Thanks for the plug Annette. I just wanted to add that the book was revised and re-released in April 2010, now called "EZ Psychology" and I REALLY took care to revise the writing, which in the first edition, at second glance, was pretty dreadful.
Now the information is just as good, more up to date, and it is more enjoyable to read. AND it only costs about 15.00 http://www.amazon.com/E-Z-Psychology-Barrons-Nancy-Melucci/dp/0764144626 Nancy Melucci Long Beach City College Long Beach CA -----Original Message----- From: Annette Taylor <[email protected]> To: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) <[email protected]> Sent: Sun, Aug 22, 2010 8:57 am Subject: RE:[tips] Warning: Rant: $180!!!!! I have talked about this in the past so most tipsters know where I stand on his. As a mom of college students (I just graduated the last one! Yeah!) I am yperaware of textbook costs and nowhere is it more rampant than in business lasses. My accounting major son had to pay nearly $400 for a tax accounting ext! It had to be new each year to accommodate new tax laws and could never be old and was obsolete by the next year! I like using a bare bones book and supplement with readings that I like. Since I ike to focus on refuting misconceptions, my readings, about 2-4 per chapter, re on eReserves for students to read or download, as they desire. I am using a different book right now because I'm doing research on intro psych edagogies and wanted a more 'mainstream' text; but (apologies to author on this ist), I will be going back to the bare bones book after the study is done. It osts about $15. There are several out there but I use the Barron book Psychology the Easy Way) that is written by a tipster. Here is how I see it: Most texts have the stupidest pictures in them that have O pedagogical value; I mean, I love graphs and a picture that might really llustrate a concept--which is rare. Most of the pictures in textbooks are so eneric that they could be illustrating any concept depending on where you nsert them into the text. That is a good part of what students pay for with exts--all the copyright costs on all the fancy pictures that illustrate nothing n particular. And I know from conversations with authors that they don't always ave a whole lot of say in which pictures are included. So, by picking a book that is complete in terms of the essential information, evoid of pictures (leaving in some graphs as illustrations), and devoid of that articular author's slant on what should be included in a chapter to illustrate r provide more depth or breadth or both, based on THAT AUTHOR's opinion of what s important to achieve this, is just not how I want to teach. It may be good or beginning instructors...the Myers text for example, very complete but with tuff that I don't see as quite that necessary or that makes a point that I ould like to make with the chapter. So my students only need to spend for the cheap text and after that it's their all to print or not to print the supplemental primary readings--which range rom newspaper articles, to Newsweek type articles, to Scientific American type rticles to regular professional journal articles or book chapters. Annette Annette Kujawski Taylor, Ph. D. rofessor, Psychological Sciences niversity of San Diego 998 Alcala Park an Diego, CA 92110 [email protected] _______________________________________ rom: Paul C Bernhardt [[email protected]] ent: Saturday, August 21, 2010 8:23 PM o: Teaching in the Psychological Sciences (TIPS) ubject: [tips] Warning: Rant: $180!!!!! Excuse this rant. I know it isn't news, but textbook prices are out of control. Out of curiosity, I checked at the bookstore for how much my students will have o pay for a copy of the text I've selected for one of my courses. $180.00 (new) That's not right. It is also about $50 more than I thought students would suffer or it (which is still too much). They can get it for just under $140 on Amazon and Textbooks.com. I'm still ppalled. Looking at the books for the other classes I'm teaching.. $174.00 For another class in which I'm using trade paperbacks, $23 and $17 (two books equired, prices for new copies). No issue with those prices, of course. But, it puts the textbook prices in sharp contrast: is a textbook really omething that requires between 6 and 10 times the price? I think it is (past) time for faculty to assert the control we have over this rocess. I am going to pick a new book for I/O for the Spring. I will make sure hat I specify that students can use previous editions of the book. I know the ublishers try to pull the old editions out of circulation, but they are still ut there and do cost a lot less. When I teach the class requiring the $174 book next fall I'm going to allow the revious edition. You may recall my describing that I was not going to allow the revious edition for this book a few months back. But, with publishers selling ndividual chapters to students, they will spend much less to buy a new copy of he previous edition and simply buy that chapter from the publisher for an nflated price. For the stats class with the $180 book, same thing, but there is also a ossibility to use Wikibooks. A fully developed stats book sits there. Whether t can be used for a behavior sciences stats course is another question. latworldknowledge.com is another model by which students can get free and reatly reduced price textbooks, though no stats book there, yet. How many of us check how much students get charged for the books we require? hat solutions are we seeking? What more can we do? Paul C. Bernhardt epartment of Psychology rostburg State University rostburg, Maryland -- ou are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. o unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=12993.aba36cc3760e0b1c6a655f019a68b878&n=T&l=tips&o=4351 r send a blank email to leave-4351-12993.aba36cc3760e0b1c6a655f019a68b...@fsulist.frostburg.edu --- You are currently subscribed to tips as: [email protected]. To unsubscribe click here: http://fsulist.frostburg.edu/u?id=13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df5d5&n=T&l=tips&o=4354 or send a blank email to leave-4354-13090.68da6e6e5325aa33287ff385b70df...@fsulist.frostburg.edu
