The Blue Book is in PDF 10 Sep 2009 Systematists know the tome by Gareth Nelson and Norman Platnick, Systematics and Biogeography (1981), as the Blue Book (shades of Wittgenstein!). It was published once and is now so hard to get that I have been unable to find a copy in ten years of looking. Now, Malte Ebach tells me, the series at UCP of which my book is part, is making a legal PDF available here. I’m taking it to the local print shop for a physical copy. It’s not searchable (but give me a copy of Acrobat and I’ll make it so), but at least it’s there. The core historical narrative of it started me off on what became my book. If anyone can send me a scan of the cover and spine, I’ll upload it on my box.net page. History Species and systematics Species concept Systematics
History The chronicle of 2200 28 Dec 2007 Found in an old manuscript in the ruins of an old university: Well this year has been pretty much the same as those that went before. We planted crops, most of which failed because we only had the poverty of seeds we could find by the side of the now-decayed… Read More
History It's a mystery 28 May 2010 Since the earliest times in recorded Graecoroman history, there have been mystery cults. Every cultic practice for a god had secret rituals and spaces, and there were a number of mystery religions, known as the Eleusinian mysteries, that developed that we know little about. In an excellent review of a… Read More
Epistemology The relation of classification to abductive reasoning 3 Feb 20135 Feb 2013 In my last post, commentator DiscoveredJoys raised the question of abductive reasoning and how it relates to my claim that classification is basically pattern recognition. It’s a fair question. First I’ll repeat my response, and then go into it a little more. In my view, abduction is larger in scope… Read More
In morphometrics (my field), the “blue book” is a different book entirely. We also have the orange book, the black book, the red book …
Now there’s a meme, John. “Decode the book:” I add “the white book” and “the camel book.” For bonus points, pick the field as well.
Not to brag, but I got myself a copy of the blue book, dust jacket and all, after only 8 years of looking. I got Platnick to sign it before I left the AMNH (ok, now I am bragging). I’ll get you a scan next week after I return home from holidays [/brag]