If you thought Jeff Alworth was unimpressed with the Oxford Companion to Beer yesterday then read what Martyn Cornell has written today.
No summarizing from me. You must go read it. (Then go buy Amber, Gold & Black: The History of Britain’s Great Beers. Support proper research. Beer: The Story of the Pint also belongs in your library, but it’s out of print, so buy something he earns royalty for.)
But I do have to mention the sentence in his post where I stopped, shook my head, laughed, rolled back my chair and slapped my knee. Honest.
Even Wikipedia is getting that right now.
Words you don’t want on your tombstone.
I’ll second “amber gold and black”, now that is a good, fun, scholarly read.
Martyn’s post is great, be interesting to see how he updates the wiki.
This (Martyn’s recitation of errors) is PRECISELY why I’m bugged by the lack of professionalism re. the OCB. Precisely.
Wow. It sounds as though the OCB ought to be pulled from shelves or maybe relegated to the fiction section!
It’s a shame that there seems to have been no real forethought put into the research or verification of the articles published in this new and anticipated book on beer.
Should be interesting to see what, if anything, comes of the book in the future.
It’s among the top 500 sellers at Amazon, and don’t be surprised to see it have a nice run.
Maybe somebody needs to turn OCBeerCommentary into an app you buy along with the book.
Or maybe Marty and some of the others who have done deeper research ought to self-publish a true beer guide.
Think I’ll pick up Amber, Gold & Black before the OCB.
Stan, you hint at something I’ve wondered about–how much better this book would be as an app than a four-pound behemoth. Not only would it be far easier to navigate (particularly with hyperlinks–imagine being able to click on the cross-references at the end of each entry), but Oxford could continually update and correct info. I would be far happier to pay forty bucks for an app I knew was being fine-tuned than the version I have–which will inevitably become a door stop when the updated, corrected version comes out in five years.
Jeff – I hope somebody (obviously including you) is thinking about how The Beer Bible is going to work on Kindle Fire.
“…which will inevitably become a door stop when the updated, corrected version comes out in five years.”
Is this how Oxford’s guide to wine started out too?
I sent email to a couple of wine bloggers asking that question, but they haven’t responded (and it’s been a while). The flap on the third edition, which at 6.2 pounds shipping weight is 50% heavier than the beer book, says:
“Published in 1994 to world-wide acclaim, the first edition of Jancis Robinson’s seminal volume immediately attained legendary status, winning every major wine book award including the Julie Child/IACP and James Beard awards, as well as writers and woman of the year accolades for its editor on both sides of the Atlantic.”
The first edition had about 3,000 entries and the third (2006) 3,900.
I know that doesn’t answer you question, but it seems that one was well received from the get-go.
Stan, it’s really remarkable how slow traditional publishers are to embrace digital editions. Workman is aware of the issue, but my sense is they have only dim thoughts. When Timber put out Lisa Morrison’s guide to the Northwest, I was shocked there was no app–it’s an ideal platform for such a medium. You land in Seattle and want to hit a pub. You open your app to Lisa’s book and search by neighborhood, read the reviews–crosslinked, of course–and decided on a place. You tap the address and it takes you to Google maps to guide you there. Ideal.
“Maybe somebody needs to turn OCBeerCommentary into an app you buy along with the book.”
Isn’t the wiki readable on your iPhone without paying a fee?
Alan – yes it is readable on a phone.
I was probably being flip about the suggestion, but imagine a scenario where a publisher releases a book with phones, tablets, notebooks in mind. And then the wiki becomes part of that . . . I have know idea how it would work, what it would look like, but you get the idea.
I will get my staff right on it.