Textbook Editions? (1 Viewer)

[Aaron6693]

When buying textbooks, is there a major difference between, say, the 9th and 10th edition?
I'm waiting to buy all of mine until after Uni starts, but if you can save $100 by grabbing the 9th edition instead of the 10th, would it be recommended?

I'm doing a Science Course so I'm assuming they'd have essentially the same information in each one.

 

[izzy88]

It really depends on the course. To be honest I'm not sure about science. I know in Law that textbooks can change a lot between editions.

Perhaps look at how may years there have been between the two editions? If its only 2 years, it may be fine to get the older one. If however you are going off a textbook written 10 years ago as opposed to one published this year, a lot could have occurred in 10 years and the changes between them are likely to be more dramatic.

There is also a benefit in having the edition that is referred to by the lecturer/course guide as if you get an older edition the page references won't match up. Saying that, I've also bought numerous textbooks over the years that I've hardly used, so its really difficult to tell which ones are going to be worth it, and which ones you just won't end up using.

Perhaps if you post up the textbooks someone with a science background may be able to give you a more precise answer?

 

[Aaron6693]

I literally just now found a video on youtube haha, that highlights the "new features" of the 9th Edition. The textbook is Campbell's Biology, the Australian Version 9th Edition.
My sister has the same textbook, except that its the 8th Edition. It looks like the 8th was printed in 2009, and the 9th in 2011.
Based on the video, it looks like its just generic stuff being changed, like cover design, plus a but of extra information. The video even showed certain pages of information, so I checked to see if it matched. Apart from being on a slightly different page number, the diagrams and actual words were 100% identical, so Im assuming it would be fine to use this edition.

I also managed to find a textbook list students were given last year, and they were requested to get the 8th edition at the time considering it was the "latest" one.

 

[Aaron6693]

Sorry to hijack this thread... but is it better to wait until the 1st lecture when the lecturer confirms the names of the textbooks we need?.... in case if the readings list changes?

Haha yeah I completely get what you mean, I'm doing that for the majority of my subjects. But I've just managed to compare a few textbook lists from previous years, and on the Uni website itself, and they're all stating the same books. I'm just getting in a bit early for one of them as I have access to it atm. Saves having to buy it later really.

Chances are nothing's changed either way, but even if they all of a sudden re-vamp the entire list, the textbooks Im looking at are still really good reference materials so they'd be helpful regardless.

 

[izzy88]

Sorry to hijack this thread... but is it better to wait until the 1st lecture when the lecturer confirms the names of the textbooks we need?.... in case if the readings list changes?

Generally if you are getting your list off co-op it tends to be pretty accurate. If only because that list is based on what the lecturers tell co-op they want, and co-op order those textbooks and approximate numbers for course. I would expect co-op to be pretty annoyed if it ordered 200 X textbooks and the lecturer then said you need Y not X.

However what can occur is that if there are 2 or 3 textbooks that are listed as 'required', it may be that you turn up and the lecturer says, well one of them isn't really necessary but it is there if you want it. Or as occurred last year to me, they say its required, make you buy it, and then don't actually set any readings from it.

So if you are trying to save money and tossing up between what to buy, you can wait until first lecture, and check out the unit outline and what readings are set each week. If there's a lot from one book, then its probably good to get. If its just a 'reference if you need help' book then you may want to wait.

 

[Aaron6693]

Generally if you are getting your list off co-op it tends to be pretty accurate. If only because that list is based on what the lecturers tell co-op they want, and co-op order those textbooks and approximate numbers for course. I would expect co-op to be pretty annoyed if it ordered 200 X textbooks and the lecturer then said you need Y not X.

However what can occur is that if there are 2 or 3 textbooks that are listed as 'required', it may be that you turn up and the lecturer says, well one of them isn't really necessary but it is there if you want it. Or as occurred last year to me, they say its required, make you buy it, and then don't actually set any readings from it.

So if you are trying to save money and tossing up between what to buy, you can wait until first lecture, and check out the unit outline and what readings are set each week. If there's a lot from one book, then its probably good to get. If its just a 'reference if you need help' book then you may want to wait.

Yeah Im not even gunna bother buying the seemingly useless books that they list as "recommended". I really dont think I'm going to need a "Dictionary of Biological Terms", especially at $79.95...-__-

The subjects Im doing are pretty upfront in regards to having an obvious central textbook thank god