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Re: (long) Textbooks - the good, the bad, and the ugly

Subject: Re: (long) Textbooks - the good, the bad, and the ugly
From: "Diane Evans" <diane_evans -at- hotmail -dot- com>
To: "TECHWR-L" <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com>
Date: Mon, 02 Jun 2003 08:28:58 -0700


While I found algebra
hard as hell, it wasn't the textbook's fault. Instead, I blame Joe Algebra
(or whomever that particular form of math is named after - I'm spotty on
my history...).

algebra: [Middle English, bone-setting, and Italian, algebra, both from Medieval Latin, from Arabic al-jabr (wa-l-muqâbala), the restoration (and the compensation), addition (and subtraction) : al-, the + jabr, bone-setting, restoration (from jabara, to set (bones), force, restore).]

http://vmoc.museophile.com/algebra/


Earlier this year, I had no complaints about the texts I was using (other
than their ridiculous price tags).

There are only a couple of textbook printers in the country. The PRINTERS control the price of the textbooks.

The calculus book is a nightmare, but for entirely different reasons.

Calculus books are often nightmares. Calculus is a relatively recent addition to the curriculum (invented in 1666 or so), and there are many ways to teach calculus. Your instructor may have chosen a textbook for some reason other than being the best one out there (Thomas and Finney comes to mind), such as because their best friend wrote the book.


To add insult to injury, we've been informed that they are replacing this
text soon (hooray), but because of that the school bookstore will NOT be
buying back used copies at the end of the term. So I'm stuck with this
turkey.

This is typical. After about two years, there are so many copies of a book in circulation that not enough new ones are being sold. So, change a few problems, rearrange a chapter or two, and voila! The printers and publishers are again making money.


And, if you really get stuck, you might try sending an e-mail to your favorite former-algebra-and-calculus-college-professor-turned-tech-writer. She might help you offline :). Also, check out www.askearth.com. Interesting website...

Diane Evans
Technical Writer

Washington State Coordinator, Tombstone Project
http://www.rootsweb.com/~cemetery/washing.html

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