Textbooks? E-books?

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Hi, classes start in 2 weeks and I'm super excited. However, nervous as well. It's been a long road with pre nursing pre-reqs and children. Now that I'm finally here, it's hard to believe it. Even though I already have a bachelors, I opted for the ASN degree simply because I must continue to work full time. I cannot put the hours needed for a full BSN program so I'll do that once done, or hope to get an accelerated master's program.

None the less, I'm looking at textbooks. I haven't bought any, because the size of them are daunting. I am planning on taking stuff to work with me to study and 21 textbooks for one semester seems a bit impossible to lug around (especially that med/surg book!). I see that a lot of textbooks are offered in e-book format now. Has anyone done this before? I know Barnes and Nobels has a e- version of some textbooks but you have to download Nook Study and it's only viewable from that pc. Work doesn't like us bringing full blown laptops and we are not allowed to browse the internet from the work computers, but they don't mind something small like an iPad or tablet PC when the patients are asleep (as long as we drop what we are doing when call bells go off, of course and tend to our patients). We have a great night staff that works together and as a result everyone has some down time, even if they don't take an official break. I'm considering buying as many e-textbooks as possible so I can access my studies in little snippets when possible. (I will be sleeping at school one night a week just to be able to get to work and in class or work 7 days a week so cutting down my load is essential).

Has anyone else done this? Gotten any of their textbooks as an e-book instead of the hard copy?

I know the Nook Study is like someone scanned the book in page for page and it works well, but I'm more curious about the kindle e-books than Nook, since they aren't tablet friendly yet.

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This is excellent news! I will research this tomorrow.

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Specializes in Neonatal Nurse Practitioner.

Yea. It's also not legal.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
Yea. It's also not legal.

Actually there have been some real "free" offers on Amazon. Why? I have no idea

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Specializes in Neonatal Nurse Practitioner.

Actually there have been some real "free" offers on Amazon. Why? I have no idea

Yea, but the PP specifically mentioned ********, which is not known for being a legal way of getting/sharing files.

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Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.

I didn't know what that meant Thanks!

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Specializes in Emergency Nursing.
Yea, but the PP specifically mentioned ********, which is not known for being a legal way of getting/sharing files.

There are a few legitimate uses for *******. Such and downloading various free Linux distributions, but primarily it's used for downloading pirated materials. It's sort of the modern day version of Kazaa or Napster circa 1999.

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I will also be starting a ADN program in a week and I went back and forth about purchasing ebooks or textbooks. There was a $300 savings if you purchased the ebook format and I'm a poor college student so I went ahead and purchased the ebook. The bookstore manager said that no one has ever purchased the ebook so I was a little worried but once I downloaded the books I found it to be very helpful. I may be one of the only students that prefer to read on a screen since I have a glare problem with textbooks (I know i'm weird) There is normally a great search feature that I LOVE. You can type any word and it will pull up that work or phrase in any of the books. Its great for researching. You can highlight and make notes on a post-it like icon that shows up in the margin of the "book". I type faster then I can write so for note taking during lecture it works great. I'll give you an update once I'm in full swing of school. Good luck!

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There is Kindle as well via Amazon. Many textbooks are available there too.

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Ive used many digital textbooks for my nursing classes when they are available and worth the price. I try to use coursesmart.com as then I can use it on anything (computer, phone, ipad, etc).

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Thanks for the link!

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I think it all depends on how YOU study. I have purchased e-books in the past, and I found that I have struggled with them. I like being able to hold my page, while quickly flipping back a couple of pages and then maybe back to the glossary - it can't be done as quickly on an ebook.

I bought an ebook for one of my Composition classes and that was okay, but when I bought one for Organic Chemistry I HATED IT, and ended up renting one after a couple of weeks.

Yes it is nice to be able to pack so light, but I would maybe try one or two, just not ALL of your books until you see how you like it.

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