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Textbook ideas



Another option:

Take your textbook to Kinko's (or the equivalent). Have them cut the spine
off ($2) and drill holes in the usual 3-hole punch locations ($0.50/hole).
Keep only the chapters you need with you. Leave the rest at home. Add
notes and homework, etc., near the right spot in the textbook.

Marc "Zeke" Kossover
The Hockaday School

Still better idea: Earlier this week I mailed some comments about a new
college textbook to the publisher. I made strong comments about the bulk
and weight of the book and the likely high price, which I didn't know.

The publisher wrote back and said the book would be priced at about $130,
but that they (the publisher) could provide a spineless, 3-hole punched
version for $30 less!!! I knew about the multi-volume splits, but didn't
know about this option.

(By the way, have you checked the current price for Physics for Poets,
which is a paperback under 300 pages? If you don't know, check
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-form/103-9637086-5159005)

By contrast, the Physics 2000 text (http://www.physics2000.com/) of E. R.
Huggins (Dartmouth) is only $10 on CD or $25 for CD plus 2-volume printed
version. Check it out.

For about 15 years I haven't used any textbooks for either the calculus or
algebra level courses I've taught (or other courses, either, for that
matter). I provide my own notes and write up my own homework and
recitation problems. The student reaction, a little surprised at first, is
now uniformly positive.

We are engaged in some faculty searches. This morning I spoke with a
German physicist who is interviewing, and he told me that his university
REQUIRED all the physics teachers to use their OWN materials, no textbooks
can be required. Sounds great to me.