Anyone else heard this?

[griffen]

Last night we were at Borders, and my boyfriend handed me a copy of this book, which is a curebie book. (He didn't know that; he just saw "new book about autism" and thought I'd be interested.) There's a bunch of really offensive stuff in it (Lovaas ABA is good! Your autistic child should never be left alone unless you need to run to the bathroom!

Comments

[polydad]

No, and I wouldn't put much stock in it. A better question: How much is Greenspan making by publishing the book, and what books can *we* write to go after his audience?

I'd guess that *we* are his audience, and that keeping a website with book reviews on it would be a good thing. I'm willing to do the work, but have no clue as to how to get started. Hints?

best,

Joel

[polydad]

The reason for the reviews is so that people like you and me can figure out which books are useful to buy, which aren't, and why. Publishing the information lets us choose which authors deserve the dollars of our support.

If the author didn't include any counter-studies, currently I have no way to find out except getting the book and reading it.

best,

Joel

[anticron]

(Lack of an EDIT command is irratating.)

If the reviews included debunking effects, such as Good Science™, it'd definatley be worthwhile, especially if the only thing the books have to offer are appeals to emotion.

[polydad]

Absolutely. "This is what X said in his book Y; this is what we know so far as of date Z."

Now to find out how to set it up.

best,

Joel

[highwindpav]

I have scads of webspace of my own to offer for hosting, if you can find a way to set something up. Maybe you could use one of the free galleries? My site runs on Apache, Linux, and I have access to MySQL and PHPAdmin so I can host something like that.

Coppermine is a gallery service that I'm looking into for my own use, but I think it could be used for books--it allows reviews and registered users can upload pictures of the book covers (or a placeholder picture if they don't have a cover), add information on the ISBN or links to where to find them, pros and cons, all that, as part of the description of the picture. Then users can rate the books and comment with what they know about it.

Does that sound something like what you mean?

[polydad]

Artemis intimated:

Coppermine does sound like a tool that would do what I want. I'd like to talk with you about hosting; do you do phone? If so, please call me some weekday morning this or next week (9am to noon EDT) at 914-374-8142.

My thanks for your offer, and I hope to talk with you soon to see if it is feasible to take you up on it.

best,

Joel

[highwindpav]

Ohmigoodnesstimezones... If you can handle a sleepy, stuttering PDT dweller on the phone, sure, I'll try to give you a call this week or next. Since I'm looking into Coppermine for myself anyway, I can install it on my site, get a better idea of it can do.

[polydad]

Oh, yeah, time zones. If you're late, you're late. Problem is I'm taking my son to his ballet class in the afternoons, so next week I'm booked every day from 2pm on. *This* week afternoons work.

best,

Joel