And students are being hoodwinked into buying them. The books also often include minutiae which change from edition to edition, so you have to get the nth edition in order to take your class - because in physics, for instance, there are Q&amp;A in the books which differ between editions.<p>The main book we had to get was written by two of the lecturers, and was £300. It was so half-assedly bound that you had to cut the pages open.