Guest guest Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 On Feb 5, 2004, at 8:25 AM, Bob Flaws wrote: > Yesterday, Blue Poppy's General Manager made the decision that The > Heart Transmission of Medicine and The Divinely > Responding Classic are both going out of print because they sell less > than 50 copies per year, while The Medical I Ching sells several > hundred copies per year. I think that this is a good observation and assessment of the american OM book purchasing public, however I'd also like to gently suggest that part of the problem with the sales of your book may be formating. I'm all about mechanisms, they enable me to practice better and teach more clearly. I've been told that the Phillipe Sineou collection of seven books contain these things. However, when I finally had the opportunity to crack one open recently, I was disappointed to see that the way in which they are laid out is not very appealing visually. I'm not looking for flowers and borders, but a more visually friendly means by which I can quickly locate the information that I need. For instance, listing herbs in an unbroken paragraph is very difficult to digest, while providing a vertical list makes my mental spleen nice and happy. I suspect that some of your formating choices may be economic, for instance a vertical list will require more pages/paper/printing costs, but it may stimulate some more sales for you. I think that Blue Poppy needs some formating help, especially in the soft covers. The hard cover books seem to be less of a problem, but I think that its still there. I hope that your classics can stay in print, perhaps a little work on the formating will help. I know that if the 7 books I mentioned were more easy on the eyes in terms of content organization, I'd have bought them on the spot. As it is, I'll wait till the need overcomes the hesitancy I have with the formating hurdles. -al. -- Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. -Adlai Stevenson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 Al, Thanks for your feedback. I have sent it on to our page designer. However, you are ccorrect in your assumption that the way we list ingredients is frequently dictated by cost considerations in turn based on proce resistance in this particular market. In any case, check out our brand new book, just off the press today: Points for Profit. I think you will see a completely different and much improved page design. It's even two colors throughout and comes with a jam-packed companion CD. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 Dear Al Stone, Bob Flaws and Group, I agree with Al about the formatting of the 7 Sionneau books, but I bought them anyway. There have been times when I needed information on conditions that I could not find elsewhere (for example, hiccups and bloody semen, to name just two) and I was able to at least get a head start with these books. I take notes anyway, to put in the patient's chart (so I don't have to embarrass myself by carrying books into the treatment room), and in my notes I can format the information the way I want. As long as we are talking about formatting, I find it difficult that the Blue Poppy books list all 5, let's say, syndromes first, then all 5 treatment plans. I'd rather see everything for one pattern together. What do others think? Julie Chambers - " Al Stone " <alstone Thursday, February 05, 2004 3:55 PM Blue Poppy Classics > > I'm all about mechanisms, they enable me to practice better and teach > more clearly. I've been told that the Phillipe Sineou collection of > seven books contain these things. However, when I finally had the > opportunity to crack one open recently, I was disappointed to see that > the way in which they are laid out is not very appealing visually. > > I'm not looking for flowers and borders, but a more visually friendly > means by which I can quickly locate the information that I need. For > instance, listing herbs in an unbroken paragraph is very difficult to > digest, while providing a vertical list makes my mental spleen nice and > happy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 On Feb 5, 2004, at 3:37 PM, Julie Chambers wrote: > As long as we are talking about formatting, I find it difficult that > the > Blue Poppy books list all 5, let's say, syndromes first, then all 5 > treatment plans. I'd rather see everything for one pattern together. > What do > others think? Definitely. Tell you what, as far as formating and organization, I'm a big fan of the two " Clinical Handbook of Chinese Internal Medicine " books. -al. -- Pain is inevitable, suffering is optional. -Adlai Stevenson Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 5, 2004 Report Share Posted February 5, 2004 Bob Flaws and Group, >>>As far as some of the classics Bob i think you need to re-edit most of them. They are very difficult to read and need much more foot noting etc Alon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 6, 2004 Report Share Posted February 6, 2004 Julie, I'm not sure what Ble Poppy books you are talking about. I can't think of any which list all the patterns first and then list the all the treatments. If you're talking about the Sionneau series where he discusses the disease causes and mechanisms first and then goes on to discuss treatment based on pattern discrimination, this is how the entire Chinese language literature does it. So he was simply being faithful to the tradition. The disease causes and mechanisms section serves as a general overview. Then this material is reiterated and expanded upon in the patterns section. I think Chinese do it this way because they inherently understand that such textbook discussions are merely models of how to think about the condition under discussion. The most important thing in these discussions is the disease causes and mechanisms sections. If one understands these sections, then one is supposed to be able to understand how to treat any patient with any combination of these disease mechanisms. If I've understood your comment correctly re the disease causes and mechanisms sections vis a vis the treatment based on pattern discrimination section, then we have a much more profound ignorance of Chinese medicine as it is studied and practiced in China than I have ever considered. Again, if this is so, then I really need to rethink where the starting point should actually be. (Please understand that when I say ignorance, I do not mean this perjoratively. I am only describing lack of a particular knowledge set and I am not making any kind of value judgement about that lack. I hope I'm being clear.) thanks for the feedback. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 6, 2004 Report Share Posted February 6, 2004 Alon, I agree entirely. Unfortunately, at the time we did these, this was the best we could come up with. It underscores the basic impossibility of using native-Chinese language translators to translate INTO English. Since then, Blue Poppy has simply stopped doing this unless a native English speaker is willing and able to retranslate everything if necessary. One of my up-coming projects is to retranslate the Pi Wei Lun myself right from the get-go with commentaries and copious case histories. Thanks for the feedback. Bob Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 6, 2004 Report Share Posted February 6, 2004 One of my up-coming projects is to retranslate the Pi Wei Lun myself right from the get-go with commentaries and copious case histories. >>>That would be great Bob Alon Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 6, 2004 Report Share Posted February 6, 2004 I heartily look forward to this. On Feb 6, 2004, at 1:33 PM, ALON MARCUS wrote: > One of my up-coming projects is to retranslate the Pi Wei Lun myself > right from the get-go with commentaries and copious case > histories. >>>> That would be great Bob > Alon > > Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest Posted February 6, 2004 Report Share Posted February 6, 2004 Bob, I read your " Sticking to the Point " vol. I. page.1 ' To large extent, this methology is based on the logic inherent in the Chinese language.I Chinese, TCM is extremely clear and logical. However,in translation, this logic and clarity are often lost.............................. , we Western ( my comment 'westernised logic educated') practioners all too often plug into our clinical equations the wrong information or else process the right information with the wrong system of logic.' I believe this is because of the paradigm of " system of logic " .We read English books automatically in the " system of logic " of English because we have got used to it, but when the " system of logic " changed, then we feel confused. What do you think? Yudono. Bob Flaws <pemachophel2001 wrote: Alon, I agree entirely. Unfortunately, at the time we did these, this was the best we could come up with. It underscores the basic impossibility of using native-Chinese language translators to translate INTO English. Since then, Blue Poppy has simply stopped doing this unless a native English speaker is willing and able to retranslate everything if necessary. One of my up-coming projects is to retranslate the Pi Wei Lun myself right from the get-go with commentaries and copious case histories. Thanks for the feedback. Bob Chinese Herbal Medicine offers various professional services, including board approved continuing education classes, an annual conference and a free discussion forum in Chinese Herbal Medicine. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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