View Single Post
Old 06-15-2012, 11:28 AM   #28
HarryT
eBook Enthusiast
HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.HarryT ought to be getting tired of karma fortunes by now.
 
HarryT's Avatar
 
Posts: 85,557
Karma: 93980341
Join Date: Nov 2006
Location: UK
Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6
Quote:
Originally Posted by MovieBird View Post
It is absolutely unconscionable for undergraduate texts to cost as much as they do. Case in point:

Fundamentals of Aerodynamics

$186.19 for the 5th edition. I don't remember the authors for my chemistry text, but that one came out with a new edition every single year. For a basic text that has been common knowledge for at least 100 years.

It is simply ethically wrong in my eyes to charge undergraduate students this much for a required text, particularly when viewed as one of four to five texts needed for that term.
As a former textbook author myself, I completely understand your viewpoint. The issue with textbooks is that:

1. They are EXTREMELY expensive to publish.
2. They have a VERY limited market.

Each copy that's sold therefore has to fund a large proportion of the production costs.

Sales of 5000 copies of a fiction book would be regarded as a miserable failure. Sales of 5000 copies of a textbook would be a major success.

That's why - in my student days, at least - many people bought their textbooks 2nd hand.
HarryT is offline   Reply With Quote