DailyDirt: Those Who Can, Write Textbooks...
from the urls-we-dig-up dept
Textbooks are surprisingly expensive items. The classic example is an introductory math textbook: where the math hasn't changed significantly for over a hundred years, but the price of the newest edition seems to suggest that there should be a lot of new material added to the book. Sure, there's a used book market -- and even rental books nowadays -- but the trend of rising textbook prices has some students and faculty questioning some of the publishing industry's practices.- The Supreme Court upheld that anyone, particularly Supap Kirtsaeng, can buy textbooks in Asia and re-sell them for a nice profit in the US -- thanks to the first sale doctrine. Kirtsaeng won his case, but he didn't get his copyright-holding opponents to pay for his legal bills. That could change, though, if the Supreme Court decides in his favor again. [url]
- There are some obvious problems when professors try to use cheaper textbooks as teaching materials -- including pissing off the authors who might be in positions of authority at the school. Should academic freedom allow a professor to chose a different textbook from his/her colleagues? Will the racket of monotonically increasing textbook prices continue? [url]
- The 'Integral House' in Canada is up for sale -- once owned by math professor James Stewart. The calculus textbooks authored by Stewart have raked in many, many millions from college students over the years, but if you have a few million yourself to spare, you can buy this math-inspired house (which looks like it comes with a library of math books). [url]
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Filed Under: academic freedom, education, integral house, james stewart, oer, open educational resources, open textbook, supap kirtsaeng, textbooks
Reader Comments
The First Word
“https://openstaxcollege.org/
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"Out of print" textbooks
Math textbook have exercises that artificially change from year to year. This forces students to buy the latest issued book to be able to follow explanations of how to solve these problems.
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https://openstaxcollege.org/
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Absolutely. The learning institution itself should include many alternatives even if they are not from their own professors. It's a matter of style. Some teachers are more comfortable with one method or another, there usually isn't a 'one fits all' in these cases.
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Re: "Out of print" textbooks
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Re: "Out of print" textbooks
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Re: Re: "Out of print" textbooks
The publishers do not need or want new content, and when they do, they just continue with their tricks to make for new sales.
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One gets reprimanded, the other gets $$
I know at my university they had signs saying to call if we spotted this kind of "fraud, waste, or abuse."
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