Regular Textbooks versus E-Books
These days, even college textbooks have options for you to choose from. All of your classes are going to insist that you purchase or rent the required text for that particular class. Even in that regard you get a choice, do you want to rent or to purchase your textbooks? Is the class going to be relevant to your future career? If not, you may want to rent the book as that is usually much cheaper than purchasing the text. You can rent textbooks from websites like Amazon.com, and I know that my university actually has an online (and an on-campus) bookstore where we are able to purchase or rent texts directly from the school. When it comes to purchasing your texts you can, like I just said, purchase from your university’s bookstore, or you can use Amazon to find textbooks available for purchase. While you’re there you will probably notice that you have the choice between a hardback or paperback copy of the text and an E-book version of the text.
E-books are electronic versions of the textbook that you can usually access via the internet with a username and password. They can be purchased (and you have lifetime access to the text) or they can be rented (and you will no longer be able to access the text after a certain period of time). These texts are usually very interactive and have the ability to “highlight” sections of the text, allow you to select portions of the text to save for studying later, and they usually give you an option to create flashcards within the E-book with information directly from the text. I’ve had books in the past which even had little quizzes and other things you could do to make sure you understood the information you’ve studied, which was awesome! They also give you the option to “search” the text which is one huge advantage over a physical textbook, especially when you’re trying to do homework, look something up for exam reviews, etc.
One critique I do have in regards to E-books is that they don’t always match up exactly with the physical textbook in regards to page number and sometimes some of the graphics within the text don’t seem to play nicely with the E-book version, so it definitely isn’t perfect. If you have the option to have a physical copy of the text with access to the E-book version, I would personally always choose that option. I find that having a physical copy of the text is nice in case I am studying somewhere with no WIFI or the internet is acting wonky or, as one of my peers recently experienced, you head back home over the holiday break and realize that you left your physical textbook at home and need access to the E-book to continue your studies. Having both is certainly very convenient!
Hopefully this explanation of the various textbook options available has given you some insight into what type of text might work best for you. Do you think you’ll purchase your textbooks or rent them? Are you going to get a physical textbook, use an E-book, or use both? Either way, the choice is totally yours! Do whichever is the best option for you personally! And as always, leave me a comment below if you have a topic you’d like me to discuss in my next post!