After three-and-a-half years of buying textbooks that I barely even opened, let alone read, I decided that this semester would be different. No more waiting in line only to empty my wallet. No more selling back books at a fraction of what I paid. I decided it was about time that I called the shots. Yes, Sacramento State — I looked at the list of 12 books my teachers wanted me to buy, and said no.

At first, this idea seemed golden; I have a 3.45 GPA and I probably only read about a third of what was on the syllabus. Professors discuss a lot of books on the first day of class, and then never mention them again. Most of the time you can go to class and understand the material solely from the lecture. And thanks to technology, search engines like Google, Yahoo and AskJeeves allow us to research just about anything in the world. Other Web sites — such as sparknotes.com — provide the gateway to understanding tricky authors who no one has time for.

Don’t think I didn’t learn, because I did. But let’s face it: Those general education classes are there to prove your ability to apply yourself — not to prove you can retain what your sophomore year biology professor taught you. The major classes are what it’s all about.

So this whole “saying-no-to-the-man” book-buying protest seemed like it would be fairly easy. Of course, there was a catch: I had quizzes every week in two of my classes. The CSUS Foundation — which operates the Hornet Bookstore — must have been tipped off. They knew my clever plan, and must have warned the faculty to make it impossible for me not to need the required reading.

Still, I wasn’t scared. With 18 units of upper division classes for my major and minor, a little reading can’t be avoided. I trudged off to the library, where I managed to check out books (even if they were older editions) for two of my classes. I learned not only that I could keep the books for three weeks and renew them online once, but also that if no one is on a waiting list, the library would let me renew them a third time at the circulation desk.

A couple of classes had books available in the reserve bookroom, which, like the library, is open seven days a week. The books that I needed could generally be checked out only for two hours at a time, but I discovered I could keep them overnight if I checked them out after 7 p.m.

Checking books out every week definitely took some getting used to. And there are some glitches to the system, like when the guy behind the counter tells you someone just swooped down and stole your book. Trust me — teachers don’t excuse you from class because some bastard took your textbook.

But no one said staying out of the bookstore would come without a price; my only regret is that I didn’t try this sooner. Buying books you only read once is pointless, but buying books you barely even look at is stupid. Buying books to help the Bookstore make a profit for last year is just plain dumb.

With all of the access we have to information from both the library and the Internet, I’m amazed that anybody recommends buying textbooks. How many people do you know who have never even entered that building in the middle of the quad? Take advantage of the free resources students have at their disposal — it’s crazy, but it just might work.