Questions tagged [books]

Related to academic books, including scholarly books, textbooks, and reference books. Considerations related to publishing academic books, choosing textbooks, etc., come under this tag.

A book is a set of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of ink, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf, and each side of a leaf is called a page. A book produced in electronic format is known as an electronic book (e-book).

Books may also refer to works of literature, or a main division of such a work. In library and information science, a book is called a monograph, to distinguish it from serial periodicals such as magazines, journals or newspapers. The body of all written works including books is literature. In novels and sometimes other types of books (for example, biographies), a book may be divided into several large sections, also called books (Book 1, Book 2, Book 3, and so on). A lover of books is usually referred to as a bibliophile or, more informally, a bookworm — an avid reader of books.

Note : This tag wiki has content adapted from Wikipedia, used under the CC-BY-SA 3.0 license.

436 questions
195
votes
9 answers

Why would an academic write a textbook for free?

Recently, I became aware of a Java programming textbook Introduction to Programming Using Java, Seventh Edition which is to my surprise, free as in: The most recent version of this book is always available, at no charge, for downloading and for…
I Like to Code
  • 19,300
  • 24
  • 78
  • 116
46
votes
6 answers

What does a textbook look like while you are writing it?

I've entertained the idea of writing a textbook for several years now. The idea has taken several forms - a set of course notes that I provide as pdf, a text that is printed at my institution, or possibly a text that I propose to a publisher and…
Michael Stachowsky
  • 9,768
  • 5
  • 36
  • 45
42
votes
3 answers

Why do textbooks often include the solutions to odd or even numbered problems but not both?

I've just gotten a textbook (physics) for next year and I noticed that, like many other textbooks I've had, it contains solutions to only odd-numbered questions. From my experience, this is typical, at least for texts at the undergraduate level. If…
Gnumbertester
  • 796
  • 1
  • 8
  • 11
39
votes
11 answers

What can I do with like-new, recent-edition textbooks that I'm not allowed to sell?

My employer is sponsoring most of the tuition and fees for my master's degree (in aerospace engineering), including required textbooks. Thus, it is unethical and against policy for me to sell those books once I'm done with the corresponding courses.…
Peter Schilling
  • 1,281
  • 2
  • 11
  • 17
38
votes
7 answers

What incentives do academics have to write text books?

As noted in this question, academics should write research articles. In many fields, these are way more important than books. It's original research that counts for getting a PhD position, a post-doc, a tenure-track position, grants, etcetera.…
gerrit
  • 42,782
  • 14
  • 131
  • 215
29
votes
10 answers

Can anyone with a PhD write a textbook?

I think I have a few questions here. I've said this before: I don't have many talents, but I can teach, and I can teach very well. Education is my passion and that is one of the reasons I am pursuing my PhD (that, and the fact that I love doing math…
MathIsLife12
  • 1,129
  • 2
  • 8
  • 15
28
votes
13 answers

Do teachers generally refer to hard-to-comprehend books?

I have studied at 4 universities, and in 3 different programs. I always observed that when asked for a recommendation for a book to understand a topic easily and clearly, university-professors always referred to books that are not student-friendly,…
user366312
  • 5,654
  • 6
  • 45
  • 97
25
votes
6 answers

As a self-learner, what to do with books providing exercises but not solutions?

Lately I've been reading lots of statistics books. Many of them have exercises after each chapter that I'm eager to solve, but I'm a beginner and can't solve most of them, and those that I think I can solve I can't check because there are no…
miura
  • 523
  • 1
  • 5
  • 10
25
votes
6 answers

Can authors email you for free PDFs of their textbook sold for profit

I'm asking just about textbooks that are sold for profit, not free ones. I know journal authors can email their papers or articles free, but textbook? Is Reddit comment wrong? I ask all subjects like finance, economics, law, not just science.…
user13306
19
votes
8 answers

How can I protect my loose leaf textbooks?

One book I ordered this semester is a loose leaf book (3-hole punched) that I'm currently keeping in a binder. Problem is, the pages are quite thin, and tear very easily near the hole punches. What can I do to help prevent this?
Nick Badal
  • 301
  • 1
  • 2
  • 6
17
votes
5 answers

What subjects benefit from textbook editions?

I've read several questions relating to the (typically US) practice of requiring students to buy up-to-date, expensive, editions of textbooks. I can see why the publishers are in favour of this, but I don't understand why everyone else plays along.…
Jessica B
  • 15,968
  • 3
  • 46
  • 69
16
votes
4 answers

Why do universities support faculty writing textbooks?

Textbooks take a lot of time and effort to write, so why would a university support their faculty to do so? The author can make a good profit from a textbook and I am guessing the institution doesn't get any of these profits. What about the grad…
Austin Henley
  • 19,126
  • 11
  • 66
  • 105
16
votes
2 answers

Is there anywhere I can find reliable reviews of popular textbooks?

My mathematics department is adopting a new calculus textbook. The publisher has refused to continue printing the same edition that we have been using, and their new edition is one of several options which we are considering. Several of these books…
Anonymous
  • 26,161
  • 6
  • 74
  • 121
16
votes
5 answers

How common is it that professors have their students write textbooks?

I keep hearing my teachers (high school and college) joke about how professors make their grad students write parts of textbooks for them. For example, one high school teacher picked up a history textbook and joked that Spielvogel (the author) just…
Dissenter
  • 311
  • 2
  • 8
12
votes
13 answers

Are there any examples of popular self published textbooks?

It’s a well known fact that textbooks are expensive and that writing a textbook earns you very little in royalties (e.g. https://academia.stackexchange.com/a/167367/11353 ). At the same time self-publishing is becoming a bigger and bigger deal in…
David Mulder
  • 1,506
  • 12
  • 21
1
2 3 4