Despite predictions of their demise, college textbooks aren’t going away

The textbook has been declared dead many times over. Progressive educator John Dewey decried the “text-book fetish” back in the 1890s. Former U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan wished out loud for textbooks to become obsolete. Articles on the demise of textbooks regularly appear with each new school year.
Textbooks represent an US$11 billion dollar industry, up from $8 billion in 2014. Textbook publisher Pearson is the largest publisher – of any kind – in the world. More...