[Vision2020] Textbook and media prices (was: Professor Campbell)

[Donovan Arnold]

It seems to me that some people are trying to make unfair profit by raking advantage of poor struggling students when they charge so much for textbooks. What is sad is that part of the rip off is coming from people that are so-called pro-education and already doing well without the income of ripping off students and making education less accessible for many people. Education has become a for profit business with limited access to most people, not a priority any longer for our society as it should be and once was. 
 
Donovan Arnold

--- On Fri, 2/25/11, Joe Campbell <philosopher.joe at gmail.com> wrote:


From: Joe Campbell <philosopher.joe at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [Vision2020] Textbook and media prices (was: Professor Campbell)
To: "Kenneth Marcy" <kmmos1 at frontier.com>
Cc: "vision2020 at moscow.com" <vision2020 at moscow.com>
Date: Friday, February 25, 2011, 4:33 AM


Keep in mind that the libraries, which Donovan mentions, are part of that captive audience. 



On Feb 24, 2011, at 11:54 PM, Kenneth Marcy <kmmos1 at frontier.com> wrote:

> On Thursday 24 February 2011 21:22:25 Donovan Arnold wrote:
>> Why are college books five times the price of other books? Who has $70 for
>> each book? Especially when you can get all that information for free
>> online or at your local library.
> 
> College books are more expensive because, historically, publishers have 
> accustomed themselves to semi-captive markets -- if they can capture adopting 
> professors, they (authors and publishers) can augment their revenues from 
> students required to avail themselves of the texts. Semi-captive markets are 
> not competitive, so suppliers can raise prices. I suspect this isn't news.
> 
> You may notice that some of the MIT Press books have higher prices, say $70, 
> for cloth covered books, and lower prices, say $35, for paperback covers over 
> the same published materials. You don't have to pay the higher price if the 
> paperback cover is acceptable.
> 
> It's true that some philosophical texts have been available for as long as 
> dozens of centuries. Many of those texts are readily available. Various texts 
> from different authors have content specific, if not unique, to that text and 
> its distinct author. A particular text from a particular author may not be 
> represented by any other author's text, so one may have to have that specific 
> text to understand what that particular author thought and wrote on that 
> subject at that time. So, if one wishes to read specific writings associated 
> with participants in the annual philosophy conference on the Palouse, one 
> needs these volumes, not just general search access to the Internet or a local 
> library card.
> 
> On the other hand, sometimes information that has been around for centuries, 
> and is available if one looks for it, can be repackaged in ways attractive to 
> professors and expensive for students, to the distinct benefit of publishers 
> and their authors. For example, James Stewart is a Canadian math professor and 
> author of many books, most notably a series of calculus books that have earned 
> him quite a bit of money. He chose to invest a large amount of it in his 
> personal residence, which he calls Integral House. Here is a link to a Wall 
> Street Journal article with a description and images of the residence.
> 
> http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123872378357585295.html#articleTabs%3Darticle
> 
> Here is a link to a MAA interview with James Stewart:
> 
> http://www.maa.org/news/061809stewart.html 
> 
> I suppose if one is into jealousy, envy, and schadenfreude one might take some 
> enjoyment from the thought of the Canadian real estate market taking its toll 
> on his investment, but if he's not in the market to sell his home any time 
> soon, it's probably a moot point to anyone but the most wicked and cruel.
> 
> Investment diversity remains the recommended strategy, despite his mansion.
> 
> 
> Ken
> 
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