5 ms·
Gah! So mad I just bought the first edition!
by jgwil2 6y ago
Gah! So mad I just bought the first edition!
- Jtsummers 6y agoDon't be mad. I've done that before with some books I really liked. Work through the one you've got, then optionally pick up the second edition when it's released. I usually throw the "oops, they released an update a month after my purchase" editions onto my wish list and get it within a year as a birthday or Christmas gift.
- potta_coffee 6y agoI did the same thing. This book has been on my radar and I bought it about 3 months ago.
- Koshkin 6y agoI have seen books suffer from the "second-system syndrome." http://www.neilgunton.com/doc/?o=1mr&doc_id=8583 http://www.neilgunton.com/doc/?o=1mr&doc_id=8583
- Jtsummers 6y agoI wonder what might be some good examples of that. IME, it's mostly been college textbooks which suffer from being refreshed for the sake of encouraging new purchases (killing the used market), often by someone other than the original authors and editors. Of course, some AD&D fans would say everything past 2nd edition might be an example of it.
- Koshkin 6y ago> past 2nd edition Case in point: the vomit-inducing colorful print of the 3rd edition of Axler's Linear Algebra Done Right.
- Jtsummers 6y agoHah. I actually had two linear algebra texts in college, both ostensibly by the same author (I can't recall now who it was so can't verify the later edition was actually by the same man and didn't reuse his name). One was my mother's in college some time in 1976-1980, the other was mine from some time in 2000-2004. If it weren't for the exercises, I'd have only used hers because it was a much clearer text, it was also less than half the size (overall smaller in every dimension: shorter, narrower, and thinner).
- CalChris 6y agoOn a black and white Kindle, I rather like Linear Algebra Abridged. That might be different on paper and in color (always overrated).
- axler 6y agoSorry that you do not like the color in the third edition of Linear Algebra Done Right. Most students find it useful, for example, to have definition boxes be a different color than theorem boxes. The color did not increase the price of Linear Algebra Done Right. New hardbound copies of the book usually sell for about $45 on Amazon, much less than most competing books. Furthermore, Linear Algebra Done Right almost always has the best Amazon sales rank of books for a second course in linear algebra. --Sheldon Axler
- Koshkin 6y agoI have nothing against using color in books. I think that, for example, Topology Illustrated by Saveliev got this right. The use of color is especially helpful in presenting objects (not text) when the density of information is high, e.g. in schematic images found in books on cell or molecular biology. Turning an otherwise excellent text into a shiny toy, on the other hand, only serves to damage its reputation in the eyes of a serious reader (but, sure, not necessarily a younger student who may be used to or even appreciative of shiny things).
- vmilner 6y agoDawkins believes Darwin's "Origin of Species" suffered from that as later editions bowed somewhat to religious pressure.