Did he say how the editorial process was (or is) being handled? Has there been any kind of Review Board appointed? Or is it just a Committee of One? I have not been contacted for any input, and I don't know anyone else who has.
I promise there are errors in the 7th Edition revisions that he alone will not catch. There is at least one major change that demands changes in several areas for consistency of presentation. And there is text that unless rewritten does not say what Homer meant to say. Not to mention the errors in the 6th that the 7th revisions don't catch.
I applaud the promise of publication.
And will give the actual event a standing ovation.
But the job is bigger than one man.
Here's hoping he gets it right.
Earlier in this thread, Mikestloc posted that, at the TGM Summit in Birmingham, Joe Daniels announced that the publication of the 7th edition was just weeks away. My above reply to that post has generated some controversy on Brian Manzella's website. I have expanded on my view in my reply to Tongzilla and Pro on that site and have reprinted that post below.
Quote:
Originally posted by Pro
Quote:
Originally posted by tongzilla
Can you please ask Joe to give a few names on the people who has put together the 7th Edition of TGM, which he said will be officially published very soon?
...I believe Joe has put together the 7th edition with only Mr. Kelley's notes, as it should be. Did Mr. Kelley have a panel review when he wrote the previous six editions?
...It does amaze me at times how critical people can be, when is the 7th edition coming was everyones question, the home office should have it out by now, what can take so long? Now that it is coming out people are complaining about how it will be presented, how about we wait until it comes out before we begin to judge.
...I have had disagreements with how things have been handled at times also, I try to make my concerns known to the home office, not fire shots from afar.
No, Homer Kelley did not have a review board, but ideally, he would have. This editorial process serves to catch countless errors in advance, not in arrears. For that reason, major publishers require authors to submit drafts of their work for review by editors and often by knowledgeable colleagues. The editors supply the grammatical and organizational scrutiny and the colleagues provide the technical expertise. As most grateful authors tell you in the preface of their book, this process is extremely valuable.
In Homer's case, this lack of process resulted in the first edition being issued with a long list of errata at the front of the book. Later, Mac O'Grady sent Homer a similar list, largely concerning misplaced captions. As Homer said, "That was the last place I would have looked." In a 1981 telephone conversation, I asked Homer if, based on my understanding of the Flying Wedges, shouldn't Photo 5-C-2 in the prior editions be 'Bent-Level-Turned', not 'Bent-Cocked-Turned'? He agreed and corrected the error in the 6th. [Homer acknowledged that contribution in the Master Class tapes of January 1982.] On October 9, 1983, eight months after Homer's passing, I personally sent Sally Kelley a list of eleven errors in the 6th edition to be corrected in a future 7th. After twenty-three more years of study, I can only say that the list was very incomplete.
Nobody is arguing that the integrity of Homer's work must be preserved. However, it is clearly in the best interest of all that the 7th edition be as error-free as possible. And this requires more than one person, whether that person works with or without editors. The effort requires nothing less than the most knowledgeable TGM Instructors in the world -- a handful of carefully selected eyes and brains -- performing a critical review before publication. I have no doubt that such a process would yield invaluable contributions without changing the character of the work one iota. Make no mistake, those same eyes and brains will be doing exactly that after publication. What a shame if, for want of simply asking, 'Homer's last' comes to market at less than its best.
As far as "being critical" and "firing shots from afar", I made this same recommendation -- and more than a few others -- very up close and personal almost two years ago. Assuming publication is indeed imminent, that recommendation obviously fell on deaf ears. Or perhaps simply ears that didn't agree.
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