TextBook Hound is a search engine that finds you the cheapest online sources for the textbooks you need to buy!  Make a list of all the textbooks you need, find the source with the best price for each, and then put in one request to Mom... and one to Dad... and one to Aunt Frieda... and one to Uncle Jimmy... and one to Granny... etc. etc. etc (get the idea?)

The Amazon link, above, takes you to a site with an easy to use book search program; the program gives you the established online price range for any book listed, from the lowest price to the highest price... it also tells you the Amazon price and tells you about availability!  Don't forget, the only books that will be listed here are the books that Amazon sells.

Dave's Rules for Buying Textbooks

• always check out the campus bookstore price first; they may have the best price!

• many campus bookstores sell used books (this is a big cost saving to you)

• then, go to TextBookHound and let them do your online price comparison shopping for you!

• huge online bookstores like Amazon and BooksAMillion will have the best prices on books everyone buys... like dictionaries, medical dictionaries and famous books

• textbooks are often cheapest at VarsityBooks, TextBooks, BigWords and FatBrain

• for highly specialized textbooks that are not easy to find, you may have to go to major online stores like Amazon, Borders or Barnes & Noble

• be careful to check that the source from which you order the book actually has the book in stock... or your classmates may be taking the final exam the day your textbook arrives

• order your books early early early early early!!!!! (most software and books I order take 4-6 working days to arrive)

Buying Used Textbooks

• check for used books at discounted prices at your college bookstore!
• check the bulletin boards where you take classes and look for used book ads
• buy used books from students in the classes ahead of you
• buy used books online; did you think that no one online sold used books... hey, BigWords sells them and buys them back!
• it is usually safe to use a previous edition of a textbook... just don't go back more than one edition... when the instructors tell the students with the new (expensive) book what pages to read, just use the index to find the same information in your previous (inexpensive) edition