I find the whole textbook market a scam for college students. How are colleges forcing students to buy the newest textbooks on subjects that have been around since the 1700s. There is no need for an intro calculus book printed in the 21st century.
In terms of content, probably not much has changed in at least the last 50 years, though. Typesetting has definitely improved (old maths texts from before TeX are a bit hard to read), but I'll agree that a text from, say, the 90s is probably just as adequate as one printed today.
Counter-anecdote: other than maybe the odd banged corner, mine are pretty much pristine.
> Good shelf life, but 24 years of use? Not a chance.
Did I miss something in the article? Why would anyone expect them to last for 24 years of continuous usage?
A textbook that's gone through five students will have encountered someone like you and also someone like me.
A more generous reading of that argument might be "we don't need one authored in the 21st century", not that textbooks would never need reprinting and last forever through two dozen owners