It's 2013 and people suffer from ADD. Break it up into a la carte chapter books.
Otis -- Solr & ElasticSearch Support http://sematext.com/ On Wed, May 29, 2013 at 6:23 PM, Jack Krupansky <j...@basetechnology.com> wrote: > Markus, > > Okay, more pages it is! > > -- Jack Krupansky > > -----Original Message----- From: Markus Jelsma > Sent: Wednesday, May 29, 2013 5:35 PM > > To: solr-user@lucene.apache.org > Subject: RE: Note on The Book > > Jack, > > I'd prefer tons of information instead of a meager 300 page book that leaves > a lot of questions. I'm looking forward to a paperback or hardcover book and > price doesn't really matter, it is going to be worth it anyway. > > Thanks, > Markus > > > > -----Original message----- >> >> From:Jack Krupansky <j...@basetechnology.com> >> Sent: Wed 29-May-2013 15:10 >> To: solr-user@lucene.apache.org >> Subject: Re: Note on The Book >> >> Erick, your point is well taken. Although my primary interest/skill is to >> produce a solid foundation reference (including tons of examples), the >> real >> goal is to then build on top of that foundation. >> >> While I focus on the hard-core material - which really does include some >> narrative and lots of examples in addition to tons of "mere" reference, my >> co-author, Ryan Tabora, will focus almost exclusively on... narrative and >> diagrams. >> >> And when I say reference, I also mean lots of examples. Even as the >> hard-core reference stabilizes, the examples will continue to grow ("like >> weeds!"). >> >> Once we get the current, existing, under-review, chapters packaged into >> the >> new book and available for purchase and download (maybe Lulu, not decided) >> - >> available, in a couple of weeks, it will be updated approximately every >> other week, both with additional reference material, and additional >> narrative and diagrams. >> >> One of our priorities (after we get through Stage 0 of the next few weeks) >> is to in fact start giving each of the long Deep Dive Chapters enough >> narrative lead to basically say exactly that - why you should care. >> >> A longer-term priority is to improve the balance of narrative and >> hard-core >> reference. Yeah, that will be a lot of pages. It already is. We were at >> 907 >> pages and I was about to drop in another 166 pages on update handlers when >> O'Reilly threw up their hands and pulled the plug. I was estimating 1200 >> pages at that stage. And I'll probably have another 60-80 pages on update >> request processors within a week or so. With more to come. That did >> include >> a lot of hard-core material and example code for Lucene, which won't be in >> the new Solr-only book. By focusing on an e-book the raw page count alone >> becomes moot. We haven't given up on print - the intent is eventually to >> have multiple volumes (4-8 or so, maybe more), both as cheaper e-books ($3 >> to $5 each) and slimmer print volumes for people who don't need everything >> in print. >> >> In fact, we will likely offer the revamped initial chapters of the book as >> a >> standalone introduction to Solr - narrative introduction ("why should you >> care about Solr"), basic concepts of Lucene and Solr (and why you should >> care!), brief tutorial walkthough of the major feature areas of Solr, and >> a >> case study. The intent would be both e-book and a slim print volume (75 >> pages?). >> >> Another priority (beyond Stage 0) is to develop a detailed roadmap diagram >> of Solr and how applications can use Solr, and then use that to show how >> each of the Deep Dive sections (heavy reference, but gradually adding more >> narrative over time.) >> >> We will probably be very open to requests - what people really wish a book >> would actually do for them. The only request we won't be open to is to do >> it >> all in only 300 pages. >> >> -- Jack Krupansky >> >> -----Original Message----- From: Erick Erickson >> Sent: Wednesday, May 29, 2013 7:19 AM >> To: solr-user@lucene.apache.org >> Subject: Re: Note on The Book >> >> FWIW, picking up on Alexandre's point. One of my continual >> frustrations with virtually _all_ >> technical books is they become endless pages of details without ever >> mentioning why >> the hell I should care. Unfortunately, explaining use-cases for >> everything would only make >> the book about 10,000 pages long. Siiigggggh. >> >> I guess you can take this as a vote for narrative.... >> >> Erick >> >> On Tue, May 28, 2013 at 4:53 PM, Jack Krupansky <j...@basetechnology.com> >> wrote: >> > We'll have a blog for the book. We hope to have a first >> > raw/rough/partial/draft published as an e-book in maybe 10 days to 2 >> > weeks. >> > As soon as we get that process under control, we'll start the blog. I'll >> > keep your email on file and keep you posted. >> > >> > -- Jack Krupansky >> > >> > -----Original Message----- From: Swati Swoboda >> > Sent: Tuesday, May 28, 2013 1:36 PM >> > To: solr-user@lucene.apache.org >> > Subject: RE: Note on The Book >> > >> > >> > I'd definitely prefer the spiral bound as well. E-books are great and > >> > your >> > draft version seems very reasonably priced (aka I would definitely get >> > it). >> > >> > Really looking forward to this. Is there a separate mailing list / etc. >> > for >> > the book for those who would like to receive updates on the status of > >> > the >> > book? >> > >> > Thanks >> > >> > Swati Swoboda >> > Software Developer - Igloo Software >> > +1.519.489.4120 sswob...@igloosoftware.com >> > >> > Bring back Cake Fridays – watch a video you’ll actually like >> > http://vimeo.com/64886237 >> > >> > >> > -----Original Message----- >> > From: Jack Krupansky [mailto:j...@basetechnology.com] >> > Sent: Thursday, May 23, 2013 7:15 PM >> > To: solr-user@lucene.apache.org >> > Subject: Note on The Book >> > >> > To those of you who may have heard about the Lucene/Solr book that I and >> > two >> > others are writing on Lucene and Solr, some bad and good news. The bad >> > news: >> > The book contract with O’Reilly has been canceled. The good news: I’m >> > going >> > to proceed with self-publishing (possibly on Lulu or even Amazon) a >> > somewhat >> > reduced scope Solr-only Reference Guide (with hints of Lucene). The > >> > scope >> > of >> > the previous effort was too great, even for O’Reilly – a book larger > >> > than >> > 800 pages (or even 600) that was heavy on reference and lighter on > >> > “guide” >> > just wasn’t fitting in with their traditional “guide” model. In truth, >> > Solr >> > is just too complex for a simple guide that covers it all, let alone >> > Lucene >> > as well. >> > >> > I’ll announce more details in the coming weeks, but I expect to publish >> > > an >> > e-book-only version of the book, focused on Solr reference (and plenty > >> > of >> > guide as well), possibly on Lulu, plus eventually publish 4-8 individual >> > print volumes for people who really want the paper. One model I may > >> > pursue >> > is to offer the current, incomplete, raw, rough, draft as a $7.99 > >> > e-book, >> > with the promise of updates every two weeks or a month as new and > >> > revised >> > content and new releases of Solr become available. Maybe the individual >> > e-book volumes would be $2 or $3. These are just preliminary ideas. Feel >> > free to let me know what seems reasonable or excessive. >> > >> > For paper: Do people really want perfect bound, or would you prefer > >> > spiral >> > bound that lies flat and folds back easily? I suppose we could offer >> > both – >> > which should be considered “premium”? >> > >> > I’ll announce more details next week. The immediate goal will be to get >> > the >> > “raw rough draft” available to everyone ASAP. >> > >> > For those of you who have been early reviewers – your effort will not > >> > have >> > been in vain. I have all your comments and will address them over the > >> > next >> > month or two or three. >> > >> > Just for some clarity, the existing Solr Wiki and even the recent >> > contribution of the LucidWorks Solr Reference to Apache really are still >> > great contributions to general knowledge about Solr, but the book is >> > intended to go much deeper into detail, especially with loads of > >> > examples >> > and a lot more narrative guide. For example, the book has a complete > >> > list >> > of >> > the analyzer filters, each with a clean one-liner description. Ditto for >> > every parameter (although I would note that the LucidWorks Solr > >> > Reference >> > does a decent job of that as well.) Maybe, eventually, everything in the >> > book COULD (and will) be integrated into the standard Solr doc, but > >> > until >> > then, a single, integrated reference really is sorely needed. And, the >> > book >> > has a lot of narrative guide and walking through examples as well. Over >> > time, I’m sure both will evolve. And just to be clear, the book is not a >> > simple repurposing of the Solr wiki content – EVERY description of >> > everything has been written fresh, from scratch. So, for example, > >> > analyzer >> > filters get both short one-liner summary descriptions as well as more >> > detailed descriptions, plus formal attribute specifications and numerous >> > examples, including sample input and outputs (the LucidWorks Solr >> > Reference >> > does a better job with examples as well.) >> > >> > The book has been written in parallel with branch_4x and that will >> > continue. >> > >> > -- Jack Krupansky >> >> >
