Yes, but if you use old books you might completely mis-identify Long-tailed
Ducks, mistaking them for a completely different class of vertibrates,
mistaking them for old women from the Algonquin tribe.

Stewart Wechsler
ecostewart at quidnunc.net
Seattle

-----Original Message-----
From: TWEETERS-owner at u.washington.edu
[mailto:TWEETERS-owner at u.washington.edu]On Behalf Of Guttman, Burt
Sent: Sunday, November 09, 2003 11:46 AM
To: 'tvulture at vei.net'; Tweeters at u.washington.edu
Subject: Old references [was: goose books]


Diann MacRae wrote, "The book I use for questionable geese is dated, but, in
my opinion,
excellent, . . ." Good! I think there's a nasty tendency in our society to
believe that only brand new things are any good. Birders and other
natural-history types are probably less prone to that kind of thinking than
most people; we're the ones who typically want to preserve the good and the
old, rather than letting it be swamped with ORVs and electronic
gadgets--preserve the marsh instead of letting it become another WalMart.
But there's still a prejudice toward the newest references, whereas older
works may have important information. Being an old birder, my library is
filled with old books. The old Bent's Life Histories series, from 1919 to
about 1968, for instance, is full of valuable stuff. I've seen too many
instances, among scientists and other academics, of being unaware of
valuable older publications or denigrating the information in them. But
older work may represent more thorough, critical studies, done with greater
care than something developed in our hurry-up modern world. So, please,
make no apologies for using older works; treasure them, in fact.

Burt Guttman guttmanb at evergreen.edu
The Evergreen State College
Olympia, WA 98505 360-456-8447
Home: 7334 Holmes Island Road S.E., Olympia 98503


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