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Good point. I thought about this a bit more and, to be honest, I read very few academics. Not intentionally, but it worked out that way. Strangely, some of t
by elgabogringo 10y ago
Good point. I thought about this a bit more and, to be honest, I read very few academics. Not intentionally, but it worked out that way.
Strangely, some of the smarter, best informed people I read are just regular people without any journalistic or academic qualifications in the field they write on.
On second thought, maybe that's not as strange as it seems.
- robotresearcher 10y agoIt's important to understand that practicing researchers are targeting each other as the audience, and not laypeople. It's simply not the scientist's job to inform or entertain you when they work in that mode. Some choose to do popular writing as well - Carl Sagan is a very successful example. But not all, and that's OK. Most excellent scientists are busy doing useful things other than popular blogs and magazine articles. Same for judges, doctors, engineers and other busy, specialized professionals.
- adrianratnapala 10y agoThis is only three quaters true. The rules of any funding commmitee will include public outreach, and getting yourself published in the popular really will help you get your next grant. But all that often has an artificial feel to it, and day to day the job of scientists is to explain things too, and compete with, one another.
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- robotresearcher 10y ago> This is only three quaters true. I said 'when they work in that mode'.
- blastrat 10y agostop and think for a minute about what you are saying. Did you go to college, and did you learn anything? High school? Those books are all written by academics; very few of the smarter better informed people you're reading could write a single textbook without spending a stupid amout of time studying the field first. Nothing wrong with you being interested in reading what smart, well-informed people have to say on a variety of topics, and nothing wrong with being interested in everyday practical stuff over the edges of academia... but there is a little something wrong with thinking that your preferences indicate something "interesting" about academic writing; I read a lot of blogs too, but get a grip, man!
- elgabogringo 10y agoI wasn't talking about formal academic writing in this post. I was talking about academics.
- blastrat 10y agowhat I wrote was also about academics, taught by academics who also write academic papers. They're the same people. You don't have to read them