Reason and Persuasion
John Holbo emails about his new book:
It’s out in paper – and what a great read it is: plus cartoons! – and I also negotiated to secure the e-rights and have used those to release it for free online. You can view the whole thing in a nice flash interface. And download it as a PDF (although that takes a simple sign in – still: free is good.) I know you’ve blogged before about textbook stupidities and about how more stuff should be available online. Well: put your money where your mouth is. Or your mouth where your mouth is, rather: gimme a link for having done this noble thing that more academics should be doing, and more publishers letting them do.
All true. Here it is on Amazon if you’re into paper books. But it’s definitely true that more academics should be doing this sort of thing—it makes sense for people who are paid to add to the stock of human knowledge to be doing as much as possible to disseminate said knowledge. The book itself “provides a new look at old issues through the lens of three classic dialogues by Plato: Euthyphro, Meno and Republic, Book I” and represents a collaboration between Holbo, a philosopher, and his classicist wife Belle Waring; two excellent people and excellent bloggers and I’m looking forward to their book.
14 Responses to “Reason and Persuasion”
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August 7th, 2009 at 1:06 pm
Where … is … the link to the online version?
August 7th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
it’s “temporarily out of stock” at Amazon — selling like hotcakes!
August 7th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
Try here: http://www.reasonandpersuasion.com/
August 7th, 2009 at 1:26 pm
On an unrelated note, Ros-Lehtinen just called on Charlie Crist to appoint a Hispanic to replace Mel Martinez. That folks, is racist.
If you were looking for a prime example of racism in the GOP, look no further than Ileana Ros-Leihtinen’s comments today.
August 7th, 2009 at 1:49 pm
And not just text books!! Some of the Science Fiction comunity have gotten smart as well (several years ago in fact) … link to the free online library of Baen Books.
http://www.baen.com/library/
August 7th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
Where … is … the link to the online version?
Holbo asks Yglesias for a link, and Yglesias reprints the request but fails to comply. Sweet.
August 7th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
While I am sympathetic to the notion of expanding access to knowledge, I rather worry that if this trend solidifies, book publishing will be as endangered a commercial enterprise as the news business. There have to be limits to what is available free of charge on the web.
August 7th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
One of the reasons many of the authors at Baen went the way they did is because the data support an INCREASE in book profits when electrons are easily available … when book four of a series is about to be released in hardback (and book 3 in paperback) a free electronic version of book two results in more sales … also interestingly in more sales of the paperback version of book 2 as well.
Now the data was developed before kindle and one is not sure it stands … but I’d suspect so
Similar anecdotal data on textbooks … but different dynamic … theory being that electrons being SEARCHABLE … increases the value of the hard copy text book relative to other offerings in the field.
August 7th, 2009 at 3:46 pm
The link posted and the one above in the comments don’t seem to give anything free. (The former goes to Amazon and the latter won’t open.)
So what exactly is free here?
August 7th, 2009 at 4:49 pm
There have to be limits to what is available free of charge on the web.
True. It should be limited to porn and politics.
(Tits and tirades. Dicks and diatribes. Orgasms and opinions. ______ and _______. Play along, folks!)
August 7th, 2009 at 8:31 pm
The book is excellent. I love the introduction. Well written, well argued, and a (to me) totally new take on Plato, by bringing him into conversation with Dale Carnegie. Highly recommended.
August 8th, 2009 at 12:19 am
Sorry I can’t link but google this: John and Belle have a Blog. (There’s a link there to the book site.)
John made a deal with the publisher that he would shamelessly self promote the book in return for being allowed to put it online prior to publishing. He elisted the commenters at Crooked Timber to proofread so we’re all associate editors, I guess. Hey, maybe we’ll get royalties. Everybody buy the book.
August 8th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Physicists have been doing this for years – witness the free archive of preprints at http://xxx.lanl.gov (yes, the xxx looks dodgy but it isn’t). A quick browse over the newly-added articles is required daily reading for most of us. And best of all, putting something on here first is accepted to count as priority for a new discovery.
Is there something like a preprint archive for the humanities?
August 10th, 2009 at 9:00 am
I think a lot of academic scientists are open to freely distributed textbooks; I know of some who are currently writing books who are hoping to get the rights to release them free online. The publishers don’t seem to be completely on board (yet) though.