Re: Fwd: [CR] Re: Using images; Was: Whining about Campagnolo:75 Years of Cycling Passion

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Date: Mon, 27 Oct 2008 13:40:53 -0700
To: "Harry Travis" <travis.harry@gmail.com>, classicrendezvous <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
From: "Jan Heine" <heine94@earthlink.net>
Subject: Re: Fwd: [CR] Re: Using images; Was: Whining about Campagnolo:75 Years of Cycling Passion


At 1:54 PM -0400 10/27/08, Harry Travis wrote:
>I don't mean to encourage sales of a poor book. But, perhaps knowledgeable
>affficionados here could compile a list of errors, and politely submit
>them, perhaps over Dale's letterhead, not as criticism, but as errata,
>urging the publisher to include them as errata such with all new copies, and
>in any subsequent editions.

That would be a good idea if this was a serious, good-faith effort at producing a carefully researched book, with just a few unfortunate oversights. Bicycle Quarterly publishes corrections and additions. Most changes are additions, when new information comes to light, and I am encouraging anybody to submit comments/corrections/additions.

However, I see a few problems with compiling an errors list for the new Campagnolo book:

1. The number of errors is just overwhelming. I only picked three in my post, but I easily could add many more. It would make the publisher look bad if the list of errata was many pages long. So I doubt they would want to include it.

2. What about the rare glimpses of new information in the book? Are we willing to accept those "facts" because we cannot (yet?) disprove them? I would argue that we should throw them out until we can corroborate the information independently.

3. What is the point of the book if we use that approach? If we correct what is wrong, confirm what we know is right, and disregard anything that we cannot confirm, then the book does not offer anything new. Even the photos are all taken from other sources. (For $ 25, Jitensha sells the Bicycle Club Special issue "All About Campagnolo," from which the new book took almost all photos of Campagnolo derailleurs.)

4. This effort would validate the book and would set a precedent. If the authors had come to the CR list before publishing the book, and asked for input, that would have been different. I once worked on a collectors guide for model railroads where the authors solicited comments before they published it. I think that is the better way to go. (Bicycle Quarterly usually sends historic articles for review before publishing them.)

Jan Heine
Editor
Bicycle Quarterly
140 Lakeside Ave #C
Seattle WA 98122
http://www.bikequarterly.com