I have nothing against books, and in fact, I love them. The more,
the better; they are a sign of civilization. But I'm not sure I
would gladly pay perhaps $100 for one article or chapter in an
otherwise useless or dull book. Some biofeedback books are in-
credibly expensive and may have only one or two chapters that
are of any interest. While I love books, I wouldn't buy one under
such circumstances.

As for online articles, when I was working on a special engineering
project I needed information on a particular type of sonic trans-
ducer, but I found that I would have to pay anywhere from $30 to
$65 to acquire the article I needed, and possibly I would also
have to join some club or organization to get access to the article.

That's all fine and good when you are working, have quick funds
to shell out for research, and can justify spending that much
money for a single article. But most amateurs and casual readers
aren't in the position to pay extravagant prices for articles,
abtracts, or treatises. And then people wonder why the US is behind
the rest of the world in technology-- and also in education. I'm
a firm believer in capitalism, but there's a distinct line between
covering one's costs for getting information out, and greed. Just
look at the information on Google's educational service where
almost any article it pulls up is likely to be costly. I tried toget
a little information on theta brainwaves and 9 out of every 10
articles I found had to be bought and paid for. I hate to sound--
and worse, hate to feel like some old geezer, but when I was growing
up, information was in libraries and free.

Well, time to get off my soap box and sit alone in my rocking
chair. :-)

Ron
--- In bwgen@yahoogroups.com, Khem Caigan <Khem@...> wrote:
>
>
> Ron Hubbard doth schriebble:
> >
> > I'm not too interested in that paper, but practically, if one is
> > not an engineer, what's the chances of coming across that paper?
> > I'v seen a lot of articles, abstracts, treatises, etc that are all
> > virtually unavailable unless somebody has a special account to a
> > website or library. Or unless someone is willing to pay mucho
> > deniro for a copy.
> >
> <SNIPS>
> >>
> >>If you really want to build an electro-sleep device, see
> >>Wageneder & St. Schuy's *Electrotherapeutic Sleep and
> >>Electro-Anaesthesia*, Excerpta Medica Foundation, Int'l
> >>Congress series No. 136, 1967.
>
> I am not sure what you are trying to say, here.
>
> If your point is that purchasing technical papers
> is expensive, then your point is well taken.
>
> Any book that is produced for a small population
> of professionals is liable to be expensive.
>
> Now that material is being published online, that
> expense is decreasing, as most online publishers
> are giving us the option to purchase a PDF of a
> paper instead of subscribing to their periodicals.
>
> I use that option often.
>
> Eventually more technical literature will become
> available in less expensive online formats, but
> when a book is only available as treeware, you
> have to weigh your interest against the price.
>
> I work in this area of interest, Wageneder & St.
> Schuy's book is still available, and it is on my
> shelf.
>
> In these latter days of Bookfinder & Ebay, we have
> access to marketplaces providing an astonishingly
> wide variety of relatively inexpensive technical
> books and electronic gear.
>
> You might have to wait a bit longer for the
> absolutely *free* technical books and electronic
> gear.
>
> Cors in Manu Domine,
>
>
> ~ Khem Caigan
> <Khem@...>
>