Since Bookpool.com seems to have bought the farm, where is the best online bookstore for programming books now?
+13
A:
I hate to give the obvious answer, but Amazon has pretty much every book ever written, and usually has good deals.
Andy White
2009-04-12 00:21:47
Looking for alternative.
Ronald Green
2009-04-12 00:30:56
@Ronald Green, Why? You provide no context for your quesiton.
Simucal
2009-04-12 01:02:50
I think the best alternative would be to find a local bookstore and ask them to custom order any books that you're looking for. Help support local mom-n-pop shops!
Andy White
2009-04-12 01:05:56
Ditto Simucal: why not Amazon? On a side note: there are bookstores other than Amazon? Wow. :)
cletus
2009-04-12 01:14:44
I usually go to thepirateba--oh, where to go to _buy_ books...
Calvin
2009-04-12 02:10:47
+1, abebooks is excellent for finding hard-to-find, out-of-print programming books at most excellent prices. I've gotten my Petzold books, and a couple of electronics books from there.
sheepsimulator
2009-06-30 19:30:31
+1
A:
If you're in the UK, www.compman.co.uk are excellent (often cheaper than Amazon, and have offers nearly every week for discounts and/or free delivery)
Chris Anderson
2009-04-12 00:55:29
+4
A:
I usually buy used programming books on Amazon. Amazon's used bookstore facilities are great, and you can buy the books a lot cheaper when they're used.
mipadi
2009-04-12 00:58:31
+4
A:
I highly recommend Safari Books Online. They have a great subscription plan (starting at $22/month) which gets you immediate access to the latest tech books, and they don't fill up your physical bookshelf.
Bryant Hankins
2009-04-12 01:22:57
I like safari, but their web app is slow as dirt, and that really irritates me enough to also go buy printed copies. So, it's actually costing me MORE money. :(
Chris Farmer
2009-04-12 02:00:55
If you belong to the ACM (Association of Computing Machinery), you get access to Safari as part of your membership.
Jonathan Leffler
2009-04-12 02:06:17
@Bryant: You're welcome. @Chris: Safari's web app has consistently outperformed printed books on my machine. :)
Bill the Lizard
2009-04-12 05:25:06
@Jonathan Leffler: ACM also gives you Books 24x7 access (with an unlimited bookshelf, whereas the ACM Safari bookshelf only has 10 "slots"). Also, the IEEE Computer Society has Safari access too, with a discount for Books 24 x 7.
PTBNL
2009-06-30 19:56:05
A:
Andreas Grech
2009-04-12 02:02:15
+1
A:
(copied from closed duplicate question)
If anyone's interested in an actual, physical bookstore, I urge you to check out Opamp books in Los Angeles. Excellent mix of general engineering titles, not just software. Also a great used section in the front where you can pick up some gems for super cheap. Best technical bookstore I've ever been too, and I've been to Quantam Books when it was still in Kendall Square.
anthony
2009-06-30 19:27:16
sheepsimulator
2009-06-30 19:33:56
A:
Barnes and Noble.com has a large selection of programming books as well as a ton of used textbooks for sale:
Don't bother with Borders since they use Amazon to handle their books but I use Amazon all the time and with their drop ship points they have added I can get my books in a 2-3 days and that's cool.
STRIKE THE BORDERS COMMENT - I found out they seem to be hosting their own online service now. So, Borders is a good option.
Also, TechBooks for Free (http://www.techbooksforfree.com/) is kind of cool if a bit dated but free is nice..
Tab
2009-06-30 19:37:14
While Borders did use Amazon in the past, it doesn't look like that's the case any more. In fact, I used Borders to get my wife a book last Christmas that Amazon couldn't find.
PTBNL
2009-06-30 19:47:43
Ah, well, thanks for updating me. I had not been back there since I found out it was Amazon (a while back) - great thing to know. Thanks
Tab
2009-06-30 20:04:19
+1
A:
Amazon, though cheap, is far from the cheapest. I buy almost all my programming books on Half.com. Today's books and the latest versions and hottest technologies can be a little pricey, but you can get manuals on last year's stuff extremely cheaply. I'm talking $2 for the book and $4 for shipping. I filled a shelf with C# and ASP.NET books for under $100.
The great thing about programming books is they're usually in great condition when used, and you really don't care about scuffs even if they're there.
Chet
2009-06-30 19:48:11
A:
I usually goto http://www.bestwebbuys.com/books/ to find out the cheapest one.
Sai Ganesh
2009-06-30 19:51:51
+1
A:
Alibris sometimes has phenomonal deals. I picked up Ruby Cookbook for ~5 dollars. :)
Joel Meador
2009-06-30 20:02:24
A:
I'd recommend you join Bookmooch.com so you can pick up my copies of "Delphi 4 Unleashed" and "Professional DCOM Programming".
Brad Brown
2009-06-30 20:36:50
A:
You could try Packt Publishing. They have a host of programming books. You may visit them at https://www.packtpub.com/