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

[Louis R Godena]

A spirited defense, Randy.  For the life of me, I can't fathom why writing a 
book should elicit such carping.

I have a carp of my own, however.  It's *Worcester* (pronounced Wooster), 
not 'Worchester'; that's stuff you pour on your hamburger.  I know, 'cause I 
live about twenty-five miles south of that fair city.  I also bought a stuck 
late-styled B there not long ago.  But that's another story...

Louis G

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Randy Leffingwell" <randy at rleffingwell.com>
To: <vinsond at voyager.net>; <antique-johndeere at lists.antique-tractor.com>
Sent: Tuesday, December 14, 2004 3:09 PM
Subject: RE: An Unpleasant Review....[Fwd: Re: [AJD] Disappointment: New 
JDBook-HOBBY BOOKS IN GENERAL]


> 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>
> <antique-johndeere at lists.antique-tractor.com>
>
> 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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