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From: hofbauer@csri.toronto.edu (John Hofbauer)
Subject: Re: How to beat the high cost of text books!
Message-ID: <8812040311.AA17256@king.csri.toronto.edu>
Organization: University of Toronto, CSRI
References: <2219@cbnews.ATT.COM> <684@stech.UUCP> <547@aoa.UUCP> <17563@agate.BERKELEY.EDU>
Date: Sat, 3 Dec 88 22:11:07 EST

>
>I think the main reason the Nth edition is published is simply because
>developments in the field concerned demand a new edition.  As such, a
>"really well-written text" might serve as a reference for years, but it
>wouldn't be UP-TO-DATE......

I wish I could agree but all too often it is simply greed. For three years
I taught a 'computer literacy' course at a local university. The text was
COMPUTERS TODAY by Donald Sanders, a typically wretched book in this genre.
(These are to computer science what introductory calculus texts are to
mathemetics.) A third edition appeared two years after the second edition.
I was amused and appalled to read a story in the business section of the
local newspaper about how McGraw-Hill was shorting the interarrival time
of editions because too many used copies were eroding their sales. The
Sanders book was cited as the primary example.

The difference between the two editions was marginal. A few chapters were
moved around and a few cosmetic "improvements" were made. I have yet to
find a decent 'computer literacy' book just as another poster bemoaned
the non-existence of a calculus book that isn't just a catalogue of
tricks.