Grimace and buy it

eFollett announced yesterday that textbooks are available for purchase. A cursory check shows that not all classes are accounted for, but the vast majority of books are up in the Leavey Center.

Here's a sample comparison of some of Georgetown's staple classes. Let's see how the Bookstore compares to Amazon:

Principles of MicroEconomics:
Parkin has come out with two new editions since I took that class. Must be a lot changin in the turbulent world of micro econ. The 8th Edition is $127 at the Bookstore, and a close $125 on Amazon. In the end, it's all about preferences.

Intro to IR:
While without larger textbooks, the government and history professors are known to require many smaller books (some of which sit the semester idly by) for a larger bill. GOVT-006-01 wants 4 books, totaling $181 used at the Bookstore, but $173 *new* on Amazon. How does this fit into constructivist theory? No one cares.

Orgo:
Are you one of those sophomore pre-meds that's gonna spend most of the year in the Pierce Reading Room? Then Wade's 6th Edition is right up your alley. Spend $203 at the Bookstore to buy it and the Solutions Manual used, or $133 for the same on Amazon. Oh, and do yourself a favor; don't buy the molecule model kit. You'll just spill it.

Finally, Calc II:
$116 at the Bookstore and $118 online ($64 used).

Overall, eFollett doesn't rip us off that badly with the larger textbooks. The deadly classes are the ones (like Middle East Civ I last fall) that require 7 different books, of which you are assigned 4 and read maybe 2.

What really kills the secondary market for books are the various editions with maybe 20 extra pages. Georgetown professors do a decent job letting their students buy previous editions (saving bank). But publishers need to be more sensitive to our needs. Hey, even at Georgetown some people can't afford all these $150 books. What would be more economical (for us...) is to buy the 5th edition of a book used, and buy an insert for the 6th or 7th edition. But my guess is that won't happen, unless we all band together and refuse to buy new editions. But I'm hardly an activist, and Georgetown students are reknowned for their peaceful riots.

Takeaway: See you at the Corp Book Coop.