Category Archives: Personal development

Self help and personal development

The clever way to buy cheap textbooks with Booko

Thousands of people a day are using Booko to find the best price for their books and that’s just here in Australia not even counting the other 22 countries we are in. One group that uses Booko more than ever are students. Whether they are at school, University, studying for professional development or hobbyists, textbooks are always popular.  The beauty of Booko is that textbooks can be sourced either new or second-hand as cheaply as possible. Here are a few of the best ways to use Booko to make sure you can source everything on your reading list as cheaply and quickly as possible. 

Step One: Create an account 

We treat data very seriously at Booko and want to give you ultimate control of all of your data too. Creating an account allows you to make wish lists, set price alerts and view your search history along with deleting said history, and disabling Booko from keeping track of your history altogether. Just so you know, we don’t actually use your history for anything at all; it’s housed just for your entertainment and reading pleasure.

Click on the ‘sign in’ button at the top of the page and follow the prompts to enter your name, email address and password. If you already have an account, welcome back, just pop in your password and proceed to the next step.

Step Two: Make a List

Once you have a Booko account, you can set up lists to keep track of textbooks on your required reading list or lists. 

Want to know how much all of the books on your reading list will cost? Booko will take your list, find the shop that sells the whole lot for the best price and calculate shipping for the entire list.

What’s best is you can have multiple lists which is great if you like keeping your subjects and classes seperate. The list feature allows you to check the prices for used books as well as new, if you wish. 

To add a textbook to your list, simply search up your book by entering either the ISBN or the title of the book into the search bar and when the search populates click the little orange box ‘Add to a list’. (Please note that searching by ISBN is the best way to ensure you have the edition your lecturer wants, and you should always check before finalising the purchase that the edition in your shopping cart is the correct one.)

Step Three: Set Price Alerts

Booko has a price alert feature (which is a super handy set-and-forget tool) that emails you as soon as the price of a book falls below the current price, or a price specified by you.

To set an alert, you need to be logged into your account (because we need to know which email to send the notifications to). Just click the ‘Add an Alert’ button directly below the book’s cover image on the left side of the page. Nominate a price you are happy to pay, type in your email and the Alert is set. Now all you need to do is wait for the Good News email!

The Booko alert function is really handy when you have a little extra time up your sleeve (like buying textbooks for courses next semester). You can have multiple alerts on each book too. 

You can also specify a separate price alert for new and used books. This function is loved by many of the students that use Booko – because let’s be honest, not all courses ask for a brand new textbook… nor do they need one. Academic textbooks can be breathtakingly expensive – a single title can be over a hundred dollars, so imagine how much your entire reading list will cost! Booko is great for searching for specialist or academic texts. All you need to do is type a book’s ISBN into the main search box (this ensures you are searching for the correct edition) and away you go. Booko can find most books, whether they are e-Books, Reference books, Fiction or Non-Fiction. And since Booko can locate used copies, you may be able to save even more by buying second-hand!

To set a price alert for a textbook, simply search up your book by entering either the ISBN or the title of the book into the search bar and when the search populates click the little orange box ‘Add an alert’.

Once the ‘Add an alert’ button is pressed, a box will appear asking for you to enter a price for a new and a used version of the book. Enter the price you would like to pay for either and click ‘Add’. The alert will be created and and email will be sent to you when the book has been sourced at the prices you have set.

Step Four: Create shop filters

Have some shops you’re not a fan of? Now you can filter them out of Booko’s price table and remove them from triggering your alerts. Simply edit them at the filters page.

Finally, shopping clever means being one step ahead. Did you know we now have a newsletter? It’s super low volume and we don’t email you every week, or even every month, just when we have something exciting to share. We’d love you to subscribe (oh, and you can unsubscribe at any time – it’s okay we won’t bug you or make you feel guilty, we know inboxes can get a little overwhelming). 

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Enjoy!

Booko: the clever way to buy textbooks online – Design Research Methods & Perspectives

Heading back to uni and have a textbook list as long as your arm? Pop the ISBN into Booko and load up your cart the clever way.

Today’s clever pick is Design Research Methods & Perspectives.

Booko: The clever way to buy textbooks online -Language, Literacy & Early Childhood Education

Heading back to uni and have a textbook list as long as your arm? Pop the ISBN into Booko and load up your cart the clever way.

Today’s clever pick is Language, Literacy & Early Childhood Education.

Monday Inspo

School and Uni start back soon as summer comes to an end. This week on the blog we’ll share how to be clever when buying textbooks with Booko; how to set price alerts, find the best prices and even search used books.

The healing power of reading

Reading and writing can be acts of courage that bring us closer to others and ourselves. In this Ted Talk author Michelle Kuo shares how teaching reading skills to her students in the Mississippi Delta revealed the bridging power of the written word as well as the limitations of its power.

Monday Inspo

It’s the start of another week and the weather is meant to be glorious. To help you keep the holiday vibes going we are sharing the best summer reads on the blog later this week. Be sure to check it out.

Getting motivated in 2021; The best self-help books on the market

2021 is a year that comes with big expectations and even bigger dreams. After the whirlwind year that was 2020 everyone is banking on this year being so much brighter. While the start was a bit rocky here in Australia with new outbreaks of Covid we are still gearing up for a year where we get to take charge and dream big. The motivational and self-help genres are hugely popular and we have chosen a few of our favourites to help you get motivated to hit your 2021 goals. 

The Right-brain Workout 2 by Russel Howcroft and Alex Wadelton

Are you out of ideas? Feel your creativity drying up? Is brain fog taking over your life? Give your right brain a workout with the experts. In just ten weeks, you can reignite your imagination and tap into the creative potential inside you. Following on from the highly successful Right-brain Workout Vol 1, here are seventy more questions posed by some of Australia’s most innovative individuals – creatives from the world of comedy, film, literature, art, photography and advertising – designed to help you to think outside the box to unleash your inner genius. You wanted more, and Russel Howcroft and Alex Wadelton have delivered.

Get Your Sh*t Together by Sarah Knight 

From the author of the bestselling book everyone is talking about, The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a F%*k. The no-fks-given, no-holds-barred guide to living your best life. Ever find yourself snowed under at the office, or even just glued to the sofa, when you really want to get out (for once), get to the gym (at last), and get started on that daunting dream project you’re always putting off? Then it’s time to get your sh*t together. In The Life Changing Magic of Not Giving a F%*k, ‘anti-guru’ Sarah Knight introduced the joys of mental decluttering. Get Your Sh*t Together takes you one stop further – organising the f*cks you want and need to give to help you quit your day job and move abroad, balance work and fun, and save money while you’re at it, or simply get out of the door for happy hour, every day.

The Now of Work by Lisa Messenger

For more than 19 years Lisa Messenger has had the absolute pleasure of inspiring game-changers, thought-leaders, stylemakers, entrepreneurs and intrapreneurs across the world. After the crisis of COVID-19 the world was suddenly faced with a new way of working, people felt, and are still feeling overwhelmed and lost. The Now of Work takes you through all the steps needed to be able to thrive in a work from home environment. It covers practical, actionable ways for creating location freedom, as a solopreneur, entrepreneur or intrapreneur. You can see Lisa’s other books here.

Speak Your Truth by Fearne Cotton

Fearne Cotton’s voice is familiar to millions, whether that’s through television, radio or on her hugely successful Happy Place podcast. Her voice is her career, her livelihood and the way she communicates with her audience and her loved ones. So, when Fearne’s doctor told her she was at risk of needing a throat operation followed by two weeks of being unable to speak, she found herself facing a period of unexpected contemplation. As she considered what silence would mean, Fearne began to think about other times her voice had gone unheard as a young woman, as ‘just the talent’, as the foil to louder, more dominant figures. She found herself wondering, at what point do we internalise this message, and start silencing ourselves? When do we swallow down our authentic words to become pleasers and compromisers at the cost of our own happiness or wellbeing? Speak Your Truth dives into all the ways we learn to stay quiet for the wrong reasons, and explores how to find your voice, assert yourself and speak out with confidence. Brave, vulnerable and deeply personal, Speak Your Truth shares Fearne’s compelling story and helps you to shape your own.

Talking to Strangers: What We Should Know about the People We Don’t Know by Malcolm Gladwell

The routine traffic stop that ends in tragedy. The spy who spends years undetected at the highest levels of the Pentagon. The false conviction of Amanda Knox. Why do we so often get other people wrong? Why is it so hard to detect a lie, read a face or judge a stranger’s motives? Through a series of encounters and misunderstandings, from history, psychology and infamous legal cases, Malcolm Gladwell takes us on an intellectual adventure into the darker side of human nature, where strangers are never simple and misreading them can have disastrous consequences. No one challenges our shared assumptions like Malcolm Gladwell. Here he uses stories of deceit and fatal errors to cast doubt on our strategies for dealing with the unknown, inviting us to rethink our thinking in these troubled times. You can see Malcolm’s other books here.

The Things You Can See Only When You Slow Down: How to be Calm in a Busy World by Haemin Sunim

The world moves fast, but that doesn’t mean we have to. In this timely guide to mindfulness, Haemin Sunim, a Buddhist monk born in Korea and educated in the United States, offers advice on everything from handling setbacks to dealing with rest and relationships, in a beautiful book combining his teachings with calming full-colour illustrations. Haemin Sunim’s simple messages, which he first wrote when he responded to requests for advice on social media, speak directly to the anxieties that have become part of modern life and remind us of the strength and joy that come from slowing down. Hugely popular in Korea, Haemin Sunim is a Zen meditation teacher whose teachings transcend religion, borders and ages. With insight and compassion drawn from a life full of change, the bestselling monk succeeds at encouraging all of us to notice that when you slow down, the world slows down with you.

Enjoy.