I realize that the name of Tucker Abbott evokes heavenly choirs of
accolades. And I'm not demeaning the effort it took to do his first edition.
Some of the errors in it could even be forgiven, if for nothing else than
the fact it was a first of its kind work AND most of those errors were
laughably obvious, like mislabeled plates. But by the time the second
edition was released, these things are neither laughable or excusable from
the world authority! I was at a friend's home when her copy  AND THE
VOLUMINOUS CORRECTIONS SECTION arrived. The corrections were the size of
many other full books. Was the Lord of the Shells working alone in the dark
all those years???? What happened to basic technique in scientific writing,
like having an outside authority check your work? I also make a living at
technical writing. I must take computer coding and medical/ scientific
terminology and turn it into English understandable by  insurance
professionals, sales and marketing types. Every word, phrase, and
punctuation is scrutinized! that's the price for the job. Seems to me he
should have been held to the same standard since he wasn't working in the
dark ages!
There have been many excellent books published over the years, but one must
research them like one would the purchase of a rare shell. Many libraries
have shell books on their shelves, and club members will often loan to
friends and acquaintances. See what they have and if the work is good for
you rather than just following the crowd for any book in particular!
-----Original Message-----
From: Paul Callomon <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Monday, December 06, 1999 6:00 PM
Subject: Re: Telling things apart.


>> This raises a related point that I've been wanting to make: it's just
>> astounding to me that the best shell books are not available and/or
pretty
>> much out of date. For example: the most recent comprehensive book on
North
>> American shells is 25 years old!
>And it took me months to find a copy
>> available. Some say there's not enough demand--and I don't believe it.
The
>> first copy I saw available was at alibris.com, going for $480! Compendium
>> of Seashells in getting hard to find (but I did find that one).
>American Seashells is a vast and highly-researched work, and making a
>replacement for it which improves sufficiently on the original to make a
>difference will be a long, hard job. It's not just a question of sitting
>down with the old one and a typewriter - I doubt whether there are more
>than three people on the entire planet who could produce a worthy successor
>to American Seashells within a realistic budget and timeframe. Factor in
>the costs of production, which in real terms have increased since the
>second edition, and the higher expectations of a better-educated market
>(broadly speaking), and it's a wonder anyone is even contemplating doing a
>new edition. The original was Tucker's monument, but he bent the rules to
>breaking point in order to get it done.
>The Compendium has just been reprinted, and Odyssey are selling it as
>usual, so it shouldn't be hard to find.
>
>> So, most of us are able to choose between basic non-comprehensive books
>> such as the nature guides or specialized articles and books. The
>> intermediate has been neglected.
>No it hasn't; Gary Rosenberg's Encyclopaedia is a fine guide to the basic
>distinctions between the various families, with splendid pictures. Cheap,
>too. If you want to go a little further, Mollusca : the Southern Synthesis
>is the next step - a brilliant, well-produced work which covers the various
>families in great detail with good, clear figures. The best general work
>there is right now, and likely to be so for a few years yet.
>
>> I think there's a great opportunity for some enterprising enthusiast to
put
>> together a good book (books) or to devise a website that could serve as a
>> universal identifier and that could be amended and updated with expert
>> assistance.
>As long as that enthusiast does something else for a living; but then, of
>course, they won't have enough time to do a proper job of the book. See the
>problem?