August 04, 2009
Request
Can we please change the subtitle of the web site. As it stands now it looks like we are talking to someone named Daily. And while this may be possible it is unlikely. I have made this request before and because it may be my only correct correction to someones grammar I think I should be obliged, please!
Posted by Bailey at 05:47 PM | Comments (4)
The Value of a Book
This post is not going to talk economics about cost of items and supply & demand. But will be talking about what you get out of a book. As far as I can tell there are two general types of books, those intended to intended and those intended to inform or educate. Books intended to entertain and easy to identify, they are usually classified as “Fiction” but can also be true stories about ones life or about another's life. Books intended to inform range from user manuals, to textbooks. There are also books that are a mix of the two, a story about a persons life meant to inform the reader about life and perhaps help them in the future. This is specifically the type of book I want to talk about.
I have a book titled The 33 Strategies of War by Robert Greene. This book (as you might have guessed by the title) discusses 33 different strategies of war and how to apply them to daily life, not just life in the military or in battle. One of the features of this book are frequent quotes in red text down the left and right margins of the page. The very first quote like this you see in the book is a quote from the Bible, Job 7:1. When I was reading the book this quote caught my eye so I decided to look it up, and as it turns out the quote is flat wrong. The book (33 strategies) has the quote as “The life of man upon earth is a warfare” when I turned to the Bible that passage is “Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? Are not his days also like the days of an hireling?” (KJV). I also looked this up in the New Kings James Version and it reads “Is there not a time of hard service for man on earth? Are not his days also like the days of a hired man?” (NKJV). Now I don't want to be overly critical but when you make a significant error in the very first quote in your book it tents to cans doubt on the rest of the quotes and intended the rest of the book as a whole. For arguments sake (specifically my argument) lets say that the rest of the book is also filed with these type of errors. Given the book uses historical examples of generals or leaders of various types there could be hundreds of factual errors in this book. When I thought of this my question was does this possibility make the book valueless? My answer is no.
This book seeks to give the reader tools to use in their own life, tools to succeed at war, and tools to succeed at life. If the readers learns from this book, applies what he has learned, and improves their life then the book is a success. As a successful book it has value. Misquotes and factual errors aside useful learning has occurred.
Posted by Bailey at 05:43 PM | Comments (9)