Where is the Netflix for College Textbooks? — Higher Education — Medium

"Textbook publishers today have student’s paralyzed to a point that they rarely buy textbooks according to the advocacy group U.S. PIRG in their recently issued report 'Fixing the Broken Textbook Market.' The report tells us that 'not only are students choosing not to purchase the materials they are assigned by their professor, but they are knowingly accepting the risk of a lower grade to avoid paying for the textbook' ... Forbes’ David Whelan outlined this problem is his clever piece 'Spending Other People’s Money: What Professors And Doctors Have In Common' constructing an illuminating comparison of faculty who unconsciously proscribe high priced textbooks in the same manner as medical doctors handing their trusting patients prescription slips to be filled at the local pharmacy (students call it a syllabus). This market once broken was reshaped by the creation of generic drugs allowing a doctor to gauge each patient’s financial situation followed with a prescription that would not force a to patient to chose between food, rent and the drugs needed to survive ... The goal behind creating open textbooks is to make quality products that can serve as a 'generic textbook' available for our faculty to prescribe as an alternative to expensive textbooks.  One group not intimated by the shock and awe strategy of textbook publishers is the Public Research Interest Group (PRIG) who suggested an 'open textbook' solution that 20 Million Minds Foundation Founder Dr. Gary Michelson has pushed and accelerated through funding over the past two years. Both he and his wife Alya Michelson have been our nation’s most successful advocates and have involved other policymakers such as Governor Jerry Brown to join their efforts. Last year, California passed the nation’s first free open source textbooks law and underwrote that commitment with an add additional $10 million dollars of state funding ..."