Ever closer… 3 Jun 200922 Jun 2018 Now it has a pretty cover… More here. Administrative Book Species and systematics Species concept
Ecology and Biodiversity Observing the hot 17 Mar 2008 The ever-interesting blog of Moselio Schachter, Small Things Considered has another post of thought-provoking microbes: hyperthermophiles. These wee beasties live at 90°C in anoxic conditions. I particularly liked the passing comment: Growth and division of these organisms was observed at 90°C under anoxic conditions using a dark-field light microscope (which… Read More
History False botanists 1 May 2009 … says Linnaeus: False BOTANISTS proclaim the Laws of the Art before they have learned them: Extol absurd Authors, and are jealous of the excellent ones: Steal from others, producing nothing of their own: Boast much of a little knowledge: Pretend they have discovered a natural Method: Assert the Genera… Read More
Biology Obit: Chris Humphries 18 Aug 2009 The Telegraph in the UK has an obituary for Chris Humphries, the botanist and systematist who died recently. Humphries was also a major player in the use of biogeography for conservation. Read More
The cover is more than “pretty”; it is a work of art – suitable for framing. I am especially impressed with the subtitle: A History of the Idea. It is perfect and so much stronger than The History of an Idea, which I suspect was suggested/considered. _Quill & Quire: Canada’s Magazine of Book News and Reviews_ regularly includes an article entitled “Cover to Cover “which tells the story of the “evolution ” of the design for the cover of a particular book. Is there a story about the cover of _Species_?
Your curtains are based on Haeckel’s Kunstformen der Natur? Where can I get some? I explicitly claim there is only one species “concept”, but many “conceptions” or “definitions”; so that was always my subtitle. But I was disappointed I wasn’t allowed to use “The Origins of Species Concepts” as the main title for the PhD it comes from. Basically I sent them the Haeckel image and permissions, and they designed it. I can’t even reject the awful use of Helvetica… but I love the colours and layout.
Cool. At least it will look pretty as it’s sitting on my coffee table for a period of years waiting to be read. 😛
John, just visited PayPal. You should have a small token of my esteem in your accounts. When you have advance author’s copies of this work, could you please publicize? I would pay for an autographed copy + shipping from your side of the world. I urge others to do the same, as I urged over at PZ Mwahaha’s. Regards….Scott
“Oh, and “Idea” is a pun on eidos, the Greek term for “species”…” I’m glad you cleared the air — I didn’t think it quite proper to inquire regarding a pun, even a good one.
I get, I think, 5 copies as author. Unfortunately they are all assigned to academic friends who helped (advisors, mentors, that sort of thing). But I will happily sign any copies sent to me or handed to me at a conference. Alas, UCP won’t be sending me on a signing tour or anything… 🙂 I don’t know when the paperback is out, but I hope it won’t be too long. By foregoing my royalties we kept the costs of the hardback down to a manageable amount. I have seen monographs like mine at $115US recently.
Ugh, foregoing royalties is tough. In my case, I’m getting nothing but royalties for 50 Voices of Disbelief. Foregoing any advance kept the costs down. As of today, I have no income whatsoever except for whatever royalties I do get (and some bank interest on savings deposits and the occasional paltry Telstra dividend or whatever), so hopefully the book will sell a few copies. Writing (or editing) books for academic publishers isn’t a great way of getting rich, I’m afraid, however the deal is cut.
No, we discussed that not having an advance would keep the costs down. I was actually offered (and accepted) a straight 10 per cent royalties. This is a bit different for me because in the past I’ve only ever made money from books I’ve done from advances. Even the book I co-wrote for Greenwood Press gave me a small advance: a hundred or a couple of hundred dollars, or something. The royalties from the four novels I wrote for Byron Preiss were set very low, as is typical with media tie-in contracts, and then the whole Byron Preiss operation went bankrupt after Byron’s tragic death, which means I never got US$3000 that I was still owed at the time. However, I did get a fair bit in advances in the early 2000s. Hey, I almost made enough from writing to support myself for a year or so … that year being, alas, 2003. Trying to make a living as a freelance writer is a bit like trying to make a living by giving singing lessons to snakes. I can think of lots of ways to expand that analogy … although I must add that the Wiley-Blackwell folks have been very good to deal with, and I hope to work with them on some of the future projects that I have in mind. With luck, they’ll have a best-seller on their hands and everyone will be happy.