Buying College Text Books Question Regarding ISBN and Published Dates

[js]

Hi.
I am trying to purchase some text books for my dd who will be entering college next month. I can get them on half.com, used but like new, for less than what the college bookstore is charging for used books.

But, when I put in the ISBN number, I am getting the correct edition but sometimes the "Published" date is a year off. Would it be the same book if the ISBN and Edition were correct or do I need to worry that the Published Date is incorrect?

What would you do?

Thanks.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

But, when I put in the ISBN number, I am getting the correct edition but sometimes the "Published" date is a year off. Would it be the same book if the ISBN and Edition were correct or do I need to worry that the Published Date is incorrect?

There's an error somewhere. Most likely the date. I'd try to clarify with the seller. If in the end, the seller can't satisfy you so that you know you're getting the right edition, I'd pass.

 

[Christine]

I buy and rent a lot of textbooks. I have found that when I go through a true book company to buy or rent, the accuracy is of the edition, publish date, etc. is great. Going through a private seller is a bit sketcy because they could have some error in how the are representing the book.

For my son's high school books, I make sure that I have the exact match for everything. One iteration off on the book may end up resulting in a book that doesn't have the same homework exercises/review questions in each chapter.

For college, the requirements are really just for reading purposes and I have found my DD's professors to be very forgiving on anything that is slightly amiss. Half the time, for my DD's classes, they rarely even use the textbooks so it has never been a huge issue.

 

[NotUrsula]

I buy books for a living.

If the book is NOT part of a series, then the ISBN is your most accurate indicator of edition. (Some publishers, particularly European publishers who specialize in the humanities, and many publishers out of the Third World, will use a collective ISBN for books in series; those will give you grief.)

Individual sellers will often become confused re: the difference between the copyright date and the reprint date. Many publishers don't put them right together on the verso of the title page, so folks who are not used to the conventions will often take the first one that they see, which is usually the copyright date.

Copyright date will generally stay the same if a new edition is substantively identical to the previous edition; that is, essentially all of the changes are cosmetic, such as the tyoeface, the binding or the cover illustrations, or perhaps the index entries. An edition which has substantial revision of the actual intellectual content will get a new copyright.

 

[js]

I buy and rent a lot of textbooks. I have found that when I go through a true book company to buy or rent, the accuracy is of the edition, publish date, etc. is great. Going through a private seller is a bit sketcy because they could have some error in how the are representing the book.

For my son's high school books, I make sure that I have the exact match for everything. One iteration off on the book may end up resulting in a book that doesn't have the same homework exercises/review questions in each chapter.

For college, the requirements are really just for reading purposes and I have found my DD's professors to be very forgiving on anything that is slightly amiss. Half the time, for my DD's classes, they rarely even use the textbooks so it has never been a huge issue.

I buy books for a living.

If the book is NOT part of a series, then the ISBN is your most accurate indicator of edition. (Some publishers, particularly European publishers who specialize in the humanities, and many publishers out of the Third World, will use a collective ISBN for books in series; those will give you grief.)

Individual sellers will often become confused re: the difference between the copyright date and the reprint date. Many publishers don't put them right together on the verso of the title page, so folks who are not used to the conventions will often take the first one that they see, which is usually the copyright date.

Copyright date will generally stay the same if a new edition is substantively identical to the previous edition; that is, essentially all of the changes are cosmetic, such as the tyoeface, the binding or the cover illustrations, or perhaps the index entries. An edition which has substantial revision of the actual intellectual content will get a new copyright.

Thank you both very much.
Are you basically saying that if the Edition and the ISBN number were the same, it should be "almost" the correct book IF the Published Date is a year off?
My dd is worried that if a professor says read pages 1-100 that if she has a wrong book (one that shows a different published date) that she may not be reading the correct material or not enough.

The used books I am finding without any markings in the book are more than half off the price of the bookstore new book and less than the bookstore used book.

Thanks so much!

 

[NotUrsula]

My dd is worried that if a professor says read pages 1-100 that if she has a wrong book (one that shows a different published date) that she may not be reading the correct material or not enough.

FWIW, Pagination can differ between a paperback and hardcover even if the content is identical, because the page size normally differs.

IME, college instructors seldom give paged reading assignments. Normally they will tell you by chapter or section, not page .. that is *if* they give partial-book assignments.

 

[Christine]

FWIW, Pagination can differ between a paperback and hardcover even if the content is identical, because the page size normally differs.

IME, college instructors seldom give paged reading assignments. Normally they will tell you by chapter or section, not page .. that is *if* they give partial-book assignments.

True.

I know it's hard to see now, OP, but college "homework" or reading assignments aren't done like high school. As I said earlier, there are many instances where my DD has never even had to take the wrapping off a "required" textbook. And there have been classes where the book was really needed. She has found that the professors are quite forgiving with different editions and are looking for way to save the students money. I've been impressed with that. The textbooks seems to be one of the many pieces of the course that are small supports to what is talked about in class and it augments some of the handouts. I don't think it's going to be as critical as in high school.

I do buy used books for my son for high school (private) and it is imperative that I get the right textbooks. They can't even differ by a page.

 

[js]

True.

I know it's hard to see now, OP, but college "homework" or reading assignments aren't done like high school. As I said earlier, there are many instances where my DD has never even had to take the wrapping off a "required" textbook. And there have been classes where the book was really needed. She has found that the professors are quite forgiving with different editions and are looking for way to save the students money. I've been impressed with that. The textbooks seems to be one of the many pieces of the course that are small supports to what is talked about in class and it augments some of the handouts. I don't think it's going to be as critical as in high school.

I do buy used books for my son for high school (private) and it is imperative that I get the right textbooks. They can't even differ by a page.

Thanks so much. My dd has the same Biology Book that we are being asked to purchase for her class for September but her book says AP on the cover so she wants to get another book, which I will but what you are saying makes sense. She will bring her AP book with her for her notes but now reading what you say, I bet it would be/cover about the same. There are also some text books that are being sold that are the teachers edition with extra notes, which I thought would be good too since she really is a studious student but she wants the books to be "exact" since I guess she's nervous.

FWIW, Pagination can differ between a paperback and hardcover even if the content is identical, because the page size normally differs.

IME, college instructors seldom give paged reading assignments. Normally they will tell you by chapter or section, not page .. that is *if* they give partial-book assignments.

Thanks so much for this explanation. Although both our parents went to college, my dh and I did not so we don't have anything else to go by but I can see how a professor would say chapter/section, not pages. I did see one text book that was substantially lower but it was softcover but came up with the same ISBN number. Would it be the same book just softcover, kind of like when a new book comes out first in hardcover and then paperback?

THANK YOU BOTH VERY VERY Much!

 

[LilyWDW]

As for the hardcover vs softcover, it may or may not be the correct book.

One thing about using individual sellers is to be SUPER careful. I have seen sellers put the ISBN of the "normal" version of the book in for the international edition (which can be different and actually can not be sold in the US) in order to get it to come up when people search. Verify everything!