Xref: utzoo comp.edu:1478 sci.math:4982 sci.physics:5008 Newsgroups: comp.edu,sci.math,sci.physics Path: utzoo!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!csri.toronto.edu!hofbauer 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.