Does anyone get their books unbound?

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Hi All,

I am looking forward to starting NS in a few weeks (aug 23). I went to the bookstore at school and the books are huge!:eek: A lady told me she has her books unbound at OfficeMax and just carries around the chapter that she is working on and this save having to lug the books around. Has anyone else done this? It sounds like a good idea and I dont plan to sell my books back so it may be an option. Just wanted to know what you guys think?

Instead of unbinding the books, I try to buy e-books online. It is easy, light, and portable.

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Specializes in Cardiology.
I checked out Alibris, and it's considerably cheaper than amazon and other online bookstores.. but shipping is 10$ and 6$ for every additional book to Canada. I guess if you live in the US and can get the free shipping, it's more of a deal. But the books I found were not even the previous editions, they went back to 2002 or 1999...

I don't get free shipping, but I don't mind paying the shipping ($4, maybe? $5?) because the book itself is so cheap- who cares about that amount of shipping when I am not paying $100 for the book?

I do, however, start shopping as early as possible (got my list at least a month ago for classes starting next week) so that I can be picky on alibris and also have a good selection. There are previous editions out there (the one just prior to the current, I mean) for a good price- you just have to be know how to sort through alibris with a sharp eye. The most expensive book I had to purchase was my dosage math, and even that was about 40% off.

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Specializes in care for my grandma with Altzheimer's.

So I went to Staples, since they are closest to me, and they charge slightly differently than Kinko's, they charge $2 a cut to cut the book (my book wouldn't fit in the cutter, so I had to use an exacto knife to split it in half and then they cut each piece) --- and it would have been truly painful to heartnursing and the other person who hates the idea because the girl actually cut them both at a slight angle. In no way making the pages unusable, but I'm wondering if I'm going to have to get them cut again to straighten them to not have the bound versions weird :eek:

They do only charge $3.50 per each spiral bound rebinding, and only $3 for those other covers that are flat, but she did tell me flat out that even though I personally find the flat versions more aesthetically pleasing, they are not as durable. Spiral bound is best.

Overall, seems to work out the same, in the $5 range per rebound section.

By the way, I never would have been bold enough to try this with a new $100 - $200 book. I got my book online, yes new, but the Indian version and I found it for under $40. While I compared it to the US version and it seems to be identical, it definitely made me less attached to its pristineness, it wasn't packaged all that great in the shipping and cut slightly bent along one edge ... thus not perfect already :clown:

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Specializes in ED.

Yeah, Fedex Kinkos told me spiral was best, too. My book was brand new, probably in the $130 range. I don't think I paid full price though. I never pay full price for my books because I always try to find the best deal, but I definitely bought that book new.

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I looked into doing this with my HUGE med surg book.....but it was so many pages that, even with putting the maximum pages per spiral binding..... I would have ended up with 10 books. I just knew that with 10...I'd lose at least one of them, which would suck. So, I kept the behemoth whole. :sniff:

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Specializes in Geriatrics/Retirement Residence.

I thought I respect books too much to "violate" them this way. This all changed when I saw my med-surge book the first time...:eek: I was shocked. It's 2531 pages, 11.25'' x 8.5'' x 3.25'' and weights over 10 pounds... I'm considering unbinding it . We have our orientation in 2 days and I'll be asking others and teachers, I think we should be getting the final book list on Monday, so I'll take a look at the other books, and if they're all like this giant book I'm getting them unbound. I just don't see any other way. :rolleyes:

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Specializes in care for my grandma with Altzheimer's.

curious me, did you check more than 1 place, because that seems very surprising, I was told at Staples, each book can be 2" thick, hard to believe your book is even 10" thick, thus it shouldn't need 10 sections, or even 5 ... :confused:

sunraygurl, have u had any problems with them cutting a book crooked, just wondering if it's gonna matter when I go to have them rebound ... :uhoh3:

kimberlina, I'm curious about this previous editions idea, I've toyed with it, and tried it last semester for a physical science class, but got burned, first I screwed up and bought a WAY previous version, like 3rd instead of 8th I think, so that messed things up, but then I tried just going back one edition to the 7th, and I still had problems. My prof exclusively used the test bank, and it was clear that many of the questions came straight from the newer edition but were worded differently in mine, making my life a lot harder ... I especially wonder because I'm pretty sure my nursing department relies heavily if not exclusively on test bank question tests, and all the editions of my books are due for an update this semester, new 2010 versions are coming out even though we're slipping in on the previous 2007 editions (which I am sure means they'll be no selling back to the bookstore even if we wanted to), so if I bought the previous editions, they'd be from 2004. 6 years seems like a huge gap for nursing texts (or anatomy ones for that matter) - just wondering, were your books that much older or did you have ones that, although older, were more recent? :coollook:

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Specializes in ED.

Gypsy-

This is the first time I've done this and they cut my book pretty straight. Hopefully it won't make a difference, for your sake.

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curious me, did you check more than 1 place, because that seems very surprising, I was told at Staples, each book can be 2" thick, hard to believe your book is even 10" thick, thus it shouldn't need 10 sections, or even 5 ... :confused:

I tried three different places, including my local Staples.

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Specializes in Cardiology.
kimberlina, I'm curious about this previous editions idea, I've toyed with it, and tried it last semester for a physical science class, but got burned, first I screwed up and bought a WAY previous version, like 3rd instead of 8th I think, so that messed things up, but then I tried just going back one edition to the 7th, and I still had problems. My prof exclusively used the test bank, and it was clear that many of the questions came straight from the newer edition but were worded differently in mine, making my life a lot harder ... I especially wonder because I'm pretty sure my nursing department relies heavily if not exclusively on test bank question tests, and all the editions of my books are due for an update this semester, new 2010 versions are coming out even though we're slipping in on the previous 2007 editions (which I am sure means they'll be no selling back to the bookstore even if we wanted to), so if I bought the previous editions, they'd be from 2004. 6 years seems like a huge gap for nursing texts (or anatomy ones for that matter) - just wondering, were your books that much older or did you have ones that, although older, were more recent? :coollook:

It depends on the class. For my psych classes, sociology, art appreciation, etc., I checked with the professors first and only had one tell me that she wasn't sure how well I would do in the class with a prior edition. FWIW, I got a 100 in that specific class. For A&P, Doc actually told me I could use any A&P book out there; she even offered my a very old copy she had. Once she told me that, I used a text several years old. I got an A in that class, too, so the older edition didn't harm me. She, in particular, used test questions from a completely different text- the one from my first A&P class ten years ago.

For my nursing text, I bought the edition just prior to this one. I believe it is 3 or 4 years old. It is a bit more difficult using this than it has been other prior editions, simply because the faculty is assigning things by pages, and they aren't the same. I have been able to find the correct readings, though. I did make sure that my math text was the current edition (so the problems would be exactly the same) and my Davis' is the current edition.

I'm not really concerned about tests being pulled from the text- my school is REALLY strict about making sure nobody has access to any test questions ahead of time. We aren't even allowed to touch our test papers for review lest we write down the questions and pass them to a class after us. They are almost definitely not pulling test questions from any current text we are using.

All that being said, I am always prepared to go out and purchase the current edition if things are not working out with my prior edition. It is a gamble that I am willing to take. In the last year, I've taken 8 classes and spent less than $200 on all my books and am not having trouble maintaining a 4.0 average with those texts.

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Great idea! Totally great. And you can buy the little machine thingy to make the spiral binding. Idk if I could do this to a book. I think it would seriously break my :redpinkhe

:stdnrsrck:

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Specializes in Gerontology, nursing education.
I thought I respect books too much to "violate" them this way. This all changed when I saw my med-surge book the first time...:eek: I was shocked. It's 2531 pages, 11.25'' x 8.5'' x 3.25'' and weights over 10 pounds... I'm considering unbinding it . We have our orientation in 2 days and I'll be asking others and teachers, I think we should be getting the final book list on Monday, so I'll take a look at the other books, and if they're all like this giant book I'm getting them unbound. I just don't see any other way. :rolleyes:

You could lift weights! sport-smiley-003.gif

The med-surg textbook at the school at which I taught was available in two forms: one volume or two volumes. The two volume version was about the same amount of money, IIRC, and it was much easier for students to manage. I really think all books over 1000 pages should be cut into volumes for the students' convenience.

Honestly, a ten pound text sounds a tad redonkulous.

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