An Unpleasant Review....[Fwd: Re: [AJD] Disappointment: New JD Book-HOBBY BOOKS IN GENERAL]

Tue Dec 14 12:09:02 PST 2004

Hello Dean,

I'm really sorry you're disappointed with my new book. 

If you wouldn't mind giving me a moment, I would like to set a record
straight about some of the comments you have written. 

The first two-thirds of this book IS based on 15,800 pages of new
material. It truly is not a rehash of the book I wrote 11 years ago but
it is a fresh and complete re-examination of that material in view of
several dozen new discoveries. In fact, I threw out the original book as
I started reading Theo Brown's diaries. The text material in this big
book is virtually new up through 1959. 

As for taking the text as gospel, I am willing to stake my reputation -
such as it may be in your eyes, now - on this text. Brown was there, and
he did the work. While I am aware that J.R. Hobbs has read portions on
the diaries at Deere's Archives, it appears that Lorry Dunning (who read
all 15,800+ pages) and I may be the only people who have read Brown's
diaries this thoroughly. In fact, according Rodney Gorme Obien, to the
curator at Worchester Polytechnic Institute, we are the only researchers
who have examined Brown's diaries there since he donated them and they
microfilmed them nearly 40 years ago!  

Regrettably, from there on, I encountered substantial challenges in
getting more recent engineers to respond to phone calls, inquiries, or
requests for interviews. I admire Deere's engineers and I like the
company but I can tell you after 15 years experience doing books that
book authors exist at the bottom of the food chain for responses to
information requests, not only at Deere & Co. but at most of Fortune's
500. 

I felt compelled, as a result, to rewrite some of my existing material
for the chapters dealing with the origination of the New Generation
tractors because I could not obtain enough new information. It
disappointed me and it frustrated me. In the case of my interviews with
Bill Hewitt, and with some of the Dreyfuss designers, some of these
people no longer are with us. I went back to my original interviews,
listened to the tapes and reread my transcriptions, in order to see if I
could come up with any new interpretation. 

The photos are another matter. There are 88 NEW tractors in this book,
machines that I have not photographed before. As I assembled the text I
recognized that there were some machines that I wrote about but that I
had not found new machines to shoot, or I had been denied access to
shoot them again for this book. Hence, there are some recycled images. I
regret it, and it's decidedly not a majority. It's not how I like to
work, however; I absolutely believe in giving my readers value for their
money - meaning new information and new photos in each book. 

I cannot speak to the design or the title of this book. None of those
decisions are mine. I will say in defense of MBI and its design staff
that they created a book in tune with and stylistically in keeping with
other coffee-table style books that are selling now. MBI's goal is to
sell books. Honestly, too, we really believed you all would like the
large photos that this format allowed. And frankly, as my own aging
process advances, I don't mind a little extra white space. 

It is my goal to provide you and other Deere enthusiasts with value for
money. I have to tell you that in my mind, this IS a major new work. If
you think I've failed, you all now have my e-mail address. Let me know.
If you do find that I've made factual mistakes in this book, I'd like to
know that, too. Please be specific and, if you would, tell me not only
what is wrong but what the correct information is and what your source
is. I value your experience and I will respect your comments.

We'll correct errors in the second printing. But if, after you finish
reading this book, Dean, you conclude that you hate it, let me know
that, too. Tell my why. If what you say makes sense to me, Dean, I'll
personally buy your book back. 

In the meanwhile, I wish you happy holidays,     randy 

Randy Leffingwell
writer/photographer
805-967-2953
New website - www.rleffingwell.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Guy Fay [mailto:fayguyma at execpc.com] 
Sent: Sunday, December 12, 2004 10:35 AM
To: Randy Leffingwell
Subject: An Unpleasant Review....[Fwd: Re: [AJD] Disappointment: New JD
Book-HOBBY BOOKS IN GENERAL]

Perhaps some problems with MBI's new layouts.....and the lack of text.

-------- Original Message -------- 

Subject: 
Re: [AJD] Disappointment: New JD Book-HOBBY BOOKS IN GENERAL

Date: 
Sun, 12 Dec 2004 12:47:25 -0500

From: 
Dean Vinson  <mailto:vinsond at voyager.net> <vinsond at voyager.net>

Reply-To: 
Antique John Deere mailing list
<mailto:antique-johndeere at lists.antique-tractor.com>
<antique-johndeere at lists.antique-tractor.com>

To: 
Antique John Deere mailing list
<mailto:antique-johndeere at lists.antique-tractor.com>
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References: 
<000001c4e06c$6ca6d860$64f0480c at DeanOffice>

Bill Brueck wrote:

 > Would invite contrary comments on this, but I make a point of having
 > the JR Hobbs books that cover those models that interest me.

Ditto.  I just the other night re-read my copy of his older book on the 
first numbered series, which is now in print again in an "updated" 
version (quoting from Richard Hain's editorial in the November Green 
Magazine).  So it's back on my list of books to think about buying.  I 
notice, however, that the ads for the book don't say "Second Edition" as

they do for his book on the 30 series, and they've taken JR's name off 
the front cover, so I'll hold off on getting one until I can find a copy

to browse through.

Mike Massengale wrote:

 > If anyone can recommend some "must have" publications that would be
 > in line right behind the "essentials" for an early styled "B" I'd
sure
 > appreciate it.

Bill's recommendation of JR's books on the Letter Series is where I'd 
start as well.  You can read a little about them (or order them) at 
.

Several others have commented about the various things people are 
looking for in tractor books, the abundance of choices and the scarcity 
of really excellent products, etc.  I've got a bunch of coffee-table 
types, a bunch of nuts-and-bolts-and-production-numbers types, and 
several operators, parts, and service manuals for tractors I've had or 
would like to have, and happily spend just as long making sense of the 
hydraulic system exploded view drawings as reading about the events that

influenced this company or that product design or whatever.

I wrote my original post about Leffingwell's new coffee-table book 
because I was mad that so much of the text and a fair number of the 
pictures are recycled, but a big part of it is my own fault for 
expecting something else.  Anybody who buys two books by the same author

that are both titled more or less "A History of John Deere Tractors" has

it coming.  And as I've begun really reading the book, I'm starting to 
enjoy it despite myself.  I think Leffingwell's heart is in the right 
place and I trust the list's own Guy Fay to have helped him include some

new and genuinely interesting stuff.  Given proper caution about not 
necessarily taking the text as gospel, it's no doubt a very good book.

But content aside, the packaging still rubs me the the wrong way.  I 
respect a lot of his earlier books because they're high density--lots of

well-written interesting text and his trademark great photos in a 
reasonably small package.  I thought this new book, coming 11 years 
after his other JD history and being physically a great big damn thing, 
would be the same way--not just a revision but a major work, with enough

new and better information to fill all those new and very large pages 
and support that heavyweight price tag.  Instead a lot of it is just 
bigger font size and more white space between each line.  Be careful, 
Randy.  In your IH book you write about the big shiny Farmall 560 with 
too many recycled guts and too few R&D hours...

Dean Vinson  --  Dayton Ohio

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