They are going to kill me. Swear.
Boston University and Barnes & Noble (partners in extortion), I must admit, have happened on an idea that is positively, consummately, hilariously brilliant.
Ladies and gentlemen…the “Coursepack.”
What is a Coursepack, you ask? Well let’s see if I can get this right. A Coursepack is a bunch of Xerox-copied pages from various textbooks, compiled into a stack, and offered as reading material for my doctoral classes. Nifty, eh? Not so fast, pard.
Behold Exhibit A:
Right. They have some 18-year-old library droid pull books off the shelves in Boston and stand at a copier for 5 hours, and charge me $106.75 for the privilege (and this is the cheapest one yet – once I paid something like $190). But what do I get for my money?
Exhibit B:
 The Coursepack. They did go to the trouble to punch holes in the sides so you can provide your own 3-ring binder. How thoughtful. |
 Exhibit C: Reduced in size and copied sideways so you have to turn the book to read it. Some pages are right-side-up, some aren’t. Brilliant. |
| Exhibit D: A substantial amount of information, to be sure.
|
Is this not the most incredibly profitable idea ever? Pardon me while I go get my credit card.
Sheesh.
PS – I want one of these.