Dan Lehman wrote:
Maybe it wasn't so much qualms she lacked but just critical thinking?
I think most knot-authors have gone down that alley (non-critically thinking) at some point in their llives,
but I really wonder whether it helps to keep repeating that observation.
I think it does. It has taken a while, but gradually at least my eyes opened to how
very much knots books are based on ...
other knots books -- and not on some
independent
research ! And, in this Wot?knot and other cases I could cite, it is really
amazing to see
how very wrong/mistaken/confused the knots books can be!!We have an entanglement that in no way resembles something useful, and yet it
is echoed nonetheless as though ... what? -- it could be, had been, ... useful?
The
EKFR situation is just this but amplified by bulk to (we'll hope) an extreme.
To the cursory consideration, it is a book that (
must ) capture the vast history
of knotting; but on inspection there is laughable nonsense (and, to any of its defenders,
at least the absence --objective assessment: simply words not there-- of any information
(along with the comical structures presented, often begging the question
Why...?! ).
Moreover, the degree of copycat plagiarism --such as simply scanning (and
then computer re-rendering) images but promoting them as "specially commissioned
artwork" (no less!), really appalls me. And I surmise it would appall others, were
they made aware of it.
Maybe we need a continued thread for ready reference here on the errors in knots books,
To promote the art, craft and science of knotting, its study and practice ... .
Yes, surprisingly, people can publish much of anything.
But some resellers also carry places for comments, and e.g. Amazon.com holds some
reader reviews of works, which can be helpful to prospective buyers. Sometimes
one must wonder at the reviewers; I have had my own battle there over the Derrick
Lewis fraud, but I think its sales have been slight. (Though it seems the usual case
that knot books aren't reissued; rather, another new one pops up (as though we
need another, copying the earlier)!?)
[re Great Knots and How to Tie Them ]
This is another BAD book about knots. It appears that a publisher wanted a knot book,
or an author wanted to be published? Worse, the book plagirizes good a good text and
in crude paraphrasing renders even that advice as nonsense. A general failing of the book
is that the pretty photos of tied knots are simply NOT of what they propose to be, ...
[This book has scanned & re-rendered images from Eric C. Fry's book.]
Well, a small challenge, which "12 of 12" found Helpful -- and quickly moved on.
... small victories ...
As for that Ashley's Index project: mea culpa (well, speaking for myself). The
idea is to make a better/smarter index, bringing the key references to attention
over the mere mentions ("... or a Clove hitch ..."), along with corrections. And
in the process of going through the material, of course, we can also come up
with at least a good ballpark estimate of "How many knots" are presented -- a
rough guesstimate I once made was that Ashley showed about 150 of hitches,
say, with similarly sized (sub 1000s) totals for ends-joiners & eye-knots. Which
of course touches the bit on classification, another puzzle.
Along with
What is a *knot*?, for which there is an old thread which might
be revived to help populate the Knot Theory... (sub-)forum.
--dl*
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