How much are you spending on textbooks this semester?

[UnhealthyTruthseeker]

Apparently understanding the basis of heredity, what everything is made of, how the smallest pieces of stuff interact, how the largest things in existence interact, how life develops over time, how the body works, how the cell works, grossly how the brain works, what the body is made out of, how the Earth changes over time, how the Earth was formed, how the Sun works, how the Sun and solar system formed, how galaxies form, how large bodies of mass effect space and time, how black holes are made and how they work, how viruses and bacteria cause disease, how the silicon chips in computers work, how the gates in the silicon chips of computers interact in order to perform computation, how the body makes proteins, how the shape of proteins is determined by their composition and how their shape determines the reactions the catalyze, how the different branches of life interact, how mechanical systems at ordinary velocities and with ordinary masses and temperatures behave, how electricity and magnetism work, how heat and efficiency work, how the laws of heat predict the ultimate fate of everything, and how the symmetries of the universe determine its time evolution, plus many, many other things don't constitute knowledge at all.

[Milks Empire]

Too much.
I'd estimate somewhere around $400.

[Kamsaki]

Here's why your argument fails: since science is not knowledge, rejecting it is not rejecting knowledge.

Science can provide knowledge because it is the rejection of demonstrably false. As a result of science, there are a lot of things that we genuinely do know to be not true.

Not all science is good science, but to reject Science as a whole as a source of knowledge is a fundamental misunderstanding both of knowledge and of science.

[Yenke-Bin]

And you have to buy your books?
How odd.

Not that odd. In my high school we had to pay for books as well. His/hers might be private, hence the outrageous costs. Mine was public, so we paid like 100 for the year. Well I guess it was a fee to use the books the school had.

Here's why your analogy fails:

The purpose of employment is not to earn all the money in the world.

The purpose of my penis is not to have sex with all the chicks in the world (just the hot ones )

However, the purpose of education is indeed to at least try to learn all there is to know, or at least come as close as you can.

Actually my comment was spot on. I made an asinine comment, as did you.

[Chandelier]

Somewhere around $550. Glad it's the same textbook for calc 3 as for calc 1 and 2 or it would have been more. Glad my scholarships covered it.

[Christmahanikwanzikah]

Here's why your argument fails: since science is not knowledge, rejecting it is not rejecting knowledge.

Fuckin' sigged, man.

[Dyakovo]

Apparently understanding the basis of heredity, what everything is made of, how the smallest pieces of stuff interact, how the largest things in existence interact, how life develops over time, how the body works, how the cell works, grossly how the brain works, what the body is made out of, how the Earth changes over time, how the Earth was formed, how the Sun works, how the Sun and solar system formed, how galaxies form, how large bodies of mass effect space and time, how black holes are made and how they work, how viruses and bacteria cause disease, how the silicon chips in computers work, how the gates in the silicon chips of computers interact in order to perform computation, how the body makes proteins, how the shape of proteins is determined by their composition and how their shape determines the reactions the catalyze, how the different branches of life interact, how mechanical systems at ordinary velocities and with ordinary masses and temperatures behave, how electricity and magnetism work, how heat and efficiency work, how the laws of heat predict the ultimate fate of everything, and how the symmetries of the universe determine its time evolution, plus many, many other things don't constitute knowledge at all.

If it didn't come from the prophet Ayn Rand it isn't knowledge.

OK, he didn't actually say this...

[Kyronea]

Here's why your argument fails: since science is not knowledge, rejecting it is not rejecting knowledge.

And this is why you are an Objectivist, and we are rational human beings, because we actually understand that what you just said is absolute bollix.

[Wiztopia]

Here's why your argument fails: since science is not knowledge, rejecting it is not rejecting knowledge.

You must be religious.

[Dyakovo]

Here's why your argument fails: since science is not knowledge, rejecting it is not rejecting knowledge.

You must be religious.

He is, he worships Ayn Rand.

[Central Prestonia]

$446.53 for four and a half classes (the half class being a 1 credit hour Freshman Learning Strategies course I was forced into taking), doing Political Science. The best part: only two of the books I got relate in any way shape or form to my major. Ah, the joys of being an undergrad freshman.

If being required to take classes outside of your major field bothers you, you probably have no business being a post-secondary student.

If you're in college, you should be there because you want to learn for the sake of learning.

It doesn't really bother me, it was just slightly unexpected. I was aware of the core curriculum but I wasn't aware that art appreciation was a required course. My classes have proven interesting though, so perhaps I was quick to judge.

[Genesis Enterprises]

Wait, I'm supposed to buy text books! *Oh Shit*

[Jesuschristland]

Almost $1,000, including one that's $155.

Christ, what subject do you do?

I swear academic books are way more expensive in the USA.

They are, but that's because most colleges own their own bookstores here and a lot of states do not require the colleges to publish the required books for their classes before the classes begin, so bookstores not directly related to the college can't compete.

[UnhealthyTruthseeker]

$150-ish. Before you throw rocks at me in jealousy, one course is using a free e-text, another is Modern Physics II, which uses the same text as we did last semester, and another class appears not to have a book at all.

[Delator]

What irks me more than textbook prices (which are outrageous in most instances), is the policy of most schools regarding book buybacks.

They sell it to you new for, say, $200...then, when you have no need of it, they "buy it back" for, say, $30. They then turn around and sell it as "used" for $150. This process will repreat itself until the book is too worn to be used, the campus having extracted hundreds if not thousands of dollars per book from the student population.

Fuck campus bookstores.

[Christmahanikwanzikah]

What irks me more than textbook prices (which are outrageous in most instances), is the policy of most schools regarding book buybacks.

They sell it to you new for, say, $200...then, when you have no need of it, they "buy it back" for, say, $30. They then turn around and sell it as "used" for $150. This process will repreat itself until the book is too worn to be used, the campus having extracted hundreds if not thousands of dollars per book from the student population.

Fuck campus bookstores.

Well, yeah, beyond being fucked up, it's how they make a lot of their money.

It gets better when you buy a book for $150 that won't be used next quarter (and therefore won't be bought back) and they don't tell you. Sucks to be you if you fail the course...

This was the case last quarter, actually. This fluid mechanics book was running maybe $130 and it was $50 on half.com, and the professor for the class said on the first day that his test average is usually in the 40% range (a C being around a 55% or higher).

[Neu Leonstein]

Fuck campus bookstores.

I've stopped with that stuff. This semester I got together with other people from my course and we ordered a big batch of the same book from an online bookshop, saved some on delivery and plenty more on not going through the campus system.

[Extreme Ironing]

None. Hahaha!

*just graduated*

Although, actually, I bought very few books at all. Very rarely was a whole book required (the occasional chapter only) and the library held enough of most things for the 70 or so on the course, so there never was much of a need. Music may be too randomly varied to fit into single books, I did buy tons of scores and CDs though.

[Newsan]

Nothing at all.

[Bobs Taco Shack]

This semester, none. When I got my books last semester, it was 300 USD or so. After freshmen year (in college) I didn't buy any book until I needed to do something out of it, or if it was a class in my major. I saved much money and made many people upset with my whole laughing-at-them-for-paying routine, but it was worth it.

[Cecilia Penifader]

I was a history major and each class required 4 to 5 books. At least the upper division courses did. Lower division courses usually just required one textbook and one or two paperbacks. Anyway, four history classes a quarter x five books and the total would be $200-300 most of the time. The worst part is that I had to buy books three times a year because California UCs, except Berkeley, are on the quarter system. If I took summer school, I had to buy books four times a year.

[Pevisopolis]

I'm in high school, so $0. I'm also in a Dual Credit History class, which, out of necessity, I need to carry the book with me.

[Czardas]

About £10. There's a possibility I might need another book at some point in the future, though, so it might be as much as £25.

[Dumb Ideologies]

£22. There was only one book that was specified as a module text you should buy.

[New Kereptica]

A two month old gravedig? Jesus christ!