There needs to be a word that describes people who are doing what may be called “university quality” work while not actually being in an university. “Independent scholar” is too pretentious, I would prefer something that is closer to describing what a PhD student does, but without connection to any university. Most of the candidate […]
One of the pillars of the scientific method is repeatability. It should be possible for an experiment performed in one lab under certain parameters to be repeated under exactly the same conditions in any other lab.
Part of this requires at least some parameters that are controlled and easy manipulated by the scientist. From wikipedia on […]
From Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance:
When the paper came due she didn’t have it and was quite upset. She had tried and tried but she just couldn’t think of anything to say.
He had already discussed her with her previous instructors and they’d confirmed his impressions of her. She was very serious, disciplined and […]
Joe Wikert was kind enough to interview me about Fractal Press. In the interview we discuss how we started Fractal Press by approaching the question of decision-making under uncertainty and I also mention some of the advantages this approach gives us.
You can find the interview here:
Fractal Press interview with Navanit Arakeri
Joe is a Vice President […]
In an earlier post on our philosophy I wrote:
… we take a very fallible approach to publishing. We like to minimize editing and heavy-handed changes. We don’t pretend that we understand what readers are looking for.
I really do believe that editors and publishers have no way of knowing beforehand whether a book is going to […]
I have a pretty good pitch that I use to get bloggers to work with us. It’s reasonably long and I make a few good points. It also happens to be very sincere, since we built this company from first principles and I really believe in what I’m doing. I think that comes across.
Most bloggers […]
Obviously our anthologies help move blog content from the internet-space to real-world meat-space. We enable our readers to read while on the bus, train, or in a park. While lying on a coach with their legs hanging over the side. But what other value is Fractal Press adding?
Let me illustrate this through a metaphor in […]
Our first book will be an anthology of the best blog posts in Personal Finance. We’re planning to publish a deep, relevant, and helpful book and we’re hoping you’ll participate. We are already working with the top bloggers and will have the blog posts lined-up by March 20, 2008. If we do anthologize your posts:
You’ll […]
To have readers nominate your blog to us, please install the “Anthologize” button on your blog. It can go anywhere on your blog and needs to appear only once (in a prominent place), but you may also decide to have it appear on every post. Each reader will be able to nominate only once and a nomination […]
Bottom-up
This is a new approach to the world of book publishing. Blogs are a massive, unfettered, bottom-up writing process. We are focussed on publishing the highest quality content that emerges from this process.
The traditional publishing model is akin to the old encyclopedia model - a top-down approach where editors solicited expertise from specific individuals. On […]
