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Re: Fundamentals of Physics

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On Wed, 03 Jun 2015 19:51:52 -0500, Odd Bodkin wrote:

> 
> Writing a textbook takes between five and twenty years of an author's 
> life.
>

You've got to be joking -- or else extremely deluded.

Textbooks are the most standardized objects in the academic
word.  One author merely copies the structure, organization,
and content of another in a nearly verbatim fashion.  They
may as well all be produced by the same cookie cutter.

I challenge you to acquire several textbooks, on any subject,
and compare them for essential differences.  You will find
little if any at all.

In your idealistic and distorted view, each textbook would be so
painstakingly crafted by its author as to be totally unique.
A perusal of any book store will quickly shatter that fantasy.  


>
> ... as do reviewers, formatters, 
> artists, purely on the risk that the book will be successful
>

These superfluous folks are there to make sure the textbook
contains equal representation for women, minorities, and
now homosexuals.  "Diversity" is the current formula for contemporary
college textbook material.
 
Is there a better reason to insist on free and independent authorship?


> 
> The only way anybody would create an online book for free is 
> crowd-sourcing -- aka Wikipedia. And there, though it is a pretty 
> powerful concept, the pedagogical value is horrible and the quality very 
> mixed.
> 

Ever hear of the Open Courseware project at the Massachusetts Institute
of Technology?  Maybe you should check it out:

http://ocw.mit.edu/index.htm

Lecture notes, you should know, are just an "unofficial" kind of textbook.


Here is another fine example, of which there are many, many more:

http://www.textbookofbacteriology.net


>
> People who think that the internet is going to make all books free are 
> still living in the early 1990s.
>

The facts, sir, completely destroy your assertions.

*You* are the throwback.  Your anachronistic perspectives are being
demolished as we speak.

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Re: Fundamentals of Physics Joe Genteel <root@localhost.localdomain> - 2015-06-03 01:16 +0000
  Re: Fundamentals of Physics jimp@specsol.spam.sux.com - 2015-06-03 05:09 +0000
  Re: Fundamentals of Physics Sam Wormley <swormley1@gmail.com> - 2015-06-03 06:53 -0500
  Re: Fundamentals of Physics Odd Bodkin <bodkinodd@gmail.com> - 2015-06-03 19:51 -0500
    Re: Fundamentals of Physics Joe Genteel <root@localhost.localdomain> - 2015-06-04 02:22 +0000
      Re: Fundamentals of Physics Mahipal <mahipal7638@gmail.com> - 2015-06-07 19:46 -0700
  Re: Fundamentals of Physics Wally W. <ww84wa@aim.com> - 2015-06-04 08:18 -0400

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