Re: (long and ventful) Textbooks - the good, the bad, and the ugly
Earlier this year, I had no complaints about the texts I was using (other
than their ridiculous price tags). Both my algebra and statistics books
explained concepts clearly, and offered progressively difficult examples
and exercises that were pertinent and practical. 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...).
<snip>
Okay, now I've vented. I don't know what I hope to accomplish with this
post, but if nothing else, this experience really plants me thigh-high in
the shoes of a user. It gives me even more incentive to make sure my
writing is clear, and - above all - helpful.
Oh, I feel your pain, Keith. In the past two years I've purchased and studied textbooks for Management and Organizational Behavior, IT, Macroeconomics, Microeconomics, Accounting, Finance, Business Law, Statistics, Management Science, Marketing, and International Business. Some have been horribly edited, like the statistics text that had the wrong answers for the example problems and impenetrable wording. Others were gaudy unto nausea, with background images that wash out the text and useless graphics.
How about a text that has a full color picture of a lighthouse on the cover along with the two authors' names in 3/4-inch silver foil, yet not the title of the book? Does that level of design make accounting interesting? Does it justify the $108 price tag?
All the books come with CDs now. Some include useful tools, like the linear programming application that came with the management science text and the Excel macros that came with the statistics text. Some, though, are just flashy Flash fluff. My latest $115 international business text has a CD-based project guide that looks like a video game, complete with animated introduction of zooming into the earth, passing over world capitols, and circling the Statue of Liberty. I paid big money for this silly pap??
Then, there are countless figures that have no information content, but fulfill the apparent requirements to have a certain number of graphics per chapter. I get so annoyed when the text tells me to look at a figure, and it is nothing but two labeled boxes with a double-headed arrow between them. Don't waste my time with cr*p! I suffer to find 18 to 24 hours a week to study, above working 40 hours and being a loving dad and husband. I want texts that cut to the chase, explain the material and place it in appropriate context, help me learn, but don't torment me with repetition and embellishment and graphic claptrap.
Golly... that felt good!
- Kevin, who is only three textbooks away from an MBA
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