Can the Insight Articles be published as a series of paperback books?

[fresh_42]

I admit that I like the Insight Articles mostly because I frequently can link to them instead of repeating the same answers over and over again. It seems we have around 400 of them, and all fill the gap between a Wikipedia article and a textbook. They also often include personal experiences, recommendations and views which aren't easy to find elsewhere. So as you own them @Greg Bernhardt, have you ever considered to publish them in one or two or three small paperbacks - Interviews, Physics, Mathematics? This might be the wrong moment to ask for if you're busy with other things, for there certainly will be quite a lot of editorial work to do. However, they would be a great read on commuter trains and in doctors' waiting rooms - a nice little jewel so to say.

Just a thought and maybe the business consultant in me has spoken.

 

[Wrichik Basu]

Good idea. It will also help support PF.

 

[Greg Bernhardt]

One of the main hurdles is that the math is rendered on the go via javascript. It won't convert to pdf or a book format easily. hmmmm

 

[fresh_42]

I can only judge from my point of view. I write them as a tex-file and convert those to the PF editor, which is a bit like a small version of LaTeX, because I usually have to do many compromises on the layout. I do the exchange of control sequences with a good text editor (I find it is the best), that allows me to search and replace, e.g. $ → ## followed by #### → $$. I haven't used a browser's print function, though this could be an option, too. The automatism either with the help of editors, or by a small program, which substitutes control sequences sounds at least interesting to me.

I know that the idea is cheap and the editorial work more expensive, will say exhaustive, than it can be seen at first sight. Another idea is to contact some publishers and transfer the format problem, or at least get some advice. Maybe even amazon as a partner of PF is also an address to ask them. It's a hidden treasure that waits to be discovered. The idea came to me by the following story: A newspaper site I used to regularly read gathered stories of their readers about flight experiences. They finally took the best of them in a paperback and published it. I would have forgotten it, but they sent me a copy
as my story made the cut.

 

[Vanadium 50]

They finally took the best of them in a paperback and published it.

Were there not legal issues with doing that?

 

[fresh_42]

Were there not legal issues with doing that?

One had to sign an agreement and they used real names under the stories.