Singing Loudly

College textbook costs skyrocketing - Congress investigating

"Pat Schroeder, president of the Association of American Publishers and a former congresswoman, said the report was one-sided and flawed."

I seem to recall that Ms. Schroeder's congressional career was punctuated with the types of inquiries that she is now decrying.

Regardless, I buy textbooks very selectively. Some classes I find a good outline and skip the casebook completely. Other classes I will buy a previous edition off the internet or at a used bookstore. I'm proud that I rarely spend more than $25 dollars on any of my classes.

Edited to add the following: I am a case-reader. I know many people in law school say they do better if they don't read the cases at all, however, I do best when I read the cases. Not just read the cases, but when I think about what they are saying, why that is important for the course and ultimately to jurisprudence. To do that, I much prefer to have the full opinion than the edited versions found in most casebooks. I know I am reading excess information that probably won't matter for the final, but I read quick enough that I don't have to worry about the few minutes of extra time I spend. In the classes where I skip the book completely I make good use of the free Lexis-Nexis and Westlaw access and printers.