The reference hierarchy, from simple to advanced understanding
Wikipedia is where we go first to look something up: you use it when you know nothing about a subject. That’s why Google, until recently, always promoted a Wikipedia article to the top …
I picked up a copy of this successful reference book in a charity shop for £3.50. It was the first edition, from 1983 and there have been at least two subsequent editions, but the concept and coverage are unlikely to have …
Reading Time: 5minutesFrom the Oxford Classical Dictionary
As in many areas of corporate activity, best practice in publishing seems to suffer from amnesia. Good principles are established in one generation, then, for no apparent reason, lost. Publishers come and go, and perhaps new …
The basic principles of an encyclopedia article haven’t changed over time – but the same errors continue to be made. One of the most fundamental principles, which is the same as writing a dictionary entry for a concept, …
It seems a simple idea – to read the label on a bottle of wine and to understand what the bottle contains (and if it’s worth drinking). The reality is quite the opposite. Wine …
Not a day passes without someone suggesting a way to reduce
the inefficiency of the scholarly publication cycle. There is an interesting article in Scholarly Kitchen by Tim Vines, about Michael Eisen, the new Editor-in-Chief
of eLife, suggesting ideas for the …
Reading Time: 3minutesThat word “modern”, of course, always raises problems. As soon as you label a book as “modern” it appears outdated very quickly. So the Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought, first published 1977, now looks very dated. Nonetheless, a title that …
That word “modern”, of course, always raises problems. As soon as you label a book as “modern” it appears outdated very quickly. So the Fontana Dictionary of Modern Thought, first published 1977, now looks very dated. Nonetheless, a title that …