The true cost of a UK reading list

What we compare. Every book with at least one copy for sale on UniBookTrade (3,836 books at the time of writing) that also has a publisher list price. For each, we take the cheapest copy listed right now, including standard delivery and buyer protection, and compare it with the list price.

Where prices come from. List prices are publishers' recommended retail prices from our book data supplier, isbnDB. They are approximate, and some may not be in pounds; shops often charge less than list price. We leave out list prices below £1 or above £500 as likely errors. Used prices are sellers' asking prices, not completed sales.

How we summarise. We report medians (the middle value), which a few unusually priced books can't distort. A book filed under two subjects counts in both. Subjects with fewer than 20 books are not shown on their own (0 currently), but still count in the overall figures.

A known bias. When a student lists a book, we suggest a price of around 45% of the list price for a copy in good condition. About 38% of the cheapest copies here sit at that suggestion, so the saving partly reflects our own guidance as well as what students choose to charge.

Not covered. These books are ones students are selling here, so they lean towards the textbooks that are bought for courses and resold. This is not a complete reading list for any module, and it does not include ebooks, rentals or library copies.