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I [heart] Books from India
I have recently ordered a bunch of books from Books From India, aka AllTimeBooks.com, aka Oscar Publications. They are dramatically cheaper than the U.S. editions:
| Title | U.S. (Amazon) | India (+ship) | Ratio |
|---|---|---|---|
| Statistical Mechanics by Pathria | $82.95 (82.95) | 16.54 (21.54) | 506% (385%) |
| Art of Electronics by Horowitz and Hill | 95.00 (74.10) | 15.84 (20.84) | 600% (356%) |
| Quantum Field Theory in a Nutshell by Zee | 52.50 (42.52) | 11.09 (16.09) | 473% (264%) |
| Total | $230.45 (199.47) | 43.47 (58.47) | 530% (341%) |
The U.S. price of these three books are, on average, 524% of the price in India. Moreoever, comparing the (discounted) Amazon.com price with the Indian price including shipping, the cost to order books from Amazon is still 335% of the cost to order them from India. At $5/book, even postage from India is cheap.
In the case of Pathria, which I have already received, the edition is exactly the same as the U.S. edition (at least on cursory inspection) except for the addition of an Elsevier hologram on the front, a little oval that says "Respect Copyright — Eliminate Piracy," and this note on the reverse: "This edition is for sale in Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, Sri Lanka. Sale and purchase of this edition outside of these territories is unauthorised." Make no mistake; it's authentically published by Elsevier. Buying their "foreign" editions is a satisfying way to give Elsevier the bird. (-:
To do: link to that post where I wrote to Academic Press asking why their books cost so much
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