Books?

karaokeman

Hi all,

When are newbies getting the 1st year booklist for this term?

Also how many books do you rent from the library as opposed to how many would be better to buy? I ask as I have slight concerns about costs of texts, I'm doing English, Psychology and Sociology all through Arts.

Any other info I would need to know would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

squishykins

There's no booklist as such, your lecturers will tell you what you need, but don't get them straight away as it'd be a waste of money. Then buy the ones you definitely need (second hand if possible) and get the rest from the library when they're needed, which might only be once. I can't say anything specifically for those subjects though.

Tesco Massacre

Each lecturer will give out a sheet at the start of each semester containing the course content for his/her respective subject. It'll have the list of books on there which you'll need.

College books can be expensive, so only buy the ones you feel you really need. Obviously second-hand copies will be far cheaper. If the lecturer has set a core text for his/her module then perhaps think about buying that...remember most people in your class will be trying to loan a limited amount of texts from the library, so it can save a lot of hassle to get your own copy.

BuroniKiisu

Make sure to check the Second Hand Bookshop in Your Students' Union Shop in the Arts Block when you've made a list of the books you definitely need.

karaokeman

Thank you all for the replies, I really do appreciate it.

Is it 19th September when lectures officially start that they give you a sheet with the names of all necessary texts or is anything announced before then?

Seren_

Some courses will have a list of texts up on Moodle before class starts. English dept are usually pretty good for this

Chapters on Parnell St is also a really good place for getting second hand books, especially for English!

Tesco Massacre

karaokeman wrote: »

Thank you all for the replies, I really do appreciate it.

Is it 19th September when lectures officially start that they give you a sheet with the names of all necessary texts or is anything announced before then?

I'm not sure when your lectures start exactly. Check the NUIM website for timetables and stuff like that.

And yeah, the lecturer will give out those sheets on the 1st day of term. But don't worry if you miss getting a copy- they usually bring more copies the following week. It should also be online once the module kicks off.

BuroniKiisu

Well, to be specific, each lecturer will give you a book list / recommended reading list at the beginning of your first lecture of each module.

Baile an Locha

CAN'T STRESS THIS ENOUGH! Do not rush into buying the books! I spent over 50euro on the penguin classics series of novels for first year English on the day we were told we would need the books. One week later I saw all of the novels on sale second hand for 15euro! Rookie mistake.

karaokeman

I've decided that I will look in the recommended second hand bookshops etc.

I've also decided I won't rush into getting books. As soon as I get myself sorted with moodle I will check to see if any of my courses have booklists and that.

Otherwise I will be sure to attend all lectures on my first week to find out a.s.a.p.

Thanks to you all, I shall be off to DARE Induction in a little while today.

Looking forward to seeing you all during the year.

JellyBeans92

karaokeman wrote: »

Hi all,

When are newbies getting the 1st year booklist for this term?

Also how many books do you rent from the library as opposed to how many would be better to buy? I ask as I have slight concerns about costs of texts, I'm doing English, Psychology and Sociology all through Arts.

Any other info I would need to know would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

I dunno about English or Sociology, but if you're competing for a place in 2nd year Psychology, I'd recommend buying some of the Psychology Textbook.. in particular Psychology by Carlson, Buckist and I can't remember the other guy.. it's a general text book, and any edition will do so don't buy the newest one, you'll get it 2nd hand easy enough

kisaragi

JellyBeans92 wrote: »

I dunno about English or Sociology, but if you're competing for a place in 2nd year Psychology, I'd recommend buying some of the Psychology Textbook.. in particular Psychology by Carlson, Buckist and I can't remember the other guy.. it's a general text book, and any edition will do so don't buy the newest one, you'll get it 2nd hand easy enough

This IS a good introductory textbook which will help you out by giving you a synopsis of most areas in psychology - but not enough detail to be getting As/Bs. I relied on it A LOT in first year, and it is helpful, but all the information within can be found in pretty much any of the introductory textbooks for psychology in the library, and when you're writing your essays you'll need to look for other books/journal papers as well so don't stress if you don't want to shell out 70ish euro for it.

I spent probably 200+ euro on books at the start of 1st year - looked at most of them only a handful of times. Bought 1 (essential) book in second year and one book in third year (after finishing the module because it was just a really interesting book) - so save your money and don't make the same mistake I did, everything you need is usually in the library/online!

A little off topic, but does anyone know what the deal is about selling books to the SU shop in the arts block?
Do they just buy them straight off or do they give you a cut for each one they sell?
And does anyone know if they're open this week?

banquo

There are two ways to buy / sell books 2nd hand.

One is the SU Book shop in Arts Block. They take a small cut of the cover price.

The other is market.nuimsu.com, which we'll be pushing a lot this year, including to first years at orientation. It's a forum that requires an @nuim.ie address to sign up to and makes it a lot easier to sell books without plastering the college in 'BUY MY BOOK' signs / posting on boards / lugging books to and from the bookshop. It also means that you can auction off to the highest bidder.

Basically, doing stuff online makes it a lot easier for everyone.

Effluo

Uni Books & me;

I bought the books for the first semester in first year.

I opened said books for about 20 minutes for each exam when I realised everything I needed was on moodle.


Any of the books recommended for my modules have all been very much as a second reference rather than something that will teach you anything you need for the exam. Even if you don't go to lectures (like a boss), and feel like you may need the extra reference to understand the subject, I'd just get it out of the library...