Opinions on exorbitant cost of educative materials.

by Vishal Bhardwaj

I can’t understand why the books are made so much expensive. Sometimes, I wonder whether they really want profit, or they just want that no one reads these books. They claim that the Author has put so much work and he should be paid for this. But I think if the price of the book is reasonable many people will buy and this way the profit will increase more and also they can satisfy their soul that they are spreading knowledge. In fiction, I can agree that the author put many imagination.

But in Science, most of the books [almost all in this era] are not the work of just one person but of many people and if we think logically, it is the research done on Millions of Dollars of [$] tax money by the society. So, the science doesn’t belong to a few persons but to the society as a whole and books are a way to return back value to them. I agree that authors need to be paid but if the books price is so high then who will buy them.

Also, sometimes the publishers argue “the books is glossy finish, acid free paper, binding is superior” and blah blah.. But does it really matter to scientists. Many great scientists studied at local libraries from the second-hand books [used books for sale]. If you want to study, you can study even from black-white books. OK, I agree that some books need colors in order to explain. But even the price can’t be so large. ??? …  Few books have come up with economic edition and I guess all books should have these kind of editions, if the authors really want to educate masses and his/their purpose is solely to spread knowledge. …