On finding meaning in the margin notes.

It’s not news to anyone that textbooks are ridiculously expensive – a beginning-of-the-semester trip to the Columbia Bookstore can cost as much as a bulk shopping trip to Costco, and that’s just criminal. In order to help you pinch some pennies this fall, editor Betsy Ladyzhets has compiled a list of places where you can […]

Classes are starting again, and textbook buying is about to suck hundreds of thousands of dollars out of the Columbia student body. Trying to stay attractive to upperclassmen and introduce itself to freshmen, Book Culture has introduced a new deal for students. The 112th Street-based academic bookstore, with other locations at 114th and Broadway and […]

Every once in a while, as you’re frantically skimming through your reading before discussion section wondering how you’re possibly going to remember any of it,  you’ll spot a sentence like any of the following and find your answer. Yes, we’ve done this before, but there’s so much more to learn! “It is possible—but a sign […]

Like the leaves fluttering to the ground so our laughter falls away as we bury our noses in textbooks. But not necessarily—sometimes textbooks say weird and amazing shit. Take this quote from Empire City (assigned by Prof Ken Jackson for his perennial favorite ‘History of the City of New York’ class) which describes Columbia’s colorful past: The college, […]

…for a living! This is Columbia, and, you name it—we probably have it. Join our Chief Mellifluousness Expert Nico Esguerra as he explores the annals of American education by way of a student paid to read textbooks. Know someone with concealed and intriguing skills? Tell us at tips@bwog.com Most of us look forward to summer […]

You know how bored you get trying to read a textbook? So you check Facebook, tweet about checking Facebook, then check Bwog to see if it posted a feature on funny student tweets about Facebook? And then finally, you return to the textbook dejectedly, and stare blankly at its pages wondering,  “How did anybody even write […]

Tomorrow begins a new semester, but you still have all of last semester’s books lying around and none for the Spring. Have no fear! In this “Information Age” we live in, there is a smörgåsbord of methods for dumping old books and purchasing new ones, and we’ve compiled a list of them for you. Online: […]

Awesome! A fake jewel heist! Like, actually taken straight from Snatch. (New York Post) Next year, we’ll get new textbook information before classes start. (Spec) The Mayor is raining on our parades. (Daily Intel) Jehovah’s witnesses are packing up and leaving Brooklyn Heights. (Gothamist) It’s really, really tough to fire bad teachers quickly.  We’re trying, […]

Capitalist extraordinaire Zach van Schouwen shows you how. Textbook buyback is probably the most depressing time of the year. Ten minutes after exams end, a human wave seems to descend on the bookstore, hoping to get $18 back on their $70 purchase. On a good day. The more inventive resort to taped up flyers across […]

The  textbook bartering-cum-selling website, DogEars, seems to have disappeared at some point within the past week.  Although there are probably few/no students trying to get rid of books at this point, Bwog is nervous.  Meanwhile, check out the other DogEars for all of your Canadian topography needs.