Harold Jacobs' Geometry (and Elementary Algebra) out of print

[mathwonk]

In answer to a question posed on TWTM, Harold Jacobs wrote back and said he had recently learned that after 45 years working with him, Freeman is going out of the high school textbook business due to increasing competition and increasingly specialized local school district criteria for adopting books. I.e. apparently it is getting harder and harder to produce even a math book that will meet the criteria for adoption of enough different places to make money.

 

Freeman is thus ceasing publication of all three of Harold's books and returning their rights to him. He may seek a new publisher, possibly as soon as next month. As of now the used sales are very strong and his share of the market including those is actually higher than when new copies were available.

 

To me, the fact that some of the best elementary math books on the market are not viable because of administrative considerations, makes for a sad day. I.e. it seems that math books are now often chosen or rejected for reasons that have little or nothing to do with either mathematics or pedagogy. I still own a copy of the geometry book by Harold, but unfortunately I parted company with my last copy of his algebra book when I moved out of my office upon retirement, but my granddaughter does have one I bought for her.

 

Hopefully ancillaries for the books will still be available at Ask Dr. Callahan, to serve home schoolers.

 

http://www.askdrcallahan.com/

 

I hope this information is useful.

[melmichigan]

Thanks for the update.

[Arcadia]

In answer to a question posed on TWTM, Harold Jacobs wrote back and said he had recently learned that after 45 years working with him, Freeman is going out of the high school textbook business due to increasing competition and increasingly specialized local school district criteria for adopting books.

.....

I still own a copy of the geometry book by Harold, but unfortunately I parted company with my last copy of his algebra book when I moved out of my office upon retirement, but my granddaughter does have one I bought for her.

 

Harold's Elementary Algebra 1st edition seems to be still available here

http://highschool.bfwpub.com/Catalog/product/elementaryalgebra-firstedition-jacobs

 

The Practice of statistics by Yates, Starnes and Moore is by the same publisher and quite popular in high schools here. Wondering whether the publisher is closing the entire high school line of books.

http://highschool.bfwpub.com/Catalog/discipline/Mathematics

 

[wapiti]

I wonder whether Jacobs might be interested in making his book available through one of the various printers of ebooks - I'm sure I've seen several on Amazon. For example, I've had books printed by Harvard Bookstore, which does custom printing and printing-on-demand:

 

Benefits of printing your book at Harvard Book Store:

• Books are library-quality, perfect bound, acid-free paperbacks, indistinguishable from books produced by major publishing houses.
  

• There are no minimums, so there are no large up-front investments as usually required by self-publishing programs. You print books as you need them.
  

• The author retains all rights to the printed work, along with complete control over layout, content, and design.
  

• The author may choose to have his or her work on display and for sale at Harvard Book Store and at harvard.com.
  

• The author retains rights for non-exclusive distribution and may sell books printed at Harvard Book Store through any avenue they choose.
  

• The author sets the book price.
  

 

I believe it would need to be converted to PDF (presumably by scanning, like the old, free books I found on google and had printed).

[mathwonk]

I don't know Harold's exact plans, but I understand some search for a publisher is underway. I'll stay in contact.

 

 

yes I do believe Freeman is ceasing their entire participation in high school textbook publishing.

[kiana]

I know http://www.mathpop.com/ publishes Spivak's excellent calculus text. Maybe they would be interested in some high school texts as well?

[Sebastian (a lady)]

Drat, I had my hands on Mathematics: A Human Endeavor and decided not to buy it. Ah, I should know better.

[mathwonk]

These are excellent ideas. I have forwarded them to Harold. That "pop" publisher is probably Mike Spivak himself.

[kiana]

These are excellent ideas. I have forwarded them to Harold. That "pop" publisher is probably Mike Spivak himself.

 

I think you are right, but I am not certain. 'pop' is for Publish or Perish, the name of the company. They do have books other than Spivak's.

[mathwonk]

I have known Mike since 1965. He began publishing his own books a long time ago to become more independent. So this is likely either him, or a company that he pays to do his publishing. He does publish other people's works. But he has never yet ventured into the high school market.

[Arcadia]

I know http://www.mathpop.com/ publishes Spivak's excellent calculus text. Maybe they would be interested in some high school texts as well?

 

I have known Mike since 1965. He began publishing his own books a long time ago to become more independent.

 

 

I just found the 1967 edition on archive.org. More bedtime reading for me. I also found the 3rd edition posted.

 

ETA:

Sorry for de-railing. What do you two think about this comparison between Stewart and Spivak?

http://blogs.njit.edu/ac53/files/2009/04/tca_final_ac53.pdf

Stewart's Calculus Early Transcendentals 7th edition is on archive.org too

ETA:

I guess I was thinking about more theoretical versus more applied. My older is much more interested this year in proofing compared to last.

[mathwonk]

there is no comparison between stewart and spivak. they are both good books, but mike's book is aimed at future mathematicians, and stewart's book is aimed at the larger market of average good calculus students. stewart was a good choice for our average calculus course at UGA. Mike's book was the standard choice for super honors calculus at UGA and Harvard. i.e spivak is far more theoretical and complete, and the problems are much harder.

as a rough guide, choose spivak if your child's sat math scores are over 700.

 

oops now i need to read the link you posted. ok i read it. that seems to be written by a young high school student as a course requirement. it is roughly correct but pretty minimal.

[Arcadia]

oops now i need to read the link you posted. ok i read it. that seems to be written by a young high school student as a course requirement. it is roughly correct but pretty minimal.

 

 

It is actually written by a student of New Jersey Institute of Technology. I do get your point though :)

[mathwonk]

there are a few standard books for the most mathematically oriented students and courses, spivak, apostol, courant, and kitchen. essentially all other books such as stewart are aimed at a completely different and larger audience. stewart 2nd edition, was one of my favorite books for the average calculus audience that i normally taught. i thought it was excellent!

 

If you want a recommendation for a student, I would suggest working through Stewart first, and then working through Spivak afterwards. stewart will teach the methods, facts and techniques, and then spivak will explain why those things are true, as well as supplement some facts that were omitted in stewart.

 

in general, i advocate using any source that helps. there is no benefit to using a high level source one does not learn from. i myself was a student in a spivak type course and was pretty much blown away by it. only years later did i reach that level. (smile)

[EKS]

Thanks for this mathwonk. I hope there is a publisher out there that can see the importance of keeping these books in print.

[Kareni]

I hadn't been aware of this news concerning Harold Jacobs' books.  Thank you for sharing.

 

Regards,

Kareni

[Guest Jmodg13]

Mathwonk, is there any way you could give me an email address for Harold Jacobs? I work with a small school and I would like to ask him some questions concerning his book. 

 

Thank you,

James

[A.J. at J.A.]

Mathwonk, is there any way you could give me an email address for Harold Jacobs? I work with a small school and I would like to ask him some questions concerning his book. 

 

Thank you,

James

 

I'm not Mathwonk - but I've been corresponding with him (he's very good at responding and very helpful): haroldjacobs at earthlink dot net

 

Blessings,

Angela

[Guest Jmodg13]

I'm not Mathwonk - but I've been corresponding with him (he's very good at responding and very helpful): haroldjacobs@earthlink.net

 

Blessings,

Angela

 

Thank you very much, Angela!

 

God bless,

James

[Dana]

I'm not Mathwonk - but I've been corresponding with him (he's very good at responding and very helpful): haroldjacobs at earthlink dot net

 

Blessings,

Angela

You may want to edit your post like I did for the email. Spambots trawl the web for email addresses and this is way to help avoid them.

[A.J. at J.A.]

You may want to edit your post like I did for the email. Spambots trawl the web for email addresses and this is way to help avoid them.

 

Thanks so much - I never knew!  Sorry I didn't do this sooner, it did not email me to let me know you had posted.

 

Blessings,

Angela

[Dana]

It may or may not make much difference....programs get sophisticated quickly...but it is something that can be helpful :)

[Sherri in MI]

Well I just read this post.  That explains why it is not available from Rainbow Resource or Dr. Callahan.  Bummer!.  Any additional news whether Mr. Jacobs found a new publisher?

[mathwonk]

I have not heard anything yet. I will look around.

 

well used copies are still around:

 

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=harold+jacobs&sts=t&tn=geometry%2C

 

 

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/SearchResults?an=harold+jacobs&sts=t&tn=algebra

[Dicentra]

It looks like you can still get the Algebra book through Kolbe:

http://books.kolbe.org/store/c/372-Jacobs.html

It's not cheap but if you want brand new, the website says the book is still in stock.

 

They seem to be out of stock of the Geometry book.  But they do still have the TM, DVDs, and a course outline and tests:

http://books.kolbe.org/store/c/441-Homeschool-Geometry-Course.html

 

I've got both these course outlines at home and other than a statement and picture on the front cover of the course outline that is Catholic in nature, the rest of the course is completely secular.

[cbollin]

I've used Geometry book because it's part of the MFW sequence.

So, I wondered what they were going to do with their math sequence. I asked My Father's World after seeing on their math website to call for availability.   http://www.mfwbooks.com/products/M50/60/0/0/1#7th-12th

 

They emailed me information and I wanted to share that information with anyone on the hive looking to buy the Geometry book.

 

MFW has an interim version of Jacobs Geometry.  MFW Spiral bound edition of Jacobs Geometry will be ready for shipping no later than September 2.

 

W. H. Freeman is no longer printing Geometry: Seeing, Doing, Understanding. My Father’s World has worked with the author, Harold R. Jacobs, to get this book back in print. For the short term the book is available in a spiral bound format as a two-volume set. The content of the book is the same as the hard cover bound edition with the exception of the removal of five questions on page 62 and a few illustrations throughout. The following items for both volumes are at the end of Volume 2:

- Glossary

- Formulary

- Postulates and Theorems

- Answers to Selected Exercises

- Illustration Credits

- Index

 

Jacobs Geometry Complete Package (includes all four items listed below) - $139.95

 

Jacobs Geometry Textbook (MFW Spiral bound edition) - $115.95

Jacobs Teacher Guide (MFW Spiral bound edition) - $34.95

Jacobs Test Bank (MFW Spiral bound edition) - $19.95

MFW Daily Lesson Plans for Jacob’s Geometry - $15.00

 

***

looks like right now, MFW is taking phone orders for it.    That's a nice interim solution for fall semester. phone number is on link above.

 

-crystal