Family Literacy

Textbooks are one of the priciest things about college besides tuition. These books are a core part of the curriculum, as crucial to the teacher as a blueprint is to a carpenter, so one might assume they are conceived, researched, written, and published as unique contributions to advancing knowledge.
Text books are typically presented hierarchically in sections and chapters; journals are often divided into departments. Textbooks are expected to be objective and infallible, and above all untainted by the concerns of commerce.
They are thoughtfully written and carefully developed to distill large amounts of often complex information in an organized format that is logical, readable and appealing. Textbooks are generally reviewed by teachers, administrators, parents and curriculum specialists before the books are used in a classroom. These college books are not like novels or general interest nonfiction books, which are sold to a broad audience. College textbooks are not a money business, for every book that gets accepted in multiple colleges and thus warrants cheaper pricing, there are 10 books that are used for one or two semesters at a community college, never to be heard from again. Most college text books are written by a couple of authors and reviewed/revised by many others. In the US, university text books are frequently published in hardback format. Although most university textbooks are only published in printed format, some can now be viewed online. Many students by cheap used textbooks or other cheap textbooks online to save money for other things like tuition.