<p>For the first year we ended up buying all hardback textbooks. You all know what that cost even buying most of them online.</p>
<p>For the second year we decided we were going to avoid the $150+ for some of these books when we could obtain a softback version for about 1/2 of that price. Especially if the book wasn’t getting real good reviews and it might not be a keeper. </p>
<p>We tried placing a strip of clear, two inch shipping tape along the length of the spine edges (actually two long strips overlapping a bit in the middle of the spine). That does a pretty good job of reinforcing the spine or back of the book. Nevertheless we still find that sometimes some of the pages tend to come loose when the book is laid open. This seldom occurs with a hardback book. It must be something to do with how the pages are glued and attached to the more substantial back that comes with the hardbacks. </p>
<p>I thought I would see if others have tips on what they might have learned to keep the pages from coming loose, or any other ideas on how to make these 800 page softcover books hold up better. </p>
<p>Along this same theme, I am also starting to wonder about going the softcover route at all. We seemed to have found that we could sell the $150 book used for around $75 whereas the softcover book is usually in such bad shape that is is hard to sell or you justify keeping it because it didn’t cost as much and it is now so beat up. In other words it will cost about $75 either way you go. Maybe just renting these textbooks is not as expensive as it first seems since they also seem to rent for about this same amount.</p>
<p>First of all, I’m sure who we is, and if you are the parent or student. But if you’re the parent, I’d really encourage you to let your daughter or son make the decision on paperback versus hardback and how to protect them. It may seem trivial today, but the same decision making process will go into what kind of car to buy, selecting a job, buying a home, and other big decisions that lie ahead. This is one of the many things that students learn outside the classroom.</p>
<p>To answer your question, I buy all hardcover books and keep them in my library. I don’t actually use them but I enjoy looking at them and having a nice reference library. I’ve purchased about $7000 worth of textbooks that I have in my library over the years and sure enjoy them.</p>
<p>Softcover books are disposable and can’t be kept easily. I personally hate it when hardcover are not available.</p>
<p>One method that I’ve used to keep my books in good condition is to leave the purchased textbook at home and borrow a library copy to take with class. Sometimes they will have an older version that has the same text but different problems. You can’t use it for homework but can for following along.</p>
<p>Quality hardcover books have a cloth-like piece (at least that’s what it looks like to me) that the paper is glued to. This cloth piece flexes while the middle part of the book remains ridged and this decreases the amount of stress on the paper pulling out when you lay it open flat.</p>
<p>Our kids have used hardcover and softcover books. and I haven’t seen any problems with losing pages.</p>