Textual Obscenity

Something occurred to me today. Over the summer I've been studying for the AP Physics C using Sears's and Zemansky's University Physics. I've been using a copy of the 11th edition from the library, and it is huge and weighs a ton. That's fine, because I always leave it at home. In any case, it's a massive 3550 cubic centimeters and weighs roughly (very roughly) 3 kg. So Mr. Lovelin's wife's father, who was an aerospace engineer, died recently, so he brought in loads and loads of these ancient and great engineering books. He was going to give them to teachers, but he let us take whatever we wanted. As I glanced through I came across none other than the 1st edition (4th printing) of Sears's and Zemansky's University Physics from the late 1940s. The original edition is 1880 cubic centimeters, covers most of the same material, and it weighs roughly 1 kg. So over a period of 10 editions and about 55 years they have managed to double the size of their text while adding nothing more than a little modern physics and some appendicies. That is the problem with textbooks these days. There's no sense of efficiency and economy anymore, only a sense of knowing how to create good picture books. Bloody publishing companies... Think of how much more cheaply texts could be produced if color pictures weren't added, and think of all the backs that could saved.