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David R. MacIver@DRMacIverover 5 years ago

There's something very funny about writing a book because you want some ideas to be widely available and making it only available as a £30 hardback.

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5/6/2020
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Michael Ashcroft@m_ashcroftover 5 years ago
Replying to @DRMacIver

@DRMacIver My ebook will be cheaper and electronicer.

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5/6/2020
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David R. MacIver@DRMacIverover 5 years ago
Replying to @m_ashcroft

@m_ashcroft Pretty much guaranteed I won't read it if it's only available in ebook I'm afraid.

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5/6/2020
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Michael Ashcroft@m_ashcroftover 5 years ago
Replying to @DRMacIver

@DRMacIver Then you won't read it because I have little desire to figure out dead tree self-publishing.

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5/6/2020
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David R. MacIver@DRMacIverover 5 years ago
Replying to @m_ashcroft

@m_ashcroft Fair enough.

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5/6/2020
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David R. MacIver@DRMacIverover 5 years ago
Replying to @DRMacIver

@m_ashcroft But indeed, then I won't read it. Ebooks are terrible for meaningful absorption of information and while I'm obviously keen to read any book you write, I'm not keen enough to try to overcome that barrier.

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5/6/2020
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Michael Ashcroft@m_ashcroftover 5 years ago
Replying to @DRMacIver

@DRMacIver And yet you read articles online?

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5/6/2020
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David R. MacIver@DRMacIverover 5 years ago
Replying to @m_ashcroft

@m_ashcroft Yup, they have a different set of affordances. But once it passes roughly the equivalent of ~two A4 pages of information it gets tough, and a ten page paper I'm much more likely to read if I print it out than if I try to read on a screen.

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5/6/2020
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Michael Ashcroft@m_ashcroftover 5 years ago
Replying to @DRMacIver

@DRMacIver Then I'll make sure to include a PDF format so that you can print it.

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5/6/2020
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David R. MacIver@DRMacIverover 5 years ago
Replying to @m_ashcroft

@m_ashcroft That works. Although I don't currently have a printer at home and haven't quite reached the point where I'm willing to bite the bullet and purchase one given how much I hate maintaining and storing the damn things. Was relying on work for that. 😢 That's not your problem though.

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5/6/2020
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Michael Ashcroft@m_ashcroftover 5 years ago
Replying to @DRMacIver

@DRMacIver I'm in the same place actually. Given how much I am at home and it would be nice to print things for reading, I may just buy one.

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5/6/2020
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David R. MacIver@DRMacIverover 5 years ago
Replying to @m_ashcroft

@m_ashcroft Yeah I've thought about it and we'll see how I feel as lockdown goes on. Right now I'm just gritting my teeth and trying to read papers on my laptop.

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5/6/2020
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monk@mechanical_monkover 5 years ago
Replying to @m_ashcroft

@m_ashcroft @DRMacIver I think there are companies where you just send them the book files (covers & all the pages) and they'll take care of on-demand printing + delivery, you just have to price the printed version such that it covers all the costs

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5/19/2020
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David R. MacIver@DRMacIverover 5 years ago
Replying to @DRMacIver

@m_ashcroft I'm not being precious here. This is true for everyone, and is a large part of why there's an epidemic of people who think they can't read any more.

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5/6/2020
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David R. MacIver@DRMacIverover 5 years ago
Replying to @DRMacIver

@m_ashcroft The ebook format is genuinely bad for trying to process information, especially anything that requires nonlinear reading, and I wasn't able to fix my reading habits until I acknowledged this and stopped trying to read nonfiction in ebook form.

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5/6/2020
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Michael Ashcroft@m_ashcroftover 5 years ago
Replying to @DRMacIver

@DRMacIver Is that just because it removes the ability to jump around easily? I hear you on that. Anything like a textbook needs to be physical. 'Pop' non-fiction less so though, IMO.

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5/6/2020
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David R. MacIver@DRMacIverover 5 years ago
Replying to @m_ashcroft

@m_ashcroft That's the main reason, yeah. The other big one is that physical presence of a book helps you focus on it, remember its contents (genuinely, the book becomes a kind of mini associative memory through its physicality), and also to remember that it exists.

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5/6/2020
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David R. MacIver@DRMacIverover 5 years ago
Replying to @DRMacIver

@m_ashcroft Even if you successfully read an ebook in nonfiction it will tend to pass out of memory. A physical personal library is almost infinitely better as a part of your external memory than an ebook collection is as a result of this.

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5/6/2020
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David R. MacIver@DRMacIverover 5 years ago
Replying to @DRMacIver

@m_ashcroft Oh also ebooks are shit at footnotes and footnotes are very good.

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5/6/2020
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Michael Ashcroft@m_ashcroftover 5 years ago
Replying to @DRMacIver

@DRMacIver They're much better at end notes though, which suck really hard.

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5/6/2020
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David R. MacIver@DRMacIverover 5 years ago
Replying to @m_ashcroft

@m_ashcroft Yeah I basically never read endnotes in physical books.

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5/6/2020
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David R. MacIver@DRMacIverover 5 years ago
Replying to @DRMacIver

@m_ashcroft (Fiction is usually OK in ebook form because it's intrinsically linear, you don't tend to want to refer back to it, and is usually much less difficult to read in the first place, so the badness of ebooks affects it less and it's at a different point in tradeoff space)

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5/6/2020
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David R. MacIver@DRMacIverover 5 years ago
Replying to @DRMacIver

If you're wondering, I'm subtweeting https://t.co/2kFtV1jaVm after listening to a podcast with the author where specifically states that her goal is to make this book accessible to men. This isn't some niche textbook.

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5/6/2020
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David R. MacIver@DRMacIverover 5 years ago
Replying to @DRMacIver

Although I've got to admit after listening to the podcast I don't really feel filled with a desire to read it.

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5/6/2020
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Malcolm Ocean 🏴‍☠️@Malcolm_Oceanover 5 years ago
Replying to @DRMacIver

@DRMacIver Not quite as self-defeating, but there's something absurd about making your book available as a free ebook but telling ppl not to print it due to carbon footprint. …especially if the book has the potential to produce paradigm shifts… if it's worth reading, it's worth printing! https://t.co/Ka7cvUlDOI

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5/14/2020
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Malcolm Ocean 🏴‍☠️@Malcolm_Oceanover 5 years ago
Replying to @Malcolm_Ocean

@DRMacIver I am subtweeting Steven Wineman and his powerful book Power-Under: Trauma & Nonviolent Social Change https://t.co/SO94CN7nqn https://t.co/thiEl219gy

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Malcolm Ocean 🏴‍☠️@Malcolm_Oceanalmost 6 years ago

@QiaochuYuan For excellent source on: 1⃣ how being traumatized leads to abuse of power 2⃣ how people abusing often feel powerless while doing it 3⃣ how the patriarchy traumatizes men (well, boys) see this free online book Power-Under: Trauma & Nonviolent Social Change https://t.co/4htgEnKhCe

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5/14/2020