
The Transformation of the Textbook - merrier
https://www.wired.com/story/digital-textbooks-radical-transformation/
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HeavenBanned
Their argument that digital textbook users retain less info is tenuous at
best. I used a digital book for Calculus I & II and thought it was easy to
use, convenient to carry around, and helped me learn more.

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scohesc
On the contrary, I find physical textbooks to be largely superior to digital
mediums.

You aren't limited by DRM imposed by the various educational companies. (I
loved only being able to download and print 5 sequential pages at a time when
you're looking at printing a page of questions for each chapter)

I find it more engaging with using a real textbook. You can feel the pages,
write in the margins, not be distracted by things like apps, etc. on the same
device.

It's so much easier and faster to flip a section of pages when you want to
quickly flip between different chapters/pages for referencing other parts of
the textbook as opposed to janky UIs.

I know we're both being anecdotal, but it seems like my opinion is going the
way of the dodo, considering the younger generations grew up with staring at
tablets/screens from day one so they're used to it.

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bob457
I agree. I print or buy the book for anything I want to read in depth. The
ease of sticking a finger or scrap of paper between pages for easy reference
is vastly underrated.

Also underrated is how easy it is find find something in paper book, based
basically on how thick the two sides feel in your hand.

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hooloovoo_zoo
Here's hoping this spurs Amazon to bring back a large format e-ink reader.

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ghaff
I would think you'd want something more like an Android or Apple tablet using
a format (maybe PDF) that let you annotate/make notes using a pen or keyboard.
(As well as the usual bookmarks etc.)

Also, looking back at my notes and other materials from school I usually ended
up with a few hundred pages of paper from a given class. Whether or not that
all transitioned to digital for initial creation, you probably would ideally
like to archive all the materials from a class together in one place.

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hooloovoo_zoo
I dislike reading long-form text on backlit screens. All those features you
mentioned sound great, but I can't read an iPad for hours on end.

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ghaff
There is reMarkable that some people seem to like a lot. The problem with
epaper though is that it doesn't work great when you depend on color or rich
graphics generally and it's hard to guarantee that textbooks won't have those
sorts of dependencies.

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jimhefferon
There are many aspects of the digital platforms that have promise (or already
have proved to help students). But a person has to be wary. These folks are
out to make money, as corporations should, and not necessarily to help s
students learn.

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ptah
so essentially the physical books are expensive purely to pad out their bottom
line? digital is a poor replacement for physical books in my experience

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jredwards
Breaking: Market predicated almost entirely upon rent-seeking behavior is
upended by digital content.

This seems to be happening more than a decade after it should have.

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a3n
How are Pearson digital/DRM/controlled access books not rent seeking?

My son used some Pearson books in high school. He doesn't "have" them anymore.

