International Edition textbooks

Nursing Students General Students

Published

Hello! I have the opportunity to purchase my MedSurg book for 1/3 of what my school is offering the bundle for, but the catch is that it's the international edition. That means it's softcover and can't be resold in the US (I think). My medsurg book is one of my nursing books that I don't plan on reselling, so it seems like a win/win for me. Would you do it? This book is used for two semesters so I'm willing to forgo the online access code (not one for ebooks anyway) and I'm trying to keep costs down since my parents are buying books. :) Plus I write everywhere in my books so I'd feel less guilty about highlighting and underlining.

Here's the link to the book if anybody is interested...

http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-Medical-Surgical-Nursing-by-Linda-Bucher-Linda_W0QQitemZ250488811207QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUS_Nonfiction_Book?hash=item3a524beec7

ISBN# 0323036902 (7th edition)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ER/Tele, Med-Surg, Faculty, Urgent Care.

HI,

I teach nursing and we are using the same textbook. I looked at the Elsevier/Mosby website and it says the book has 2016 pages but the one you saw on ebay says 1980 pages, so I am not sure why this would be. I had not heard of "International Edition" textbooks before. I do know that Elsevier Espanol does publish some textbooks in Spanish.

It probably has the majority of material, maybe it has less pages due to font size or formatting, maybe left out minor detail.

However it is half the retail/list price of $125.00 so pretty significant money savings. ( I could not always afford my textbooks, so I do not require too many books. I went to grad/NP school with this lady that never bought any textbooks, we would find older editions in the university library, even got them sent to us thru inter-library loan and as grad students we could keep the books the entire semester!!!!)

I personally would take a chance on this book but hope you do not get burned.

It has the same ISBN 13 number. Here is the link to the Elsevier website:

http://www.us.elsevierhealth.com/product.jsp?lid=4&iid=0&sid=412&isbn=9780323036900

Good luck with your studies!!!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Psychiatric.

I would go for it. My only issue would be that a lot of my NS classes require the use of the access codes and CD's, but if you aren't going to need it have at it I bought my Abnormal Psychology textbook international this semester brand new the listing said it was soft cover but it came hard cover.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I did it with my A&P book and it was the exact same thing...just soft cover. I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I bought intl version of Anatomy book last semester. It was the exact same book, 20% cheaper including shipping. The only exception was that the cover was softbound and had a different picture on the cover but page content, color photos, study cds etc were exactly the same as US. I also bought a Med-Surg intl book too that had exact same content/photos/cd disc as US version, except photos/illustrations were in black & white. I saved quite a bit of money with intl books. Now, if color photos/illustrations are a big deal to you (like maybe with anatomy) try to find out if the books are printed black/white or color pages. Most of them will tell you in ad or email. Good Luck

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Operating Room.

This is weird... I am taking med/surg as well and we are using that book.. I just bought that international edition two days ago! My friend went and bought the books from a local college bookstore and her total was $400 for 5 books. After spending $500+ last semester, I was determined to cut costs. Well, I put on my thinking hat and after a couple hours got the 5 books for less than $200! Woohoo. I did a bit of research on international books and found that most people had positive experiences. I kept hearing that they are the same exact book, just with softcovers for 1/3 of the price. For two minor books, lab values and cultural assessment, I bought older editions for $10 and $4 each. These were released a couple of years before the current editions. I wish I had taken this route last semester.... I didn't even use 4 of the books and bought them brand new. I'd like to share the website that made it possible: bigwords.com. It searches through several popular websites for the cheapest books, definitely a one-stop shop.

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Thank you everybody for your expertise! I think I'm going to go for it -- if the book does happen to be missing some pages, I'll just ask my friends if I could borrow their books for an hour or so. I also sent the seller an email asking about the pictures but my mind has been mostly been made up by now. :)

This is weird... I am taking med/surg as well and we are using that book.. I just bought that international edition two days ago! My friend went and bought the books from a local college bookstore and her total was $400 for 5 books. After spending $500+ last semester, I was determined to cut costs. Well, I put on my thinking hat and after a couple hours got the 5 books for less than $200! Woohoo. I did a bit of research on international books and found that most people had positive experiences. I kept hearing that they are the same exact book, just with softcovers for 1/3 of the price. For two minor books, lab values and cultural assessment, I bought older editions for $10 and $4 each. These were released a couple of years before the current editions. I wish I had taken this route last semester.... I didn't even use 4 of the books and bought them brand new. I'd like to share the website that made it possible: bigwords.com. It searches through several popular websites for the cheapest books, definitely a one-stop shop.

Haha, awesome! When I was doing the math last night, I determined that I'd be able to get all of the required books (I'm choosing to NOT get any of the recommended books) online through ebay or half or Amazon for LESS than what my school is charging for a bundle of TWO new books! :yeah:

Do you think using older editions of books would be okay? One class has two books that are new editions (came out last summer) that I will be purchasing, but if I could get away with using an older edition that'd be awesome. :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Older editions are great. The only drawback that I've seen so far is that sometimes things are on different pages and you might have to do a little more searching for specific tables and whatnot. If you really need a certain page or something you can always copy it from someone else's book for 10 cents! Our instructors actually encourage people to use the older editions and not waste their money!

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Operating Room.

When trying to decide if an older edition is okay, I always head to the bookstore and check out the current edition and flip through the book to see what it's like. For example, the lab values book and the cultural assessment books both look really simple. They were both small little books (but cost $60 and $40 ugh!). After last semester, I realized assessment books were basically all the same. I mean how many different questions can you ask your pt about their cardiovascular system? As for the lab values, the old and the new editions were printed 2 years apart, I figured that there is probably just minute changes, if there were any changes at all. If I had any doubts, I could look at my friend's book. For the big, hardcover books, I'll stick with current or international editions for now since I noticed that a lot of teachers will refer to specific tables and images.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ER/Tele, Med-Surg, Faculty, Urgent Care.

You are correct about assessment textbooks having the same basic info. Many of them have the same pictures!!!!

I taught health assessment/physical exams for the past 10 semester and went thru 3 different authored textbooks. I had students ask if they could use another author or the previous edition. Sure, as long as you can find the info. You may have to hunt for it, but that is what the index is for.

It does seem to be a "scam" type of thing when new editions come out and very little has changed or one or two chapters have been rearranged. One of the assessment books was touted as having all these wonderful extra;s. It had a real fancy & attractive cover, it had more chapters then the book I was using. I took it home for the summer and really compared it.

IMO, it was all gloss, the info was hard to find, was confusing to me ( I am a Family NP!)

The reality is that even though a book is "required" there is little an instructor can do if you choose not to purchase. I can not force you to go to the bookstore and buy the book.

Thanks for educating me, I will now see if the books we are using at our school have an international edition!!!!

I just remembered in NP school, one book was required but it was a very slender book which got me to wondering since nursing texts are huge. Turns out, it was for ONE chapter. So I copied the chapter at work, returned the book & got my money back. My friend the found it "on reserve" in the library, so the entire class returned the books to the bookstore. The class behind us, we passed the copies to them.:clown:

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment