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textbook prices



I am thinking of creating a web page discussing physics textbook
prices: how they've risen over the past few decades, what determines
the price of a book, and what everyone can do to keep prices down
in the future. I'm especially interested in prices of upper-division
undergraduate and beginning graduate texts. I could use some help
with this project, in at least two ways:

1. It would be very helpful to have some data on textbook prices
in the past. I've looked back at what I paid for my own books in
the early 80's, but I could use more data from the 80's and I have
no data from earlier than that. If a few people out there could send
me some more data, by looking at the prices stamped inside your books
and recalling the year in which they were purchased, I'd be grateful.
Please make sure that the book was purchased new, at a "normal" retail
price. (If you think your bookstore might have had an unusually high
or low markup, let me know.) Here's part of my list, to give you an
idea of what I'm after:

Purcell, E+M, $21.55 in 1982
Tipler, Modern Physics, $22.55 in 1981
Goldstein, Classical Mechanics, $32.55 in 1983
Shankar, Quantum Mechanics, $31.10 in 1984
Ohanian, Gravitation, $19.95 in 1983
Jackson, E+M, $43.50 in 1984

2. Many of you, I'm sure, have had interesting experiences in
discussing textbook prices with authors, publishers, and/or bookstores.
I'd love to hear these stories. Why are textbooks so expensive, and
why have textbook prices risen so much faster than the cost of living?
I'm especially interested in hearing the publishers' perspective on this,
perhaps from editors who subscribe to this list, as well as the perspective
of authors who have discussed price with their publishers. I promise to
remove all names of informants from what I eventually post on the web,
unless you would like to have your name acknowledged.

Of course I am also very open to suggestions on what kind of information
to include in my writeup.

Please respond directly to me, not to the list. I'll post another
message when the web page is available.

Thanks very much,

Dan Schroeder
Physics Department
Weber State University
dschroeder@cc.weber.edu