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© Copyright 1999, Jim Loy
What you hold in your hands is a book, unless it is not. Unless you are reading this on the Internet. Unless the book is resting on your knees, or on your desk, in which case you may have some difficulty keeping it open to this page (unless you have some device for doing that). Unless someone is reading it to you. Goll, that wasn't a very good start. Let me start over. I can delete that later.
Why am I collecting my best pages, from my World Wide Web site, into a book? It is not just an ego trip (just a little). It is not to rake in millions (or dozens) of dollars (just a little). It's not because there is a paucity of books out there. It is just a good excuse to spell-check all of these pages. Actually, I want to be a writer; that is one of my ambitions. I have found that self-publishing on the WWW is the easiest, and cheapest, way to expose my writing to the world. Well, having subjected myself to literary (and other) criticism on the web, I feel that I must take the next step, and write a book. So, here it is, unless it is not...
I guess the next question is, "Why should you buy a book that you can read on the Internet?" Well, you may not have a computer with a modem in your bathroom. And, it may just be handier to read a book. This book is not expensive, by the way. Besides, don't you want to help out a struggling author? I know, you can help me struggle, by not buying the book. But, but give me a break; there are tears here (not a lot, on such short notice).
There is actually some interesting stuff here. I'm not just bragging, I'm amazed actually. As I prepare these articles and stories for publication, I am re-reading them. I'm actually enjoying reading this stuff. That one about My Horoscope is pretty good. I Was Out-Smarted By A Tree is pretty funny. Phlogiston Theory is the result of a lot of research (I recommend it to general readers, even though it is somewhat technical). A couple of readers have emailed, saying that my Monty Hall Trap is the first clear explanation of this famous logic puzzle that they have read. My Egyptian hieroglyphics look nice. So does my Art Gallery.
What am I leaving out of this book? Well, I am including only a sampling from my Egyptian Hieroglyphic Dictionary (which I may publish as a separate booklet), and from my Checkers pages (which will be a book a little later). My animations do not work well here, although you will see a couple of them. And, I am weeding out a few pages that are either incomplete or relatively uninteresting.
And, now that I think about it, ego is a major reason for this book. But I don't want millions of dollars.
Disclaimer: The title of this book is Click Here To Read This Book. That is a joke, OK? If you actually have the book in your hands (or wherever), you will probably have to actually turn the pages by hand. Sorry for the inconvenience and confusion.
The above is the introduction to my book. This book isn't quite done. There are a few pictures that I need to draw, to go with some of the articles. And, I need to reorganize it and print it. The first printing will be rather small (50 or 100 copies). Then maybe I can get some real publisher interested in it. Anyway, I hope to have it done some time in July or August, 1999. I haven't figured out a price, yet.