<p>
</p>
<p>Considering the multiple serial versions of textbooks, the cost of developing “new products” is negligible. Did we really need Stewart 6E or 7E? Has the world of Calculus changed THAT much that students need different versions? </p>
<p>The reality is that this is an industry that has lived on a combination of making sweet deals with the people who decide what textbooks students need and, in turn, relying on extreme price gouging of the same students. Textbooks are often a real source of income for authors and institutional sellers. </p>
<p>One other reality is that we do NOT really need those bloated books filled with images and excessive data. Countries that leave us in the dust in the K-12 world do not use the silly books our moronic administrations decided we needed. K-12 and college books that cost more than 100 dollars are a reflection of an industry that has lost all sense of control, especially spending control. It is, however, not very hard to point to the source of the problems: easy money and blatant corruption at all levels. Wonder why little to no legal action has been taken? Lobbying forces, unions, and willing politicians are not strange bedfellows. </p>
<p>Rest assured that the members of that industry and their academic accomplices are spending plenty of time making sure to keep the racket going by clawing into the digital delivery of books. Just as this lawsuit indicates, they will go to the extreme to protect their cornucopia.</p>