One of the perqs of being an academic is that every now and then, textbook publishers send you free texts. Apparently they’ve decided that the best way to get profs to select their books rather than their competitors is to shove the books into the faces of the profs.
I admire this practise for several reasons. Firstly, it means that I get books; I feel that I don’t currently own enough math textbooks. Also, I think it’s reasonably effective as a technique, especially toward the junior members of the profession… like me. I’m frequently unhappy with textbooks that I use in courses, but I continue to use them because that’s what we’ve used here for who knows how long, and I don’t have any handy alternatives handy.
The other benefit as far as I’m concerned comes when the pushy book-buyers come by the department, looking to pick up copies of textbooks and sell them elsewhere. I received a box with three textbooks in it today; if I decide that I’m not really interested in any of them, I can probably get over $100 on resale to one of these guys. Not so shabby, I say.