Speaking as a student, I'm confused as to why you think your predecessors will give you their textbooks in good condition, or even at all! Some students mark u

Speaking as a student, I'm confused as to why you think your predecessors will give you their textbooks in good condition, or even at all! Some students mark up their textbooks. Others (like me) have a lot of books that will be valuable long after I graduate. The problem isn't that we don't need new textbooks every year, it's that we don't need new editions every 3 years with updated numbers for the homework problems and a new picture on the front. That system invalidates used books that are in perfectly good shape, and should be abolished by professors who will stand up to the bookstore and let them know that they don't want the new edition.