On the matter of textbook pricing

[adciv]

Maybe it's different in other degrees but in my experience engineering textbooks are worthless.

Yes, it is. Especially as you are not in an engineering degree. You are in a CS degree. We use our books for reference a lot.

[Dr. Tower]

I will whole heartedly agree with adciv here. Engineering textbooks often contain information that cannot easily be found in the net, especially in upper level/graduate level courses. In addition, at the lower levels the text books often have examples that run through the ideas being used so that the students can see the application of said ideas. For certain types of students, the examples provided in the book are more important than anything else.

Also, to reiterate, grad students are not free (though they are comparatively cheap).

[ampersand]

The professors determine which books you will buy. And, at least in my experience, they don't take price of the book for the students as a factor.

Professors are there to teach, not manage your finances. The shit is expensive and it isn't their fault.

1) To most professors, teaching is a side job. The real job is the RESEARCH...

2) I'm not saying they are there to manage my finances. But I know it is expensive, they know it is expensive, so a little consideration to finding a book that best balances usefulness and price. Many professors I've had have had me buy a book that I never used.

3) I've also seen that many textbook companies are printing books that used to be one volume as multiple smaller volumes, so they can get more money out of the students. For instance, my Statics and Dynamics textbooks used to be printed as one volume, at essentially half the price....

1. True, C22, their jobs are to research and not teach, especially at most universities. That does not mean anything in this discussion though.

2. It really depends on level of classwork. Most professors will look the content first and then price second (did it ever occur to you that the schools have to pay for the books first before they sell it to students?). This is especially true for the textbooks for your major. And in most cases, they advise you to keep those books.

3. And in your case, there may have been more a demand to have separate books instead of a whole book. For instance, a typical calculus book combines Calculus I (basic single variable differentiation and integrals), Calculus II (generally multiple differentiation/integrals, but with a single variable as well as applications for 2-D and 3-D graphical work) and Calculus III (same as I and II, but for multiple variables, and preparing you for Differential Equations). If it could be split up into three textbooks, why not? Most degrees won't require you to have more than the Calculus I knowledge anyway.

[BusteeQT]

The professors determine which books you will buy. And, at least in my experience, they don't take price of the book for the students as a factor.

I actually had several professors who said they had chosen the less expensive of the options they liked, even if they liked the other a little more. Granted most of my textbooks were on ancient writings, so they wouldn't really change that much (some interpretation, an incomplete word that was guessed to be one thing in this book and another thing in another book).

[ampersand]

I also know that one of the things that my alma mater's bookstore is doing is to urge professors to by-pass the textbooks altogether and have them (with the help of the bookstore's emerging publishing wing) develop their own specialized textbooks for their classes. Not all of the professors are buying into this, not yet. And there's some scuttlebutt talk about making this mandatory for the lower 1000 and 2000 level classes, since they are more generalized. Like I said, the schools have to purchase the books before they sell the books to the students (and buy them back for the ever popular used book division).

[Springy]

One of my classes has bypassed a textbook altogether. We can buy copies of the power point slides if we wish, but we're also allowed to get by on our own notes.

Actually, two of my classes have no textbooks. In the other class our prof made us a little booklet (in colour and everything!) and just gave it to us for free.

[adciv]

Re: Ampersand
I'd say it depends on the class. A number of 1k & 2k level courses I've had would require books. Any math class, for instance. Any 2k+ level engineering class as well. 1st year engineering class, easily could be done without most books. Some grad classes could be done this way, but it greatly depends on the professors notes that he passes out. I've had some that teach very well from their notes and the books aren't useful for much. Some professors need the book, some classes need the book. It really depends at some of the higher levels.