[–] Sciencegirl 0 points 2 points 2 points (+2|-0) ago
Maybe it's because those who do pay don't want to share with anyone else because they had to pay....that being said I just graduated and refused to purchase textbooks, they are insanely priced and new editions are the same thing with the chapters rearranged and questions altered slightly. It's stupid.
[–] NiklausTheNaked ago
There are not very many people who will take the time to scan and uploaded a textbook. Uploading a movie just takes a few minutes.
A cursory startpage search gave me Ebook Bay and this article on free ebooks. Are you lokking for niche books @rhinoferson
[–] 1993997? 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
For most people, the only time they care about textbooks is for four to eight years of their lives. They then stop caring about education, and their piracy interests recenter on consumer media. The piracy market and leaching/seeding habits have adjusted to serve these needs.
If you want to talk about things that are hard to find, go one step beyond textbooks and try finding pirated scholarly articles. I'd rather the Internet had scientific journals for free and you had to pay to watch the latest Avengers film. Can you imagine the citations and quality on something like Wikipedia if everyone had access to peer reviewed information?
[–] Vinegar 0 points 6 points 6 points (+6|-0) ago
Several reasons:
If you're opposed to getting shafted by the texbook industry might I suggest:
If you have to buy the book yourself please help your neighbor and do everything you can to upload to any or all of these resources.
[–] Reclaimer69 0 points 8 points 8 points (+8|-0) ago
I've always thought is was because in order to upload a text book you'd have to scan each page. More effort than videotaping or ripping a movie. So there is less content.
[–] Subtenko 0 points 1 point 1 point (+1|-0) ago
unless there is a more efficient method, a group of people could donate, so each person gets a dollar for scanning a page, enter info in software, software compiles pdf. theres a ton of books but get a smart person to handle the software, it could work.