[bacon_waffle]

To your first point: I agree that as a consumer of textbooks, it is difficult to fairly compare them. But, if one were an instructor in a subject, it would probably be a bit easier to observe how groups of people react to different textbooks, to get some bulk idea of which is better or worse. So, I don't think it's impossible to meaningfully compare books and make a "best of" list, but that list should be created by people who are maybe less biased and have wider perspectives.

Of course, as your second point gets to; a book that's generally considered "best" won't always be the best for a specific reader and their circumstance.

[asafira]

This sounds pretty intriguing, but I'm not sure if professors actually do this...

Has anyone had a professor that tried something like this?