Nook for Textbooks?

[Aggie_Ama]

I am starting back to school this summer and while looking at my first class I noticed I can buy the text electronically for a savings. I like the idea that I can have a much smaller device for my books. I am constantly traveling or away from home 12+ hours a day, a big textbook is just one more thing to carry. Has anyone used e-texts? This is so different from my first college days just 8 years ago! I am interested in the Nook mostly for the color option if I go with text books. I am going to nursing school so lots of diagrams.

[Crankin]

Well, as I am in the last semester in my grad program, I can honestly say I had no interest in e-books for my texts, or renting textbooks. It's mostly because I have to study for licensing boards sometime in the next 2 years, and I want to use my texts for some of that. I also want the books to refer to at times, for what I do in my daily practice. It's hard to explain, but I need to "feel" the book.
Of course, I am old and old fashioned when it comes to electronic books. I even print out the research articles I use, because I like to mark them up and highlight, especially when I am using an article for my own research. While I appreciate being able to access the articles/library on line, at home, I want the articles.
It really comes down to your learning style. If you think you can study, memorize, take notes by looking at a screen, and it's cheaper and easier, then do it. I couldn't. You might want to buy some of your clinical books, later on, though, for boards and the diagrams as you said.

[Aggie_Ama]

Thanks Crankin, you take the RN test immediately but I may want the texts later. Of course with medicine evolving I question whether for reference later on a library will be a better bet than a text that may be slightly dated? I know anatomy won't change but I am sure pharmacology and some of the other parts might. I did find you can rent or buy a non-expiring copy of the electronic book. For my first class it is $56 cheaper to buy a non-expiring copy.

I definitely don't want to sell my books back if I get hard copies but with trying to avoid student loans at all costs pinching pennies is a very big issue as well. I have to pay out of district tuition at the community college that offers a RN program. Still less than out of state or a larger university but not inexpensive.

[Catrin]

Before you go this way, make certain you have an opportunity to view the graphics/diagrams on your electronic reader of choice. Typically images and tables do not translate well. I've no experience with the Nook so perhaps this is less of an issue, but check it out.

Personally, if I thought I might need the books later on I would spring for the real book. I gave my first Sony Digital Reader to my sister when she was still in RN school so she could use it to study for her RN test. This was a massive book they had made available in PDF format. Between the size of the screen and how the tables and graphics rendered, she finally went back to the real book.

That was a couple of years ago and eReader technology has moved on quite a bit since that time so you may find it a different experience.

[Aggie_Ama]

Excellent advice. I just found my first text I need at Walmart.com for $114, the e-book is $104. So it looks like smart shopping might find some deals. When I was in school (99-03) internet commerce was still budding a lot, traditional bookstores were the only real way to go. By the time I graduated online bookstores were starting to spring but not like the are now. I feel like it is a new game all together not just a new field. Kind of makes me feel a little old.

Maybe I will just buy an e-reader for pleasure reading, I just sold one of my mountain bikes and have a big birthday next week. I kind of feel like I deserve a small treat even though saving it all for school is what I should do.

[Catrin]

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Maybe I will just buy an e-reader for pleasure reading, I just sold one of my mountain bikes and have a big birthday next week. I kind of feel like I deserve a small treat even though saving it all for school is what I should do.

I have found my e-Reader to be perfect for pleasure reading. I do enjoy classics and I have an entire library of them on my Sony - most of them for free. I wouldn't use it for professional or academic use because of the different nature of the text.