Olympus-OM
[Top] [All Lists]

Re: [OM] Modern OM Guide: A Cooperative Effort?

Subject: Re: [OM] Modern OM Guide: A Cooperative Effort?
From: T.Clausen@xxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2001 19:03:24 +0200 (CEST)
On Wed, 11 Apr 2001, Kelton Rhoads wrote:

<SNIP>
 
> I'd also like to point out how easy that research would be, if such a 
> book were written by a listmember. Said listmember would have all the 
> contacts necessary, right here! But there might be an even better, 
> easier, more satisfactory way of making a high-quality OM book. Chris 
> said: 
> 
> >> A successful book could not be a compendium of contributions from 
> interested parties. 
> 
> In my field there are thousands of highly successful multi-author books. 
> By a "multi-author" book, I mean a book that is a compilation of chapters 
> on distinct but related topics, written by different experts, and then 
> edited by a single person (or two or three) for consistency of style. In 
> my field, these books are highly prized because they represent a variety 
> of expert authors, each writing in his or her area of acknowledged 
> expertise. (In fact, I just finished writing a chapter in such an 
> multi-author book myself. I was one author of perhaps 12 who wrote the 
> book; each one of us had a single chapter and a single topic for which we 
> were responsible, but each chapter integrated into the overall theme of 
> the book. Each of us had space and stylistic constraints to which we had 
> to conform, so a uniform structure was imposed by the author.)

I'd second Kelton's wise remarks. Being in a field where multi-author
books are the rule more than the exception (save for elementary
introductory-level text-books), I agree that such an approach can work -
very well, even. I'd strongly encourage and support anyone, who would take
upon himself the role of editor of such a piece. I'd probably also buy a
few copies in the end "just because"..... 

Someone, go fot it. Kelton, did I hear you volunteering? ;)

--
-------------------------------------------
  Thomas Heide Clausen
  Civilingeniør i Datateknik (cand.polyt)
  M.Sc in Computer Engineering

  E-Mail: T.Clausen@xxxxxxxxxxxx
  WWW:    http://www.cs.auc.dk/~voop
-------------------------------------------



< This message was delivered via the Olympus Mailing List >
< For questions, mailto:owner-olympus@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx >
< Web Page: http://Zuiko.sls.bc.ca/swright/olympuslist.html >


<Prev in Thread] Current Thread [Next in Thread>
Sponsored by Tako
Impressum | Datenschutz