B.R.O.C. -- Big Reading-Device On Campus?

[mollybo]

I have seen on-line textbook subscriptions. I'm positve I remember seeing or hearing about it but can't remember where.

One of my biology books had a full on-line version that expired two or three years after activation. Since I used a TabletPC, it was fantastic - I didn't have to lug the heavy book around.

[jamesdmanley]

Originally Posted by daffy4u

Not being able to re-sell could be a good reason to discount the books. Suppose the books were designed to expire in 6-12 months (like a longer library book loan). Then the price could be dropped much more since everyone would have to purchase (rent) every 6-12 months.

Thank goodness I don't have to deal with that stuff.

some people, like engineering students, like to keep their texts

[daffy4u]

Originally Posted by jamesdmanley

some people, like engineering students, like to keep their texts

Then they could pay more to keep them.

[exreader]

Originally Posted by nekokami

That $50 covers the cost of my lunches for about two months, plus some. But many faculty at this university seem to think that they have to "support" the local textbook store (not owned by the university) and are highly resistant to giving out their textbook lists in advance of classes, despite numerous formal requests by the student senate. Somehow, I don't think those professors would be interested in helping students get ebook versions instead, either.

i won't say all, but a typical professor is going to get THEIR copies for free. as well, there is going to be a variety of publishers buying them lunch, giving them tons of books and perhaps even uhm, well, bribes to USE their book.

the bookstore has an incentive to sell books. if a professor is so tied to the store, that the only way to get the list of books is AT the bookstore, that smells like stinky things that smell (of two ways streets and corruption). kind of appalling but expected, i suppose.

my old prof at college had BOXES of books he never ordered, asked for, or wanted on a variety of cool topics. his favorite students had first pick. i suppose as well, they could then turn around and sell them to those vultures that buy textbooks for pennies on the dollar and resell them at quarters to the dollar. it's a racket to be sure.

exreader

[mbovenka]

Originally Posted by jamesdmanley

some people, like engineering students, like to keep their texts

Yup. Others do too; I still have my Guyton ('Textbook of Medical Physiology') and Alberts ('Molecular Biology of the Cell') from my university days.

And of course my 63rd edition of the CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics; what self-respecting geek could be without it?

[HarryT]

The "rubber bible". An essential work indeed!

[vivaldirules]

Last week I purchased (Amazon) the two recommended texts for a class I'm taking this semester. Yesterday, on the first day of class, the instructor said that while one of the texts is "okay" in his opinion he really doesn't like the other one. But he was "told" to put them on the list and they are sold in the campus bookstore. Instead, he has three other texts which he recommends (and which are not sold in the bookstore).

Last week, I also helped one of my daughters buy her books. The one text we couldn't find was on backorder but was the one that her prof said this week "Show up with it on Wednesday or else you should seriously consider dropping the class." We spent many hours getting our hands on it. The author? Oh, yes - it's the instructor. I wonder why it was the most important text?

This is exactly the type of nonsense that I commonly experienced in my decade in college and graduate school many years ago. My anecdotal evidence today suggests that nothing has changed. I would love to see college textbooks disappear as a serious source of income to publishers, colleges, and I guess even the authors to some extent.

[axel77]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The "rubber bible". An essential work indeed!

The pope speaking: Never use the words rubber and bibble in a sentence again ... otherwise somebody things about *halleluja* condoms...

[HarryT]

The "Handbook of the Chemical Rubber Company" (CRC Handbook) is, I'm afraid, universally referred to by chemists and physicists as the "rubber bible" . It's THE standard reference work for "real world" chemical/physical data.

[Jellby]

Originally Posted by HarryT

The "Handbook of the Chemical Rubber Company" (CRC Handbook) is, I'm afraid, universally referred to by chemists and physicists as the "rubber bible"

Only if the universe does not include my Spanish University...

Here it's only "el handbook". Well, at least now I know what CRC stands for

[nekokami]

I still have my CRC.

Yes, professors who write their own textbooks are rather a mixed bag. There are a few who do it to fulfill a real (or at least honestly perceived) need, but I have to admit I'm rather suspicious of the practice in general. I particularly had trouble passing Differential Equations because the textbook we used was written by the professor, and he wasn't a very good teacher in either format.

There are a set of subjects that do need constant updating, of course-- and wikibooks would probably be a better choice for those, because the turnaround time on textbook publication is so slow. For the rest, I'm convinced that most new textbooks are generated either because some faculty member wants a subset of several existing textbooks to cover a particular course as it fits in the department's curriculum (see above proposal to combine chapters of e-textbooks) or simple greed.

[SandySchwab]

Originally Posted by nekokami

Last semester a professor I took a class with had us buy over $100 worth of books, but we only read portions of many of them.

This is just awful. And here I was feeling bad about choosing a book that cost 25 Euros for my class last semester....

At my university, course folders (with relevant articles, excerpts from books, etc.) have been in use since forever, and a few years ago an e-reader programme has been introduced to provide for digital course folders. You can't upload whole copyrighted books, but you are allowed to upload selections and articles and stuff like that. Quite nifty.

[nekokami]

What's worse is that even the books we read weren't always discussed in class, making me wonder why we'd had to read them at all.

A separate issue is that it was a graduate education class but four of the required books were novels. The professor had a philosophical goal in mind with this bibliography, but I think it didn't work as well as she was assuming it would. And I ended up having to read several other books (not on the reading list) to complete the final assigned project. At least I was able to borrow those.

[Walk Broad]

Originally Posted by pilotbob

I dunno. Just because a rumor is picked up and passed around by alot of places doesn't make it any less of a rumor. Remember, in the days of internet blogs the same information is passed like wild fire. No one does their own research or try to confirm with a source. Even Engaget and Tech Crunch are "blogs" that sometimes get info from other places. I have seen articles at Engaget that are passing around stuff that originated on this site as specuation.

BOb

My point exactly BOb!

Just because the same rumor is repeated in Business Week doesn't make it any less a rumor since they are repeating the report of the rumor from elsewhere.

And to be clear, I DO believe Amazon is working on Kindle 2.0, they may even be behind the rumors. Heck, for all we know they could be sitting in some warehouse somewhere ready for shipment. But blogs (or forums) trying to pass off a rumor as fact based on some heretofore unknown stock analysist doesn't make it any less a rumor at this point.

The most basic question is never asked about this: Why would Amazon show it to this guy as opposed to more connected people? Say, folks at TechCrunch or right here at Mobile Read

Journalist should never run with one off-hand comment from one source without corraboration. Now, if several people were saying the same thing, that's a different story. But if you follow the referenced articles back they all lead TO THE SAME GUY and THE SAME QUOTE.

Of course, when Amazon does release the Kindle 2.0, everyone will jump up and down with "I told you so"

But I still stand behind a rumor is a rumor until proven true and should be clearly (and repeatedly) reported as such, not accepted as fact just because everyone is repeating the same rumor.

[Alisa]

Assuming the Kindle 2.0 also has Whispernet, we'll see an FCC filing long before it ships.