Why people do not just use the classic books?
When I am introduced to some new subject, like programming language or any other scientific topic - algebra, number theory, psychology, etc. - I tend to search for famous classic books about the subject and then, if I find the need to know more about the subject I try to read other books or articles.
One example is when people ask me about a book to learn more about the C programming language. I don’t even think, there is only one, “The C Programming Language”, which was also the first one, all the others I came to look at do not come even close to the quality of this one.
As you know, now I am back at the University, one of the classes I’m attending is Calculus III. Just in thinking about this class used to give me nightmares. The book the Teachers used to use was the one from Munem and Foulis. It is a nice book, and I even thought I liked it and the problem was that Calculus is boring.
That changed after I started reading the Calculus book from Tom M. Apostol, it is a somewhat old, 1967 was the year the second edition was printed. But after reading the first 6 chapters of the book I regret not having known it before. It is by far the best Calculus book I’ve come across. The author talks with the reader; before introducing a new subject he shows the history background and the reason the subject came to exist.
You really get to know why you are learning something before you actually learn it.
So, here the question continues. Why do the teachers tend to use newer books if the old ones tend to be better? This is a question I’m asking me right now =D