University lecturers plugging their own books?

dowie said:
indeed :)



any number of reasons - for example maybe it is at too high or low level, maybe it is specialist and the course is introductory or vice versa
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Tbh, I wouldn't try to use those arguments as they aren't specific to books written by the lecturer more so to their competency as lecturer.
 
thep02 said:
Tbh, I wouldn't try to use those arguments as they aren't specific to books written by the lecturer more so to their competency as lecturer.
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why not? they're valid reason for a lecturer deciding not to use his own book for a particular course, competency isn't really relevant as far as answering amigafan's question is concerned
 
competency isn't really relevant though - amigafan's question was why wouldn't they and there are any number of reasons why someone might chose not to, yes they can also apply to books in general but that is also not really relevant

though this is sidetracking somewhat
 
dowie said:
any number of reasons - for example maybe it is at too high or low level, maybe it is specialist and the course is introductory or vice versa
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If it's for a degree, then there isn't "too high a level". And your hardly going to get a PhD educated professor write in a book at you low a level - certain specific exclusions excepted of course (kids books etc)
 
Of course it can be, I'm not sure how much more to expand on that without coming across as patronising but a text suitable for a masters module might well take a different approach to one aimed at an undergrad level and vice versa - perhaps requiring certain prerequisites. Maybe the module is more applied and the text is quite theoretical and contains very few applications. Maybe someone else has written a better book. Like I said in answer to your question there are any number of reason why someone might chose to not use their book for a particular module.

However the thread was an open question about people who do use their own books.


edit - an old award from Sheffiled University's student's union seems to cover this nicely:

https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/self-publicists-prize/151114.article

Sheffield University's student newspaper is launching the Golden Plug Awards. Academics at Sheffield must work out the cost of personal publications on a required-reading list, and multiply it by the number of students that they force to read them. First prize goes to whoever makes the most money from plugging their own work.
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:D
 
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indeed, often better to find multiple sources in general tbh... as you may well prefer another author's explanation of something or simply working through things in a different way (or trying more exercises where applicable) can give a better overall understanding
 
Didn't happen a single time in my course, in fact I didn't have to buy a single book at all. The odd time I needed something the library did the trick.
 
Somewhat subject dependent this. The more verbose the subject, the more publishing sharks tend to gather around potential sources of door-stoppers. High demand and heavy specialism helps. Some medical, law and engineering texts are ludicrously priced. If you happen, by accident or planning, to corner the market with a book and it gets made a go-to source on high-subscription American courses, you might even see a return on this whole farce.

Now, were there any given lecturer's texts on my reading list? A few. Were they required reading? Nope. People who published actively and globe-trotted off to book signings and big conferences would normally be recommended as a matter of pride and course in the uni, though the only actual plugging they did was a section on their personal or departmental sites. The best offered internal excerpts and lecture notes of varying quality and completeness anyway. For networking and general schmoozing, yeah, perhaps you could've deployed their magnum opi to ingratiate yourself (a good interview trick, by the by), but in exams you could do whatever you liked, and as long as you'd ended up following the syllabus, you'd have done fine. This is less true the nearer you get to the arts and humanities, or even social sciences, where often anal levels of referencing are required for the highest marks (whether they indicate wide reading around the subject or not :p).
 
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