On Jan 31, 2008 4:40 PM, Guy Rouillier <guyr-ml1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > Robert Treat wrote: > > > Just so you know, I approached OReally about writing a PostgreSQL Cookbook, > > and they turned it down. They did offer me some other titles, but those don't > > seem to have gone anywhere. > > As someone else pointed out in this thread, very much of what you need > to know has been previously discussed at one point; the hard part is > finding it. > > What we need is for some of the people with the big brains ;) to come up > with some new kind of "hyperbook". That would be the documentation in > some form similar to what it is today, but somehow connected to the > discussions that happen in the mailing lists. That way, when something > really insightful or helpful gets said in the mailing lists, it can get > connected to a particular place in the documentation. Then over time, > the doc maintainers can take the best of those and incorporate them > directly into the docs at the appropriate place. The trouble is that this is nearly as much trouble as actually writing a book, and doesn't provide a clear incentive for people to put in the effort of making it happen. There's the problem (and it is, to a degree, truly a problem) that the "postgreSQL book" market hasn't been lucrative enough to draw people into writing books. And honestly, it *needs* to be more lucrative. If I'm thinking about alternative uses for my spare time, writing does not appear to be a particularly profitable use. Finding a "poor man's way" to generate a "hyperbook" actually needs much the same sorts of skills and efforts, even though it probably provides those that provide the effort with *less* benefits. -- http://linuxfinances.info/info/linuxdistributions.html "The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results." -- assortedly attributed to Albert Einstein, Benjamin Franklin, Rita Mae Brown, and Rudyard Kipling ---------------------------(end of broadcast)--------------------------- TIP 3: Have you checked our extensive FAQ? http://www.postgresql.org/docs/faq
