The Textbook Industry & Greed: My Story

#1

Post by lukethomas » Sun, Aug 19, 2012, 9:26 PM UTC

The Textbook Industry & Greed: My Story
lukethomas.com

Re: The Textbook Industry & Greed: My Story

#2

Post by tammer » Sun, Aug 19, 2012, 10:13 PM UTC

I saw the same situation happen for many classes at Rutgers... I was lucky and didn't get burned too badly, but I know those who did.

Re: The Textbook Industry & Greed: My Story

#3

Post by lukethomas » Sun, Aug 19, 2012, 10:15 PM UTC

tammer wrote: post #2

I saw the same situation happen for many classes at Rutgers... I was lucky and didn't get burned too badly, but I know those who did.

So the professor wrote his own book & then forced students to purchase it every year? Care to explain a little more?

Re: The Textbook Industry & Greed: My Story

#4

Post by hrrsn » Sun, Aug 19, 2012, 10:18 PM UTC

I am so glad I don't have to put up with (most) of this stuff at my university (The University of Auckland). We do have some online/extra material from Pearson for a number of courses, however this is provided separately from the textbooks and is included in the course price.

Re: The Textbook Industry & Greed: My Story

#5

Post by Crake » Sun, Aug 19, 2012, 10:20 PM UTC

Yeah, this matches my experience pretty well.

Buying an access code just to be able to do the homework really sucks. (Trying to input mathematical notations onto blackboard is possibly the only thing that sucks more.)

Re: The Textbook Industry & Greed: My Story

#6

Post by naner » Sun, Aug 19, 2012, 10:43 PM UTC

lukethomas wrote: post #3

tammer wrote: post #2

I saw the same situation happen for many classes at Rutgers... I was lucky and didn't get burned too badly, but I know those who did.

So the professor wrote his own book & then forced students to purchase it every year? Care to explain a little more?

I had the same thing happen at Georiga Tech years ago. My calc professor had the class buy a rough draft of the textbook he was writing. That wasn't as egregious as the situation described here, we could share books. The books were worthless at the end of the semester, though, since he'd have a new iteration out by then.

The book was as terrible as his teaching.

Re: The Textbook Industry & Greed: My Story

#7

Post by stevencorona » Sun, Aug 19, 2012, 10:45 PM UTC

I would love to see the textbook industry disrupted.. but how? It's so ingrained in the system. Textbook rentals are a start, but still expensive.

I even knew some college students that looked "down" on buying used books, like you were buying someone's used underwear.

Re: The Textbook Industry & Greed: My Story

#8

Post by dmils4 » Sun, Aug 19, 2012, 10:47 PM UTC

Custom editions and packaged access codes are the last futile attempt that publishers bookstores and professors have against cheaper Internet alternatives. The one thing your writeup didn't touch upon is digital textbooks- which the publishers actually love since eBooks are usually rentals, so the secondary markets like Amazon and AbeBooks are cut out.

I am from SlugBooks- a web app that compares prices between the college bookstore and online options for ~800 universities in US and Canada. This topic hits close to home. We've been watching bookstores and publishers do this for years, and it's only getting worse. When professors assign customized or packaged books, it becomes nearly impossible to save money through sites like Amazon.

The most surprising thing is how many professors eat up the bullshit that custom editions actually help. They're supposed to be champions of critical thinking. Profs WANT to save students money - that's why they opt for custom editions (since publishers tell them it will save their students money). It's just sad.

Re: The Textbook Industry & Greed: My Story

#9

Post by lukethomas » Sun, Aug 19, 2012, 10:50 PM UTC

dmils4 wrote: post #8

Custom editions and packaged access codes are the last futile attempt that publishers bookstores and professors have against cheaper Internet alternatives. The one thing your writeup didn't touch upon is digital textbooks- which the publishers actually love since eBooks are usually rentals, so the secondary markets like Amazon and AbeBooks are cut out. I am from SlugBooks- a web app that compares prices between the c…

So you are essentially a search engine for textbooks?

Re: The Textbook Industry & Greed: My Story

#10

Post by mathattack » Sun, Aug 19, 2012, 10:51 PM UTC

stevencorona wrote: post #7

I would love to see the textbook industry disrupted.. but how? It's so ingrained in the system. Textbook rentals are a start, but still expensive. I even knew some college students that looked "down" on buying used books, like you were buying someone's used underwear.

The reality is that people stop buying books that aren't useful. I knew a lot of folks in grad school who just refused to buy books for classes that didn't use them for weekly problem sets. By and large they got away with it.