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Where can I buy pdf books for my University Course

Where can I buy pdf books for my University Course, any ideas even if it is subscription.
Reply 1
Avatar for Napp
Napp
22
It would help if you said what the books/courses are
assuming youre talking about standard textbooks and the like have a look at any book store (they all tend to sell ebooks) or libgen that has the free pdf copies.
Otherwise, just ask your department where to get them from, they should be able to direct you and maybe even show you where free ones are, like the library.
Reply 2
Avatar for kakamikaka
kakamikaka
OP
1
Am doing economics and mathsPrecalculusMathetical StatisticsIntroductions to Math and Stats
Reply 3
Avatar for Napp
Napp
22
Original post by kakamikaka
Am doing economics and mathsPrecalculusMathetical StatisticsIntroductions to Math and Stats

libgen would be the place to go for pdf's of such books then i guess, otherwise youll end being bankrupted buying the things in store :lol:
Thanks for the advice.
Check your universities library search engine, as well as other academic search engines & google
If you are looking for free stuff, try open textbook library

https://open.umn.edu/opentextbooks/

Or simply buy an Amazon subscription or see of you can find something at archive.org. They also have a lending service. I have also added a small custom search function at the front page of my website that you can use to find free educational resources. But I am not sure if I added textbooks specifically as a search target

https://historyradio.org/
(edited 2 years ago)
Just google "Download free PDF ****BOOKNAME****" and get the free PDF.
Alternatively use a website like Napp suggested that collects up loads of, ahem, "legally obtained" distribution licenses for said PDF's and redistributes lots.

All credit due to the person who writes the book, but textbooks are overpriced. Either buy 2nd hand if it's a really good one you absolutely need in person, get the PDF and get it printed yourself or amongst friends to get a bulk discount (cheap as heck), or just use the PDF that you obtain for free online.
Original post by Napp
libgen would be the place to go for pdf's of such books then i guess, otherwise youll end being bankrupted buying the things in store :lol:

My God, I have never heard of LIbGen! I just checked it out. What a gigantic infringement of copyrights!!! The publishers will go absolutely nuts. I used to do filesharing for my own needs back in the days when nobody cared. But then netflix and all the other things came along and I no longer felt the need. I thought it all passed away with piratebay :smile:

I kept some of the files, however, and five or six years ago I was about to delete them all. But I decided to give them to somebody I thought needed them. Not much new stuff, though. Gutenberg etc mostly. I have had several PCs after that, so I don't think I have many illegal files. Those I do have come from archive.org. I don't really like new movies anyway. Too much CGI, green screen and explosions. No script and no real acting.

All the resources that you can find with my historyradio.org search engine have a clear copyright status. They are either public domain, creative commons or hosted at sites that regularly negotiate with content producers

https://historyradio.org/
(edited 2 years ago)
Reply 9
Avatar for Napp
Napp
22
Original post by michaelhw
My God, I have never heard of LIbGen! I just checked it out. What a gigantic infringement of copyrights!!! The publishers will go absolutely nuts. I used to do filesharing for my own needs back in the days when nobody cared. But then netflix and all the other things came along and I no longer felt the need. I thought it all passed away with piratebay :smile:

I kept some of the files, however, and five or six years ago I was about to delete them all. But I decided to give them to somebody I thought needed them. Not much new stuff, though. Gutenberg etc mostly. I have had several PCs after that, so I don't think I have many illegal files. Those I do have come from archive.org. I don't really like new movies anyway. Too much CGI, green screen and explosions. No script and no real acting.

All the resources that you can find with my historyradio.org search engine have a clear copyright status. They are either public domain, creative commons or hosted at sites that regularly negotiate with content producers

https://historyradio.org/

It is a spectacular site for the average student, in particular post grad ones - theres one for academic articles with owl or something in the name but i forget it. A great help when the publishers/authors are trying to bankrupt you. I've come across innumerable required books that cost hundreds of pounds and which you simply cant get through the uni library, or if you can it takes weeks to arrive by which point its redundant.
Then again, if you ask your teachers (or the authors in general) for an article theyre usually more than happy to get it for you.
However, generally its a handy place for technical books, with a few fiction ones thrown in aha. You know TPB is still alive and kicking though right? Not what it used to be by any means but still.

I'll have a look at the site but i have the feeling its not quite as useful as libgen :lol:
Reply 10
Avatar for Napp
Napp
22
Original post by Callicious
Just google "Download free PDF ****BOOKNAME****" and get the free PDF.
Alternatively use a website like Napp suggested that collects up loads of, ahem, "legally obtained" distribution licenses for said PDF's and redistributes lots.

All credit due to the person who writes the book, but textbooks are overpriced. Either buy 2nd hand if it's a really good one you absolutely need in person, get the PDF and get it printed yourself or amongst friends to get a bulk discount (cheap as heck), or just use the PDF that you obtain for free online.

Preach, the average price seems to be at least £70, with some closing in on a grand.. like in what universe do they think anyones going to buy that, even the target audience (usually students and academics) will still baulk at that.
Original post by Napp
Preach, the average price seems to be at least £70, with some closing in on a grand.. like in what universe do they think anyones going to buy that, even the target audience (usually students and academics) will still baulk at that.

I think the more expensive ones are targeted at libraries instead, with the assumption the academics etc will access them via the institutional library which has a budget for buying new books. Also more of a chance the publisher may be able to sell several copies at once to the same person...

Obviously still a rip off but just for an intermediary rather than the end user.
Original post by Napp
It is a spectacular site for the average student, in particular post grad ones - theres one for academic articles with owl or something in the name but i forget it. A great help when the publishers/authors are trying to bankrupt you. I've come across innumerable required books that cost hundreds of pounds and which you simply cant get through the uni library, or if you can it takes weeks to arrive by which point its redundant.
Then again, if you ask your teachers (or the authors in general) for an article theyre usually more than happy to get it for you.
However, generally its a handy place for technical books, with a few fiction ones thrown in aha. You know TPB is still alive and kicking though right? Not what it used to be by any means but still.

I'll have a look at the site but i have the feeling its not quite as useful as libgen :lol:

I have only aggregated stuff that I know is free. It won't be as useful as libgen :smile: You are right.
When I was a student in the 90s I had to buy some books that cost 70 pounds. I was dumbfounded. This was a fortune. But then I saw that the authors were very intelligent, and who was I to argue with both the market and academia. The books remained on my self for twenty years collecting dust. Then i realized that I couldn't care less whether Pierce and James corresponded on a regular basis or not. But I am not Nazi, i did burn the books, and release CO2. I just threw them into a recycling bin :smile:
(edited 2 years ago)
Original post by Napp
Preach, the average price seems to be at least £70, with some closing in on a grand.. like in what universe do they think anyones going to buy that, even the target audience (usually students and academics) will still baulk at that.


Yep. I own(ed) a 70 GBP fourier analysis book- the one book by an American publisher and author. Used it for one course but the lecturer demanded it and I just couldn't be bothered.

One of the worst pieces of literature I've ever owned-I shafted another student by reselling it to them full price after the price went up online to 90!

Kudos to my astrobiology lecturer who paid his students back the profits he made from the book he recommended and wrote himself-he gave back a fiver on every copy since that was his commission.
Thank you so much for these recommendations! Although sometimes this format is not very easy to read, it is very useful to have textbooks in this format.

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