In protest of what he says are textbooks’ intolerably high prices — and the dumbing down of their content to appeal to the widest possible market — Professor McAfee has put his introductory economics textbook online free. He says he most likely could have earned a $100,000 advance on the book had he gone the traditional publishing route, and it would have had a list price approaching $200.
“This market is not working very well — except for the shareholders in the textbook publishers,” he said. “We have lots of knowledge, but we are not getting it out.”
As a textbook author, one thing I would comment is that even when there is an electronic version available for a fraction of the price, most students don't choose that option. What's the reason? Is this similar to the Kindle issue, where many people simply want to have a physical book rather than an electronic file? Is there a tactile factor?