Xref: utzoo sci.math:4894 sci.physics:4926 comp.edu:1461
Path: utzoo!utgpu!watmath!clyde!att!osu-cis!tut.cis.ohio-state.edu!husc6!amcad!stech!sysop
From: sysop@stech.UUCP (Jan Harrington)
Newsgroups: sci.math,sci.physics,comp.edu
Subject: Re: How to beat the high cost of text books!
Message-ID: <684@stech.UUCP>
Date: 26 Nov 88 12:05:12 GMT
References: <2219@cbnews.ATT.COM>
Organization: Scholastech, Inc., Waltham, Mass.
Lines: 66

in article <2219@cbnews.ATT.COM>, lvc@cbnews.ATT.COM (Lawrence V. Cipriani) says:
> 
> 
> Why not have a Cheap Textbook Foundation?  It would be along the
> lines of the Free Software Foundation.  Through the cooperation of
> many authors texts could be written on virtually any subject.  To
> begin start with something like Calculus or Physics, that just about
> all science undergrads need.  Then if that works out, go on to other
> areas.  The books would be written in a common typesetting language,
> say LaTeX, and stored on line.
> 
> Who would write them?  Who knows?  The FSF has many people involved.
> I would think a lot of people would be interested in writing a book
> or part of one just for the fun of it.  I am!
> 

As the author of several textbooks, this gives me nightmares. There is more
than you might think involved with the creation of a textbook. First of all,
textbooks are "reviewed." That means that the manuscript is sent to various
people who might use it in their courses for critiquing. The book is read
for technical accuracy as well as style, readability, etc. Part of the
cost of producing a quality text lies in paying decent honorariums to good
reviewers (the process takes a significant amount of the reviewer's time
and effort).

There are also special techniques used in textbooks. Writing review questions 
and exercises is a very difficult task. Many textbooks also come with
"ancillaries" - aids for the teacher - including instructor's guides, 
student data disks, transparency masters, databases of exam questions,
etc., etc. All of these take a great deal of expertise and effort to create.

The publishers have little to say with what text is adopted in a given course,
though their representatives are always trying to get books adopted. Textbooks
are expensive because a great deal of care and effort goes into their
writing and because the market for a text is relatively small. Desktop
publishing techniques have cut down on the costs somewhat, and some books
are being marketed at more reasonable prices for that reason.

You should also look carefully at your college bookstore. Many mark up
publishers' list prices significantly.

So you want to write a book for fun? OK, write a book for fun. But writing
a text is serious business. If you do it well, then you get royalties because
the book sells. However, without the quality control of the review process,
the textbook market would be flooded with even more drek than it already
is.

I sympathize with your having to pay for textbooks, but consider that a
cost of going to college. The text was hardly used? How should a text be
used? An instructor shouldn't necessarily teach directly from a text. Even
if you're not assigned specific readings, find the chapters in the text that
supplement what's going on in the classroom. In that way, you can get every
bit of value out of the text and add to what happens in lecture. 


Jan Harrington, sysop
Scholastech Telecommunications
UUCP: husc6!amcad!stech!sysop or allegra!stech!sysop
BITNET: JHARRY@BENTLEY

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