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