Why textbooks are outrageously expensive

As a 2010 graduate of the City University of New York (Queens College represent!), I paid relatively affordable college tuition — about $5,000 a semester. But the monetary relief I felt, especially compared to friends at NYU and Yeshiva University paying top dollar, would always slip away at the beginning of each semester when I was given my list of textbooks. The giant textbooks for math and science classes I barely passed, the dozens of paperbacks for my CompLit seminars, and the outdated communications books for my journalism major cost me at least $500 a semester. The whole thing was especially annoying because professors demanded the most recent versions, so I couldn't just pay $10 for last year's edition on Amazon. I will never forget the communal agony felt inside the college bookstore, nor will I ever get over the awkward bartering with friends for last semester's books. In 2017, I went to Columbia for grad school and couldn't believe I was confronted with these costs yet again — and at such an expensive institution, no less. My rage about overpriced textbooks reignited this week after reading Gaby Del Valle's explainer on the absurd costs of textbooks. Gaby spoke with publishers, who argue for the books' price tags, and affordability advocates, who note the flaws in this economy. As one higher education director told her, "On a fundamental level, you shouldn't have to pay to do homework for a class you already paid tuition for." —Chavie Lieber, senior reporter for The Goods The world of consumer culture is changing faster than ever. We're here to help you understand it. To make sure we're delivering on that mission with this newsletter, we want to hear from you. If you have a minute, we'd appreciate you taking this short survey. The high cost of college textbooks, explained Getty Images Hannah, a senior at a private university in New York City, can't think of a single semester when she bought all the books she needed for her classes. "Even when I was studying abroad," she said, "there was no way for me to get through the semester without dropping $500-plus on textbooks, which I couldn't afford."   So she didn't buy them. That semester, Hannah, who asked that her name be withheld due to privacy reasons, found most of the books she needed on Scribd, an e-book subscription service. "I used my free trial to do pretty much all my work for the semester and to take screenshots of things so I could access everything once the trial ended," she said. If she couldn't find them there, then she would do without.   Hannah's tuition and housing is covered by scholarships, but she has to use student loans to pay for her health insurance; she pays for other necessities, including textbooks, out of pocket. In other words, her generous financial aid package isn't enough to cover the essentials. Her situation is far from unusual: A 2014 report by the Public Interest Research Groups found that two-thirds of surveyed students had skipped buying or renting some of their required course materials because they couldn't afford them. Read the rest of the story >> Why do we hate decaf so much? Sarah Lawrence for Vox "Decaffeinated coffee is like a hooker who only wants to cuddle." Like many quotes on Instagram, this one is styled in a cutesy sans serif font and has the beigeness of a black-and-white image that's been reposted and refiltered dozens of times over. Below it are the hashtags #CaffeineAddict, #WorkingMomLife, and the clincher, #DeathBeforeDecaf.   It's on the more offensive end of a spectrum made up of thousands of coffee-related quotes on Instagram that imply the poster would rather literally die before drinking a morning beverage that didn't contain caffeine. They range from the cutesy ("But first, coffee") to the self-deprecating ("I'm sorry for what I said before I had my coffee") to the vaguely threatening ("I drink coffee for your protection" or "Coffee: a magical substance that turns 'leave me alone or die' into 'good morning, honey!'").   There are coffee memes for moms, coffee memes for CrossFitters, for entrepreneurs, even ones for multilevel marketers. Scrolling through coffee hashtags on Instagram, you begin to suspect that the entire world is being held together with a single substance, that America actually does run on Dunkin'. Read the rest of the story >> More good stuff to read today How Kylie became the wealthiest member of the Kardashian-Jenner family Brexit has turned me into a prepper Family Dollar was once considered "Amazon-proof." Now it's closing hundreds of stores. Glasses can have a markup of 1,000%. Two former LensCrafters executives revealed why. LaCroix CEO says brands are basically "handicapped" people Rent the Runway and West Elm are partnering to rent out blankets and pillows

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A very Brooke birthday

cheeeeeeeese

View this email in your browser Dear Newsletsters, (Approximately) 42 years ago today, our fearless leader Brooke Gladstone was born. Brooke has been intrepidly covering all things press, spin and media bullshit for the better part of four decades (so … her entire life!). Brooke is the embodiment of a legend. She read Middlemarch five times in five minutes. She has been fired from more restaurant jobs than there are restaurants in the state of New York. And, according to her Wikipedia, "Gladstone is Jewish."  Today, the OTM team gathered to celebrate Brooke: her quit wit, her warmth, her buoyant spirit, her chunky jewelry, her exceptional ability to edit words out of interviews. We are especially grateful today for her ability to help us make sense of our meshuga world and give us a good laugh in the process. Happy birthday, Brooke! **Just in case this spread is a little more bourgeois than you might expect from us, note the chopped up mozzarella stick accompanying our plate of artisanal cheeses! Onward! Listen To The Latest Show: Look Back in Anger [ In Case You Missed It ] The Perils of Laundering Hot Takes Through History In a recent post for New York Magazine, political theorist Corey Robin argues that our collective misreading of the present arises from a misuse of the past. He warns journalists, scholars and news consumers to beware the "historovox": a tendency to launder journalistic hot takes through history. Robin spoke with Bob last week about what goes missing when pundits only look backward, and offered advice for how we might better understand the present through the past. Give it a listen, if you haven't already. [ Do With This What You Will ] [ Listen To This ] Better Than Beyonce? Okay, maybe that's just clickbait :). But, When I Get Home, the new album from Solange, sister of Beyonce, is really, really good. At a time when so much pop is getting fuller and louder, Solange has chosen to take more of a minimalist, vintage approach to her songwriting and production. It feels right for a winter release. Solange is channeling some of Rhythm and Blues's best oddballs: Stevie Wonder, Sly Stone, Alice Coltrane, Kendrick Lamar, Frank Ocean, and especially Otis Redding. (A little respect when you come home, right?) Respect yourself by playing this fire-flame album into your ears. Listen.  [ Check This Out ] The Fake Sex Doctor Who Conned the Media Into Publicizing His Bizarre Research on Suicide, Butt-Fisting, and Bestiality Well, friends, the headline pretty much speaks for itself. This is a patient, detailed, and — spoiler alert! — graphic take-down, by Gizmodo's Jennings Brown, of a health media grifter. Media?! Grifter??! LIES AND MENDACITY AND LIES?!?!? Read it here, folks. [ From the Archives ] Why the Myth that Vaccines Cause Autism Survives The so-called anti-vaxx movement was dealt yet another devastating — though presumably not mortal — blow this week, courtesy of epidemiologists from Denmark's Staten Serum Institute. Their new study, which included more than 650,000 children, found that the MMR vaccine did not raise those children's risk of developing autism. And yet, even in the face of study after study, this notion and its impact on public health live on. In this 2012 interview, Brooke spoke with Seth Mnookin, author of The Panic Virus: A True Story of Medicine, Science and Fear, about why these myths persist. Listen here. [ Coming Up... ] Who ought to tell the story of the Obama presidency — the National Archives or the Obama Foundation? Thanks for listening, and for reading. We love feedback, so please contact us with any questions or comments. We're busy, but we read them all, promise.  DONATE TO OTM

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