Today there are many places on the Internet that promise free textbooks, unfortunately most of these are scams, and the websites will load your computer with tons of spyware, or worse. Despite this, there are a few places where you can get tons of free e-books. Although you are unlikely to find free textbooks, you will be able to find free electronic versions of many books, primarily classics, but also many other novels that may be required reading for many of your intro classes.

The best site for free e-books on the web is the Gutenberg Project; this site is dedicated to scanning literature and currently has thousands of books in its database. The other cool thing about this site is that many of the books are available in multiple formats, including audio for some books. This means that if you already know what you are looking for in the book, you can hit “ctrl+F” in your browser and find the right section of the book right away. This is a great study tool, and I recommend using it to prepare for exams after you have read required sections/chapters.

Another great place to find free books is Google Books. This is great because Google Books has tons of books on file and people working there are scanning more books constantly. However the problem with this is that you are unable to search for keywords, since the pages are displayed as images, and you are unable to copy or manipulate the images in any way.

More locally, some public libraries, especially state libraries and presidential libraries, offer electronic data and sometimes access to private electronic book catalogs. One such catalog, if you are studying in the IT sector, is Safari Tech Books Online. It is by far the most complete computer books online catalog; books are readily available. To access books requires a membership, but, as stated before, this might be included in your membership with your local public library.

If you do not find what you are looking in freely available electronic format, do not despair! More books are published in electronic format every day and many more are being converted to electronic format so even though the book you are currently looking for may not be available, the next one might very well be.

The way that the publishing business works has changed much since the early days of the Internet. The way that it used to work was that textbooks were more affordable, and since the used book market was very private, publishers were content with their profit margin. It is important to note here that publishers profit only from the sale of a new book; when a used book is sold and resold the original publisher of the book does not see a cent of the money generated. In the case where a bookstore sells used books, the bookstore gets the profit from the sale of the used book but has to buy it from someone. In the case of college bookstores, they have a constant supply of books since every year students graduate and want to get rid of their textbooks. On the other hand, whenever you purchase a book from certain sites online, the profit from the sale goes to the person selling the book, most likely another student.

As the used textbooks market developed with the rise of the Internet, and students were finally able to take control of the used book market by being able to sell their books online, publishers realized that fewer people were buying new textbooks. The solution that publishers devised was to put out a greater number of new editions or to put out new editions more often. It is important to note that many changing or rapidly evolving subjects such as computer science or biology require a new edition to be released yearly because the field changes constantly, but many other subjects such as literature, philosophy, and even business, in other words subjects that are not in a state of great flux and do not change rapidly do not require frequent edition updates. I can recall an ancient history class I took as a sophomore where the textbook that was available at the bookstore was the latest edition, and cost $80. Since I was fairly confident that ancient Greek history had not seen any major changes in the past few years I purchased an older edition online, saving $60 in the process, and had no problem keeping up the pace with other students of the class.

What many publishers do these days is that they put out a new edition regardless of whether or not any changes were actually made to the content of the book. If no changes were made than what they do is they will move around chapters, or maybe change a few chapter titles. The other strategy that publishers have developed is to include a CD or DVD with the textbook. This is seen as increasing the value of the book; however what they fail to tell you is that most, if not all, of the information on the CD/DVD is available on the publisher’s website for free, plus I have yet to meet a teacher who puts these CDs to good use.

The advice that I would offer students is to buy used and buy old editions whenever possible, and if you want to shop online I recommend you use a book price comparison website, in order to make sure that the price you are getting is the best one. In general, you should not stray further than 2 editions prior to the current one. If you are unsure as to an older edition of a textbook, I would advise that you consult with your professor, many are starting to come to the realization that books are putting a real economic strain on students and are starting to care, so they may be able to help.

The best piece of advice on books that I can offer new students going to college for the first time is, do not buy all of your textbooks at the college bookstore! If you order your books online on the same day that you receive your syllabus, you will typically receive your books before your first assignment. You can even choose to pay for overnight shipping, this is a bit more costly, but usually still cheaper than buying at the bookstore. If you are worried about receiving your books late, you can always try to contact your professors a week before the start of class and ask about the list of book(s) you will need. Most importantly, you should always shop around, and using a book price comparison site such as We Compare Books when shopping around makes it much more easier.

If you are forced to buy books at the bookstore, buy used. In fact, given the option, you should always choose used instead of new when it comes to textbooks. This has multiple advantages, for one you have the obvious price advantage, for another, often the previous owner of the book underlined or highlighted the important sections, and this means that skimming becomes easier (this is of course if you trust that the previous owner of the book was smart enough to have underlined the correct passages).

The best way to buy books is directly from previous students. This ensures that you pay less for your books and also that the students selling their books receive more money for them. Remember that the less intermediaries there are, the less money you spend and the more money goes in the pocket of the seller.

By David Replogle, University of Virginia

Like the national census or a good Bruce Willis movie, a recession hits the United States about every 10 years or so. It doesn’t take a math major to see it’s been nearly that long since the burst of the dot-com bubble, and now, the collapse of mortgage-backed security has brought Wall Street — and the rest of the economy — to its knees again. As for college students? Well, we’re just crossing our fingers that four years is enough time for the job market to rebound.

Luckily, the U.S. financial system seems to be on the upswing. “By the end of the year, things should be looking better,” says Laurence Shatkin, author of The 150 Best Recession-Proof Jobs. But Shatkin warns that a recovery would not necessarily signal a return in jobs. “They are the last thing to recover in a recession; businesses are going to wait until the last minute to stop using temporary hires. It will easily be over a year until this country starts seeing an increase in job openings.” Here, we relay the crème de la crème of careers so you can declare a major now that will set you up for success later.

What to Pursue
Health care Even in dire straits, people need certain services. Shatkin cites the health care industry, which pays well and continues a growth pattern as the field most adept at staying afloat during a financial downturn. Careers in the medical realm — physicians, surgeons, pharmacists, health service managers — round out No. 6 through No. 10 on Shatkin’s list of 150 recession-proof jobs.
Major in: biomedical sciences, biology, chemistry. Plan on being pre-med.

Information technology High tech is an industry with heavy growth — recession or no recession. With the Internet getting bigger by the millisecond, the stakes for finding a job in the technological world are up. The market does, however, face competition from outsourcing, since labor abroad is cheaper.
Major in: computer science, mathematics, computer engineering, electrical engineering. No lit majors here.

Government Shatkin is quick to point out that careers in government don’t have to be defined by bureaucratic paper pushing and yards of red tape. “Careers like school administrators and law enforcement officers fall under the government’s sphere,” he says. Government positions have had better protection against layoffs, which means more job security.
Major in: public policy, history, politics. Law school is another path to take if you’re looking to snag a spot working for the Feds.

Green jobs An important, budding movement is the green sector — especially green energy. Organizations are looking for enthusiastic college grads to jump on board. Plus, the current presidential administration wants to transform energy needs into a self-sustaining machine anchored by clean and renewable power.
Major in: environmental science, civil engineering, environmental engineering. Although, there are opportunities for activists, advertisers and writers to get involved too, since the field is relatively new and malleable.

Education The good news is that there’s still a very high demand for teachers. The bad news is that schools get funding from local taxes, so when this revenue dries up, so does money toward teachers’ salaries. Making big bucks is almost out of the question.
Major in: various topics in education, from math to P.E.

What to Avoid
Journalism While Shatkin says several journalists still maintain great jobs in various trades, from padding the blogosphere to entertainment reporting, the field faces an uphill battle against two formidable opponents: bankruptcy and the Internet. Shatkin, himself a writer, claims the trick is to find a good niche: “I write about careers now, and I love what I do.”

Entertainment “The field has always been fiercely competitive,” Shatkin says. He points out that many who can’t make it in other jobs resort to packing up and moving to Hollywood, betting on a slight chance of making it big. Now that the masses have less money to spend on entertainment, the industry has lost some of its sheen.

Finance Careers in finance have been hit harder than most. “It was oversold for a very long time, and now it’s hurting,” says Shatkin. He describes the nature of finance as extremely cutthroat. Many financial companies value experience, which puts recent college graduates at an immediate disadvantage. And since many former employees in the financial realm were laid off and are now looking for work, the competition is stiff.

Staying Smart
In the eight months since Shatkin’s book was published, the situation has gotten worse. “When I wrote the book, there was only the likelihood of a recession,” he says. “You never know you’re in a recession until you’re knee-deep. Nowadays, it’s harder to find a job, investments have lost value and layoffs are increasing. People’s retirements are at stake.”

Shatkin’s advice to freshmen? Get a well-rounded education. “We need people in liberal arts who understand science and math, and engineers and scientists who can write,” he says. By pursuing different subjects, students discover skills or talents they never knew they had. “You become more versatile and learn about yourself. Don’t limit it to schoolwork. Pursue out-of-class activities on campus as well.”

So perhaps it’s time to switch your major from economics to environmental science or from journalism to education. Make a smart move now and you might score a true recession-proof job later.

This blog post was copied from realcollegeguide.com