Re: poly: canonical texts

Robin Hanson wrote:

> At 02:47 AM 6/14/99 -0700, you wrote:
> >What are the canonical texts which define a subject area?

> The way I find this out is to browse through the textbook section of
> a local university bookstore. With that in mind, here's a simple
> idea for a web business: Create a place where folks can find out what
> texts big name universities are using for various courses. Maybe call
> it YouU, and market it toward the self-education crowd....

> The income from the site would come from bookstores like amazon.com
> paying for people forwarded to their site. And the expenses would
> mainly be finding out what texts are being used in different
> schools. A network of student assistants at the schools, paid in
> textbook discounts, might get you enough info.
>
> Now, how many of you polymaths would use such a service?

This seems to me a really good idea. Would you mind if I bounce it off an
aquaintance
of mine? He is an evolutionary biologist by training, and co-founder of
amazon.com.

Forrest

--
Forrest Bishop
Manager,
Interworld Productions, LLC
Chairman,
Institute of Atomic-Scale Engineering
http://www.speakeasy.org/~forrestb