Re: NANFA-L-- Fishes of ______ books

John Knight (knighjr-in-auburn.edu)
Wed, 30 Mar 2005 06:37:44 -0600

I'm my experience and my profession, time is money. And when that time
runs in the neighborhood of 10-20 years, that's a bunch of money. While
the specific allocation of time for these types of publications, may not
directly be derived from a grant for a "Fishes of" book. Most
researchers, receive funding from one place or another. otherwise the
lab will not stay afloat. And it is my understanding (As Fritz pointed
out) these types of of projects are conducted on the side. The only
exception being the first Alabama book, which may have received $$$ from
Al Power (don't hold me to that)

I imagine there is competition for the Georgia Book. i only hope folks
will do what's right and allow the proper person to do the work. Right
now Ga has more important things to worry about than pacifying the
masses. There are 5 T and E spp. that are in desperate need of help
from the sprawling monster called Atlanta. In my opinion that's a
priority. Just my input.

JK
Blackwater et al. Florida

>>> archimedes-in-bayspringstel.net 03/29/05 11:51 PM >>>
Quoting Fritz Rohde <Fritz.Rohde-in-ncmail.net>:

> It has been interesting and,-in-times amusing, reading the posts
> regarding Fishes of _____ books, in particularly one for GA. As one
who
> has co-authored one book and currently working on another one, I feel
> that I can comment on what is involved,-in-least from what we have
done.
>
> First, there is little to no money involved. Thus, little incentive,
> expect personal and professional pride, to really push hard to get
these
> books done.

Fritz, and other interested parties,

I know I am quite naive about these things. But I never envisioned that
anybody
would write a state fishes book expecting to get some sort of monetary
reward.
What does surprise me is that there is no great rush to be the first to
publish
a comprehensive Ga. book. I was somewhat surpised by Peter's implied
statement
that there is little prestige attached. I am glad that someone is
undertaking
the task. I guess I thought that these state books were important
enough so
that they would be well funded so that the researchers' time could be
largely
devoted to them, with time off to publish the occasional paper so they
could
stay employed. Like a lot of hobbyists, I don't have the time or money
to read
professional journals, so state fish books are my main souce of
information. I
guess in the real world it is just not that important. But believe me,
I
appreciate the 20 years that Steve Ross put into MY fish book, and all
the work
that went into the S.E. books that I own (which is all of them).
Sometimes in
my zeal I forget that to everybody else in the world, non-game fishes
are just
"fishin' minners".

--Irate

"In theory there is no difference between theory and practice. In
practice there
is." - Yogi Berra
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