> Ebooks would have made his bag a lot lighter over the years. Agreed. I can't imagine that there is a reason for paper textbooks anymore. Even if it's a one

> Ebooks would have made his bag a lot lighter over the years. Agreed. I can't imagine that there is a reason for paper textbooks anymore. Even if it's a one-time, non transferable purchase, charge each student (or school per student) like $10. The textbook folks make a decent profit and the students get new, current books every year. > It's also cheaper to distribute electronic books than physical ones This is where I'm not so sure we can do this yet. The lowest-end Barnes & Noble Nook (Simple Touch) is $99. That's not expensive to me but still might be out of reach of low income families. Half that (or subsidize) and I think we'll be perfect, no more heavy textbooks for kids and millions of public domain books available for reading.