It’s that time of year again - overly zealous and naive freshmen and buying books.

One of the biggest things to help me pay for my books has been softcover international editions. Some of my friends in inferior disciplines (not engineering) say that they can’t find international editions of their books - it might just be a technical book thing. At any rate, I recently ordered three of my textbooks from Abebooks, and spent a total of $137 (shipping included) for three books that the campus book store would have charged me $400+ for. All this for getting softcover international editions as opposed to U.S. hardcover editions.

The prize of this collection is my Artificial Intelligence book ($90 at the book store) for which I paid the mere pittance of $16 U.S. (including $8 of shipping).

I’ve done this in the past, and the books are identical, page for page, and word for word. They even come adorned with a warning that they are not for sale in the United States:

This edition is manufactured in India and is authorized for sale only in India, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka and the Maldives. Circulation of this edition outside of these territories is UNAUTHORIZED.

Or the more specific:

RESTRICTED! Not For Sale In The United States.

I can only hope that this is not to squeeze more money out of us.

Oh. And I suppose I should mention that these books that I bought are all brand-spanking-new.