best method for locating hard-to-find textbooks

What are your favorite methods for locating textbooks online? I ask this because I'm looking for textbooks that I need for my Geology course. I'm not a member of bitme so that's not an option but are there any Google tricks or special forums/sites that specialize in difficult to find, rare textbooks. I need quite a lot of texts but the first couple of texts I need are:

http://sisapp.mit.edu/textbook/books...Subject=12.001
- Understanding Earth. New York : W.H. Freeman, c2007.
- How to build a habitable planet / Wallace S. Broecker.

Physics I
- Essentials of introductory classical mechanics : MIT 8.01 study guide / Wit Busza, Susan Cartwright,

Calculus 1
- Calculus with analytic geometry / George F. Simmons.
Prereq: Knowledge of differentiation and elementary integration

- Introduction to electricity and magnetism : MIT 8.02 course notes / Sen-Ben Liao, Peter Dourmashkin,
- Div, grad, curl, and all that : an informal text on vector calculus / H.M. Schey. 4th edition
- PLANETARY SCIENCES. CAMBRIDGE CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS 2010
- Multivariable calculus / C. Henry Edwards and David E. Penney. Harlow : Prentice Hall, 2001 0130339679
- Vector calculus / Susan Jane Colley.
- Student solution manual [for] Vector calculus / Susan Jane Colley, Daniel H. Steinberg.
- Calculus : an introduction to applied mathematics / Harvey P. Greenspan, David J. Benney.

Your likely to find more elearning content using public trackers,search engines,ddl sites.I don't like using public bt sites but sometimes it is the only option.Google,the name of the file rs,mu,etc or torrent.
Here is one file that you listed.
http://www.avaxdownload.com/.../Sear...y+Physics.html
Not sure if that is the 2008 edition. Maybe the 12th edition(only on thepiratebay) is from 2008.

The absolute best source is gigapedia.com. Registration is still open I believe. I did a quick search for your mechanics book and it's there. I didn't search for any others but I bet you'll find quite a few there. I don't think I've actually found a book on a torrent site (public: demonoid, tpb or private: bibliotik, bitme, waffles/what) that I couldn't find on gigapedia but it's happened the other way around many times.

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Google,the name of the file rs,mu,etc or torrent.

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I’m not getting anything with this method. (except when I use "torrent" but not the others) Maybe I’m doing something wrong...??

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Here is one file that you listed.
http://www.avaxdownload.com/.../Sear...y+Physics.html
Not sure if that is the 2008 edition. Maybe the 12th edition(only on thepiratebay) is from 2008

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The link is broken... But I do see the TPB version and there is also a version on Demonoid. Thanks for pointing that out. ^^

@DakotaJune - Gigapedia is down. :(

unknown it's not down for me

try refreshing.. the following books are there:

- Sears and Zemansky's University physics : with modern physics. San Francisco : Pearson Addison Wesley, c2008
- An introduction to mechanics [by] Daniel Kleppner [and] Robert J. Kolenkow

- Calculus / by Tom M. Apostol.

Oh, I see you have found three of them. I found two of them also. lol. I am going to update the original thread every time I locate a text that I'm looking for. I'll also add others that I need for my curriculum. I would add them all at once but I'll do it slowly. ^^

Do you have to be logged into Gigapedia in order to search their website?? I'm not finding anything at all. Even if I perform a simple search for "math", nothing shows up.

I got it to work now. Darn firefox and NoScript!!

I have updated the first post to add some books that I couldn't find on gigapedia. Can someone check to see if these are available on bitme/bibliotik? I am going to check docs, bitspyder, and elbitz right now. Will I have to check all of the e-learning trackers separately? There isn't some kind of search engine that I can use to search all of the major e-learning trackers?

Added:
- Introduction to electricity and magnetism : MIT 8.02 course notes / Sen-Ben Liao, Peter Dourmashkin,
- Electricity and magnetism / Edward M. Purcell.
- Div, grad, curl, and all that : an informal text on vector calculus / H.M. Schey.
- PLANETARY SCIENCES. CAMBRIDGE CAMBRIDGE UNIV PRESS 2010
- Fundamentals of geophysics, second edition [electronic resource] / William Lowrie.
- Multivariable calculus / C. Henry Edwards and David E. Penney. Harlow : Prentice Hall, 2001 0130339679
- Vector calculus / Susan Jane Colley.
- Student solution manual [for] Vector calculus / Susan Jane Colley, Daniel H. Steinberg.
- Calculus : an introduction to applied mathematics / Harvey P. Greenspan, David J. Benney.

I think so. There is no search engine for private trackers that I know of. You would have to be a member of each site to check the content. Public BT search engines,RS,Hotfile or some other 1 click hosting service might be better for finding some of this kind of material.

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Originally Posted by unknown1_

Will I have to check all of the e-learning trackers separately? There isn't some kind of search engine that I can use to search all of the major e-learning trackers?

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Darn it! This is so time-consuming! This is taking away from my study time... *pissed*

Thank you

Are you searching on gigapedia properly? I see a bunch of these books on there.

:unsure:

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Originally Posted by Wakka

Thank you

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Who what?

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Are you searching on gigapedia properly? I see a bunch of these books on there.

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Are you looking at the correct list? I have updated my first post. I removed the ones I found and only posted the ones that I could not find. The texts that are on the list right now are not on gigapedia. If you are finding them then please list an example and I will check the remaining ones again. Maybe I'm doing something incorrectly...

If real or not :idunno:.?
http://isohunt.com/lite/files/139833541/
http://extratorrent.com/torrent/1342...arksiderg.html
http://www.latestdown.com/vector+cal...ne+colley.html
Found most of the list on this site^. Never tried to dl it nor do I recognize the site.

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Originally Posted by pone44

http://isohunt.com/lite/files/139833541/

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For this one, I forgot to mention that I need specifically the 4th edition. (the "div, grad," book) I found the other edition on gigapedia. Sorry about that one, I was tired when I updated the list but I have updated it now to show that I need the fourth edition.

As for the other links, yeah, I don't think they're real unfortunately...

That one site had almost every release. seems too good to be a legit site.? If it is not full of malicious files, it would be a great resource for elearning and other content.
Does anyone have any info on the site latestdown.com? I did not find that much info by googling the site url.

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Originally Posted by unknown1_

As for the other links, yeah, I don't think they're real unfortunately...

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Did you check or are you guessing?

@pone44 - I'm just guessing but I have seen sites like that before. Those sites seem to take whatever you place in the search bar and place them somewhere on their site to make it appear as if they have the files. I could be wrong but I don't think they are real. They are most likely viruses, keyloggers, and/or trojans. (or some other malicious files) Can someone who is good with computers clarify a couple of those books for us?

Edit: I can't find any information on latestdown.com. That site HAS to be fake, someone would have praised it somewhere on the web if it were in fact legit.

I am not completely sure but i have heard that the links are real. Might be worth checking out as they have every book you posted.

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Originally Posted by unknown1_

@pone44 - I'm just guessing but I have seen sites like that before. Those sites seem to take whatever you place in the search bar and place them somewhere on their site to make it appear as if they have the files. I could be wrong but I don't think they are real. They are most likely viruses, keyloggers, and/or trojans. (or some other malicious files) Can someone who is good with computers clarify a couple of those books for us?

Edit: I can't find any information on latestdown.com. That site HAS to be fake, someone would have praised it somewhere on the web if it were in fact legit.

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Originally Posted by pone44

I am not completely sure but i have heard that the links are real. Might be worth checking out as they have every book you posted.

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Whom did you hear that from and how did they arrive at the conclusion that the files are, in fact, legit?

I've heard that computer wizes have a way to dl files that they are unsure of in some kind of virtual environment and if they files are dangerous, it doesn't harm their computers. Anyone here know anything about that sort of thing. Maybe you all can assist us here...?

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Originally Posted by unknown1_

Whom did you hear that from and how did they arrive at the conclusion that the files are, in fact, legit?

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That was me :) pone44 drew my attention to this thread and so I checked LatestDown out. Just like you, I had never heard of it before, neither did I find any feedback via Google. However, the links they supply look legit to me - yet as I just told pone via PM, the only sure-fire way to know if they aren't fakes is downloading all the parts. I'm pretty positive they won't be, though.

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I've heard that computer wizes have a way to dl files that they are unsure of in some kind of virtual environment and if they files are dangerous, it doesn't harm their computers. Anyone here know anything about that sort of thing.

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I think what you're looking for is VirtualBox or Sandboxie. I've used the latter to test new applications for years already, and it's always served me well.

As i posted, i am not sure if they all ALL real. there is a chance of a few fakes but most are probably real. I would check it if i had a RS account. maybe another member can answer some of these questions. i have little knowledge about Rs,newsgroups,etc.

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Originally Posted by unknown1_

Whom did you hear that from and how did they arrive at the conclusion that the files are, in fact, legit?

I've heard that computer wizes have a way to dl files that they are unsure of in some kind of virtual environment and if they files are dangerous, it doesn't harm their computers. Anyone here know anything about that sort of thing. Maybe you all can assist us here...?

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Originally Posted by anon-sbi

I think what you're looking for is VirtualBox or Sandboxie. I've used the latter to test new applications for years already, and it's always served me well.

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I hope this isn't asking too much but would mind checking maybe one or two of the books from that site? I do not mind doing it myself however as is extremely apparent in this thread, I know nothing about computers. Therefore, I am 100% positive that if I try to check those files something WILL go wrong and my computer will be toast. I always leave testing & troubleshooting of files/software to the absolute experts.

yes, I mean the updated books.. example:

http://gigapedia.com/items/116337/di...-calculus--3ed
http://gigapedia.com/items/199328/fu...-of-geophysics

The others are there too.. trust me, this is the best shot to find books.. anything you find in torrents you will also find on gigapedia

@Dakota - Jesus!! I must be dsylexic or something. I have those books marked as found on my list already and I still posted them here. I updated the list once again hopefully correct this time. The only thing I will add is that remember the "div, grad" book that you referenced is the 3rd edition and I need the 4th edition. There was only one other book that you didn't include in your post that is on Gigapedia and that is the "fundamentals of geophysics" text. I double dog dare you to find another book that is on my list on Gigapedia! lol. Don't post the result(s), just indicate that you found another one or two, whatever.

Any updates on latestdown.com or are we pretty much agreed that the links are fake??

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Originally Posted by unknown1_

I hope this isn't asking too much but would mind checking maybe one or two of the books from that site?

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I can do it for you, but my connection speed isn't the best, so you'll have to wait 1-2 days :)

Got the first few RARs. The files that have been fully downloaded so far look fully legitimate! :)

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Originally Posted by anon-sbi

Got the first few RARs. The files that have been fully downloaded so far look fully legitimate! :)

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Really?! But that can't be true though.... One site that contains every single text that I've requested... I'm curious to see how this pans out...

Which texts did you choose to utilize for your evaluation purposes, btw?

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Originally Posted by unknown1_

Really?! But that can't be true though.... One site that contains every single text that I've requested... I'm curious to see how this pans out...

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Texts? I can only see videos of what appear to be class recordings in the archives. But then again they're 30 parts and I've only downloaded the first two so far.

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Originally Posted by anon-sbi

Texts? I can only see videos of what appear to be class recordings in the archives. But then again they're 30 parts and I've only downloaded the first two so far.

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Ahh, now I know what's going on. (I think) The files listed on that site are the course's lecture videos NOT the textbooks. After you finish downloading your first evaluation file, please let me know if my conjecture is valid.

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Which texts did you choose to utilize for your evaluation purposes, btw?

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Sorry, I misunderstood this part! I thought you were talking about the material I've used at school. :blushing:

I'm downloading this one at the moment:
Vector Calculus and Complex Variables - AMATH 501

Will keep you updated :)

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Originally Posted by anon-sbi

they're 30 parts and I've only downloaded the first two so far.

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I would quit the entire thing and either choose a different text to evaluate or just screw it. Since when have you ever encountered a textbook file that is spread out over thirty parts??

All the ones in pone's link appear to be divided in 30 parts. What you say makes sense, but since I merely skimmed through this thread yesterday, I didn't know what you're looking for are e-books only. :P

The download pages at LatestDown don't seem to mention the presence of any text files whatsoever, but I can still try to get all the parts these days if you wish.

Videos or ebooks, I can't believe this site hasn't been mentioned before. I never heard of it until this thread was posted.

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Originally Posted by pone44

Videos or ebooks, I can't believe this site hasn't been mentioned before.

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Considering the conclusions reached about the files in dispute, that site hasn't been mentioned for a good reason. I'm sure it will stay that way and rightly so. (crappy site!)

Edit: You’ll never believe where I just found a copy of one of the texts I’m looking for. On Demonoid! What a great site!!
http://www.demonoid.com/files/detail.../004028298624/

Someone just uploaded the text and study guide! I’m still looking for the others.

Just thought I'd let you know, even though this thread has kind of died already.

All the RAR parts from LatestDown have just finished downloading (yes, that's how much my connection sucks), and there's only videos in there. Not a single text file.

@anon-sbi - That's what I assumed would be inside the files so it's no big surprise. Thanks anyway. But yeah that's a super crappy connection! :O

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Originally Posted by unknown1_

Darn firefox and NoScript!!

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Darn you noob!

You should be fucking thanking the NoScript for securing your PC for free!

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Originally Posted by Expeto

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Originally Posted by unknown1_

Darn firefox and NoScript!!

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Darn you noob!

You should be fucking thanking the NoScript for securing your PC for free!

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Whoa! Calm down, Expeto! Please go spam/troll another thread, sir. :@ Warned.