Talk:Textbook

Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment

This article is or was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Alma760, Aquin024 Soc413, Shannonrp, Yvetteponce, JacquelynAnn, Anayelisanchez07, Kelle065, Justineronass93, Lnajmi. Peer reviewers: Aquin024 Soc413, JacquelynAnn, Anayelisanchez07, Lnajmi.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 10:56, 17 January 2022 (UTC)

Definition of Textbook

Hello, I was wondering what are your thoughts on the current definition of the lead, as the former definition could apply to reference works as well as to textbooks, which could be confusing.

I have changed this: "A textbook is a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study." to this "A textbook is a book containing a comprehensive compilation of content in a branch of study with the intention of explaining it." so as to make the definition narrower and make sure it only refers to textbooks.

Thank you for expressing your thoughts!

Apolo234 (talk) 12:31, 6 October 2020 (UTC)

I have just text about Peter Ramus (Petrus Ramus) as inventor of the text book, with the compilation of a body of knowledge in it, as more than just the technology of printing (important though that is.) Tonytrefoil (talk) 09:43, 30 December 2024 (UTC)

Mysterious etymology

I think this article should include a small etymology section, which is quite usual. (Also, the wiktionary page wikt:textbook, which is currently similarly sparse on etymology, should be fleshed out.) However, it's not really clear to me what the etymology of this term is. Obviously it comes from text and book, but... why? Don't all books contain text? Was a "textbook" historically a sourcebook, instead, i.e., a book of texts? There is some speculation at https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/295548/why-is-text-in-textbook but I'm not particularly convinced of any of these accounts... Dingolover6969 (talk) 06:48, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

Merge proposal

I propose merging (some parts of) Sourcebook into Textbook. Sourcebook is kind of an embarrassing article as it's basically just three unrelated dictionary definitions (one of which is casebook! which makes sense, honestly, since a casebook is a sourcebook of legal cases). It would probably be better to just have sourcebook live as a subsection of this page. Implicitly, I'm claiming that a sourcebook is a type of textbook — let me know if you disagree with that. Dingolover6969 (talk) 08:24, 15 February 2026 (UTC)

Done. Dingolover6969 (talk) 12:37, 16 February 2026 (UTC)