Question. How many of you still have your old chemistry (or physics or whatever) textbooks from your undergraduate years? I think I still have nearly all of mine. And although I'm sure this is at least partly due to my being a packrat who can't throw anything away, it's also due to the fact that I like books. I may still go to the web first if I need some piece of information, but sometimes it's easier to go back to your textbooks for more detailed explanations. Besides, there is just an intrinsically good feeling when holding a book in your hands. But after reading this article, I'm beginning to wonder how much longer this trend will continue. Apparently, it's becoming just as easy to download textbooks illegally as it is to download ripped music and warez. And publishers are beginning to react in various ways. Unfortunately, one of their strategies is to offer the texts in ebook format, with subscriptions that run out at the end of the semester. So much for using that text as a reference a year from now.
Publishers, please let us keep our paper-based books!
BTW, this only applies to real textbooks. Textbooks for classes like psychology or sociology can be burned or thrown into an acid bath for all I care.
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