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Posted by Richard Heathfield on 03/16/07 05:28
blmblm@myrealbox.com said:
<snip>
> I guess even if one has written the greatest book ever on a subject
> there might still be a reason not to use it in a class one teaches,
For example, it may be pitched at the wrong level. I would not use "C
Unleashed" as a text from which to teach C, for example. Readers of
that book are supposed to know C already (to a reasonable level).
> since by doing so one misses an opportunity to expose students to
> multiple points of view.
There's that, too.
> But it (not using one's book) would seem
> to argue a certain lack of confidence in one's work, no?
I don't see it, actually.
Here's our heroic author of "The Physics of Foo", in the first lecture
of the term, discussing the reading list for the course:
"As you will undoubtedly have noted, the seminal work in this field,
'The Physics of Foo', is missing from your reading list. This is partly
because modesty prevents me from recommending a book I wrote myself,
and partly because we can learn much by studying the mistakes that
lesser authors have made."
Of course, it would take a certain amount of chutzpah to carry this off
convincingly... :-)
--
Richard Heathfield
"Usenet is a strange place" - dmr 29/7/1999
http://www.cpax.org.uk
email: rjh at the above domain, - www.
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