The copy I got has that vaguely plastic/rubbery feel to the covers with smudges easy to see in the right light. I took a look at the school's copies in their bookstore and not only does it seem of better glue quality but their copies had covers that were shiny and glossy.
Word of warning to those wanting to save money: I bought my copy from Amazon (obviously) and I had the same problem as another reviewer: the cover is cheaply pasted to the bound pages and will inevitably come undone. I'm going through the book prior to the actual class and am learning a lot on my own, but those strange lapses in clear directions or illustrations that don't match your work (even though you followed each step TO THE LETTER!!) can make your heckles and/or blood pressure rise just a tad. This is similar to that format but not quite as dense since it doesn't always tell you WHY you're clicking this or that option. I'm not sure if there's an expectation that the teacher will supplement some gaps in explanation (or even missing steps or misworded instructions) but the frustration factor is a little higher than, say, those direction-laden guides for students of Word/Excel/Access (you know the ones: 100+ pages of explanations and step-by-step instructions with assignments at the end that test your comprehension skills). Since this is an introductory text, mainly for getting used to the program's abilities and layout, I guess some things can be forgiven. This textbook leaves a lot to be desired as far as deep learning of the software.