Alan Schoonmaker's Opinion For My Next Book

[DakotaKid]

Mason, this is a fantastic idea. People love history, especially "what if?" scenerios. People also love vicarious gambling. If the two could be combined in an enjoyable, fluidly readable way it would be a great book.

As I read David's posts about sports coaching and the repeated "obvious" errors they make, it parallels decisions made by historical figures such as war generals, politicians, and business leaders. This could be a very interesting read.

I would also like to see the book detail the evolution of people's erroneous decisions. This could take famous stories from the past, show why and how a bad decision was made, and we could learn how to make better decisions for ourselves in our own important moments.

[thedorf]

Of all these ideas the 50 poker hands gets my strongest support. I studied chess for a brief period and have always been confused about why chess books offer so many real life play examples and poker books so few. It would seem to make a lot of sense both in selling books and teaching poker. You could have a vol. 1 through vol. 500 of just hand after hand. Hell, you could take hands that have appeared on this site and cut your work load. Come to think of it, you could just follow Harrington's lead and have a workbook for HPFAP and NLTAP. Ed Miller and Zee could jump on the bandwagon with the small stakes and tough games stuff and on and on yada yada...Basically it would just be sweet.

[Phil153]

[ QUOTE ]
ALGEBRA FOR TEN YEAR OLDS (And those who think like them).

The educational establishment is EXTRAORDINARILY resistant to change. For example, lectures became obsolete when the printing press was invented five centuries ago, but they are still the primary instructional method.

Teachers and administrators are EXTREMELY opposed to anything that improves performance or even allows it to be measured. The teachers’ unions were the most vociferous opponents of the proficiency tests, and they absolutely insist that teachers’ compensation should be based on non-performance criteria. In fact, they have fought against nearly every attempt to improve American students’ abysmal performance on tests of math, science, etc.

Textbooks are purchased by bureaucracies, and the decisions have almost nothing to do with how well a book teaches. It is an extremely centralized and politicized process, which is completely different from the way 2+2 has sold books.

[/ QUOTE ]

Schoonmaker is a respected 2+2 author so I'll hold off the scathing criticism, but one has to wonder how teacher resistance to performance tests and measurements has anything to do with a book that could improve a class's performance??

Beyond that, I don't buy the establishment stuff. For one, we changed and modernized textbooks often when I was in school. For two, there is a huge private school market that is very interested in student performance.. For three, private tutoring and home schooling is a large and growing market. Overall, the whole math textbook market is pretty large. If a good book came out, it would sell.

The only issues I see are marketing (is 2+2 positioned to do that?) and the fact that Sklansky is an unknown in the wider world. Gambling credentials probably don't count for much in the school textbook world. [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[David Sklansky]

"But keep in mind that your reputation for dating a 16 year old (even if you didn't know) won't exactly help find a partner publisher. I think it would have been better keeping that story under wraps if your intention is to market this book to teens. Perhaps a better solution is to market the book for adults who have forgotten rudimentary algebra?"

Putting aside the fact that the actual story is not that bad, I want to make this comment.

If a known rapist, child molester, wrote the only book that could raise your child's algebra grade from a B to a C, and you didn't purchase it because of his crimes, you should have your child taken from you.

Actually though, because of the way this world works, the fact is that a semi known person like myself is unfortunately more, not less, likely to get this book to the marketplace because of that story. (Or the 50K SAT religion challenge.)

[drunkencowboy]

If a known rapist, child molester, wrote the only book that could raise your child's algebra grade from a B to a C, and you didn't purchase it because of his crimes, you should have your child taken from you.


Lol. i think you know what im gonna say but where I went to school a B was higher than a C... And if my kid was getting a C in algebra id whoop him...

[drunkencowboy]

(-b) +/- (sqrt (b^2) - 4ac) / 2a)

[drunkencowboy]

hey David,

what is the answer to this:

("X" = multiplied by)

(x - a) X (x - b) X (x - c) ... (x - z)

where x = 101 and a = 1, b = 2, c = 3, etc...

[*TT*]

[ QUOTE ]
"But keep in mind that your reputation for dating a 16 year old (even if you didn't know) won't exactly help find a partner publisher. I think it would have been better keeping that story under wraps if your intention is to market this book to teens. Perhaps a better solution is to market the book for adults who have forgotten rudimentary algebra?"

Putting aside the fact that the actual story is not that bad, I want to make this comment.

If a known rapist, child molester, wrote the only book that could raise your child's algebra grade from a B to a C, and you didn't purchase it because of his crimes, you should have your child taken from you.

Actually though, because of the way this world works, the fact is that a semi known person like myself is unfortunately more, not less, likely to get this book to the marketplace because of that story. (Or the 50K SAT religion challenge.)

[/ QUOTE ]

Although I don't see anything wrong with the relationship as you previously described since you were unaware, unfortunately the average American will be far quicker to judge you. Fox News is filled with stories like this, it would make for great publicity but I cannot imagine any educational publisher interested in risking their reputation (disclaimer - I'm a magazine publisher, I do not publish books but I have intimate understanding of the PR ramifications) or their bottom line. Your 50K SAT challenge is different and might help you find a deal, but of course some wackos would attempt to use that against you as well (but they are religious wackos after all, we have to expect that).

Remember educational publishers are always pro-children... they will avoid being associated with anyone who might be misconstrued as being a child molester in the eyes of others.


Once again - I do not view you as a child molester, I am nearly pointing out the way the average uninformed American views matters such as this. Thats why I suggest aiming the book at an adult audience, letting viral marketing and PR promote the title to parents whose children can also benefit.This is all constructive criticism, I REALLY hope you write that book!

TT [img]/images/graemlins/club.gif[/img]

[SplawnDarts]

Maybe it's just me, but what would be simplified in a simplified ToP? Would semi-bluffing become drawie-bluffing? Would pg. 57 be intentionally left blank to allow for naptime?

Joking aside, I'm not clear on how you would simplify it even though I've read your proposal in the other thread. What concepts do you believe are in need of a re-work to reach a less sophisticated audience?

[Dominic]

i really want the 50 hands book. so get to work.