Slashdot Mirror
Advice On Creating an Open Source Textbook?
Occamboy writes "I wrote a slightly successful (30,000+ copies sold) computer communications textbook a number of years back that was published via the traditional textbook publishing route. The royalties were nice, but, frankly, the bigger money came from the boost in my professional standing (I'm a practicing engineer, not a professor). I also felt bad when the publisher hiked the price dramatically every year because students were stuck once a professor adopted a text — $50 for a smallish paperback seemed very high (although I like to think what they learned was worth it!). I'm thinking of writing another textbook, this time about the practice of software engineering in critical systems, using the experience I've gained in the decades I've spent developing, and managing the development of, software-driven medical devices. Poking around on the Net, I've found several intriguing options for distributing open source texts, such as Flatworld Knowledge, Lulu, and Connexions. This concept of free or inexpensive texts intrigues me — the easy adoption and lack of price-gouging. Do any Slashdotters have experience with this new paradigm? Any suggestions or experiences to share from authors, students, and/or professors, who've written, read, or adopted open source or low-cost texts from any source?"
Sounds cool... and I'm going to be in Vegas that weekend. I'm not queer or anything (my girlfriend will be with me), but there's nothing gay in helping set a world record! Anyhow, how is it gay to stick your dick in man's asshole, but not gay to stick it in a woman's asshole? Or how is it gay if a coworker sticks his dick up my ass but not gay if I pay a hooker to do the same with a dildo? Bottom line, I've experimented with some stuff, but that doesn't make me gay.
That's a vanity press. No book reviewer would ever take one of those seriously, sorry. Maybe the ones that work for Murdoch-owned papers.
Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!