[p2p-research] lightfoot book sharing ?

[Andy Robinson]

TBH I've never come across the textbook pricing scam on this kind of scale
in the UK - textbooks in the subjects I'm familiar with usually cost about
£20 for a book which is often 400 pages or more, and are usually updated
only every few years (so there's a very healthy second-hand market).

Then again, the courses in these topics don't have assigned texts which are
rigidly followed - they either use a range of assigned readings from
different sources, or a rather loose reading list from which students can
select (i.e. students are advised to consult one of a number of competing
texts).  For university level courses, students would normally be expected
to read 'primary' sources instead of textbooks anyway (these are either
sections out of full academic books, academic journal articles, or
'classics').

It sounds to me like in these other settings, there must be some kind of
corrupt deal between university authorities, course designers (at department
level), and textbook publishers, to require that courses be moulded to a
specific text and that it be required that all students buy it.  There would
also have to be a certain level of 'dumbing down' for university courses to
be taught by textbook rather than primary reading.

Is this a difference between different countries (UK vs US and apparently
Thailand)?  Or perhaps between humanities/social sciences and hard sciences?

Anyway, the file-sharing approach is just one of several available - actual
text sharing and photocopying have been going on for ages.  Even at an
extortionate 10p a sheet, assuming 2 pages per copy, a 250-page book could
be photocopied for £12.50, a lot cheaper than the £80-ish equivalent of
$120.

The only things I've seen here at anything like £80 are limited-quantity
hardbacks aimed at the university library market - where I think they are
assuming high budgets, low demand, strong desire to purchase - but also that
a large amount of sharing and copying will go on (basically, next to no
end-users will buy their own copy).  That most of these books are also
semi-available online confirms these suspicions.
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