On Jan 25, 2007, at 2:36 PM, Stan Shebs wrote:
Phil Sandifer wrote:
I'd be similarly shocked if one could write a good article on high temperature physics or group theory while being totally dependent on published reliable sources, because those sources were never written for the purpose of being used to explain the concept to novices.
The best sources for general topics are textbooks actually; reliable, and written to explain concepts. I find the introductions to monographs and papers as useful for WP as the bodies; at least the more articulate writers manage to get in a few words intelligible to the nonspecialist. :-)
I picked those examples precisely because there weren't good or usable textbooks for them. (Or, at least, I asked a random chemistry grad student I had nearby for two topics that would fit that bill and that's what she gave me. Damned if I know what the hell group theory is.)
-Phil