G'day David,
Ah, but you can;t make up book references safely. I can go to a research library and find a copy, or -- if it really makes a difference-- I can ask you for a scan. You can pick the most obscure book, and someone at WP will be there. (
Being fluent in Russian[0], I have a large reference library of Russian works, including a long out-of-print seventeenth century text on the history of Mongolia, which I proceed to cite in order to explain that people from that region, including many parts of China, are all seven feet tall with blue eyes and speak remarkably good Swedish.
Now track down that reference work. You have three days.
<snip/>
[0] Along with fifteen other European languages, a bunch of Asian languages including Bahasa Indonesia. Also, I'm faintly telepathic, can bench-press <insert huge amount here/>, and was voted "Oceania's sexiest man" seventeen years running.
On 5/16/07, Gallagher Mark George m.g.gallagher@student.canberra.edu.au wrote:
Being fluent in Russian[0], I have a large reference library of Russian works, including a >long out-of-print seventeenth century text on the history of Mongolia, which I proceed to >cite in order to explain that people from that region, including many parts of China, are all >seven feet tall with blue eyes and speak remarkably good Swedish.
Now track down that reference work. You have three days.
Ask to borrow the book?
Ok first attack line would probably be the British library and perhaps Oxford libraries
Then bring http://www.worldcat.org into play and start looking at the wikipedians by location cats.
17th century. That's getting easier. Google books is systematically entering all the pre 1900 books from Michigan and Princeton and a number of similar places. They've already done quite a bit from the Bodlean. It is actually revolutionizing our ability to make use of such sources: 5 years from now everything in print should be available. I was challenged over a 19th century printers manual two months ago, and found several copies of all 3 editions on GS. The hardest period will be 1900-2000, material protected by copyright but not generally available.
But before I started in on GB, I would first try to see if the book existed, and I would ask you to give a catalog record for any library that has it. I don't think you would be able to, because I do not think there are any 17th century russian books on the subject. Had you been cleverer & said 1910s and named an actual book, then I'd find which library held it and go there or get a photocopy or a scan.
You would then be claiming it's not in any library or bibliography; the likelihood of that is extraordinarily low, Extraordinary claims of that sort require extraordinary proof, and I would ask you to scan the title page.
In a recent really angry WP discussion, on the Internet Troll Squads, scans of Russian magazine articles were in fact provided. There are hundreds of people on WP who read Russian very well. DGG
On 5/15/07, geni geniice@gmail.com wrote:
On 5/16/07, Gallagher Mark George m.g.gallagher@student.canberra.edu.au wrote:
Being fluent in Russian[0], I have a large reference library of Russian works, including a >long out-of-print seventeenth century text on the history of Mongolia, which I proceed to >cite in order to explain that people from that region, including many parts of China, are all >seven feet tall with blue eyes and speak remarkably good Swedish.
Now track down that reference work. You have three days.
Ask to borrow the book?
Ok first attack line would probably be the British library and perhaps Oxford libraries
Then bring http://www.worldcat.org into play and start looking at the wikipedians by location cats.
-- geni
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On Wed, May 16, 2007 at 01:13:27PM +1000, Gallagher Mark George wrote:
Being fluent in Russian[0], I have a large reference library of Russian works, including a long out-of-print seventeenth century text on the history of Mongolia, which I proceed to cite in order to explain that people from that region, including many parts of China, are all seven feet tall with blue eyes and speak remarkably good Swedish.
Now track down that reference work. You have three days.
[0] Along with fifteen other European languages, a bunch of Asian languages including Bahasa Indonesia. Also, I'm faintly telepathic, can bench-press <insert huge amount here/>, and was voted "Oceania's sexiest man" seventeen years running.
-- [[User:MarkGallagher]]
<sing> He's ... too sexy for his yurt Too sexy for his yurt Too sexy.... </sing>