I am a book buyer. I like buying books over renting them, partially because it's what I know. The concept of renting books is still very new to me. Humans are creatures of habits, and I am currently stuck in one. And it's not a habit I plan on breaking any time soon.
The fact that I get to keep something I associate as being important to my future career makes buying books much more reasonable to me. As an art major, I need to be able to reference both physical processes as well as understand my influences and be able to research history. I've even bought books for a class before that were declared unnecessary by my professors.
Even books from my non-art classes have become important for me — you never know when you'll need to research how the American bureaucracy works.
I find that the things most interesting are those irrelevant to my major. Sometimes a study break is necessary, but you need to keep in the spirit of consuming information. When art history starts to become a burden, I will pop out my political science books and just read about the judicial branch for a while. I'm allowing myself to take in information as well as giving myself a break from studying. Also, having interesting books on your coffee table can make you more appealing to friends and dates. Staying open and well-rounded is a great way to stay sane during your college years.
What I enjoy most about a physical copy of a book is just that: the physicality of information. Instead of scrolling through a file or searching for key terms in a search bar, I'm required to look. There's almost a satisfaction associated with finding the information you crave by doing it by hand. When you buy a book, you can write notes and highlight important passages. No bookmark? Have no fear, bend that corner of the page and move on with your day. Notice something you want to make sure you remember? Well, pop out that bright yellow highlighter and go to town on that sucker. It's your book, you can even repurpose it to hold contraband if you want.
Don't get me wrong, I am no Luddite. I embrace technology as much as I can. I'm writing this on my laptop while watching art documentaries broadcast through Hulu on another computer. If a PDF version of your book is available and you have a reliable computer, I say go for it. Technology is improving to the point where you can highlight and add notes in a PDF viewer. How you choose to fulfill your educational needs depends on what fits those needs. Knowing those needs is most important to your college life.
Another advantage to buying books is the ability to sell them back. Sometimes you can sell your books back or through Amazon for almost as much as you bought it for. If you're lucky, you can buy used and sell back at the same price. Of course, all of this is completely dependent on the book, its edition, condition, etc. Don't expect any payback for your race relations book if it's missing a cover and chapter 19 on Jewish Americans.
While renting has its advantages, for my career path and studying habits, buying books just makes more sense. Take time to figure out what your style is and stick to it! Unstable habits can break the best student, regardless of whether you're renting or buying books.
neilorians@dailynebraskan.com
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