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From: carl@aoa.UUCP (Carl Witthoft)
Newsgroups: sci.math,sci.physics,comp.edu
Subject: Re: How to beat the high cost of text books!
Message-ID: <547@aoa.UUCP>
Date: 28 Nov 88 14:48:08 GMT
References: <2219@cbnews.ATT.COM> <684@stech.UUCP>
Reply-To: carl@aoa.UUCP (Carl Witthoft)
Organization: Adaptive Optics Assoc., Cambridge, Mass. USA
Lines: 18

With respect to the effort of the writers:
Yes it's true that the authors work pretty hard to produce the book.
And they oughta get paid for it.
Unfortunately, they often come out with 2nd 3rd, Nth editions to
ensure that all the poor kids can't buy a used text. (generally, at
least in math, the only thing that changes is the problem sets)
This is a major problem in the more competitive areas such as
introductory Calc, Chem, etc. 
So what.  A really well-written text can serve as a reference for
the user (you know, what we become after we graduate) for years to come.

-- 

Alix' Dad ( Carl Witthoft @ Adaptive Optics Associates)
" Axis-navigo, ergo sum."
{harvard,ima}!bbn!aoa!carl
54 CambridgePark Drive, Cambridge,MA 02140 617-864-0201
"disclaimer? I'm not a doctor, but I do have a Master's Degree in Science!"