medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
Larry "[log in to unmask]" Swain. wrote:
>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture
>
> > The book has nothing whatsoever to do with the %$^#
> > forgeries. Are you
> > aware that the sole reason for even mentioning the
> > forgeries is the Square
> > Scripts on the ossuariy -- and that Daniels doesn't
> > mention those scripts
> > at all?
>
>Are you aware that John didn't mention any of this?
[snip]
Larry, are you aware that John read the review? Having read that "review,"
he knows that the forgeries are given as the excuse for Daniels to review
the book.So, yes, I do have to mention such things. Your comments are out
of line.
John cites a deliberate hatchet job as a reason for not reading -- fine.
Nobody has to read it; but he does have to know that it is a deliberate
misrepresentation and malicious in intent.
Quite simply, Daniels is not qualified to review the book and he has a
negative agenda which disqualifies him as an impartial reviewer in any
case. He misrepresents the book from the first sentence to the end -- the
book is about complete writing systems -- its subject is not paleography,
Anglo-Saxon or otherwise. He takes a sentence out of context from the
introduction to assert that I make nonexistent claims. He takes one
sentences from one paragraph and one sentence from another in Chapter 2 and
spends practically the entire review on just those sentences. He skips over
nine chapters and the epilogue; he resorts to outright lies; he calls a
Ph.D. and a professional script designer with more than 51 years research,
historical study, and experience in the related fields an untrained
amateur.... but that seems to be all right by your standards.
Neither, are you qualified to write a review; you are hardly impartial.
Further, you lack the necessary in-depth knowledge of certain subjects
that, for example, Scott Gwara of Toronto U. has. His areas of expertise
cover the majority of the sub-systems and documents discussed in the book.
His review -- whether good, bad, or middling -- I have no idea, is due out
at the end of the year. He lists it on his web site. I have also been
informed that an internationally respected linguistics expert, who is
expert in all the languages used, is reviewing the book; again, good or
bad, I don't know. In both of these cases, we are talking about proper
scholarly reviews that asses the entire book and are impartial. After all,
I do not know these people.
I do know both you and Daniels and I have been embroiled in arguments with
both of you. Both of you have expressed your very negative opinions
numerous times across the years and that alone disqualifies both of you as
reviewers -- for both of you are biased.
Incidentally, those AS experts on the acknowledgements page knew about the
AS musical notation system back in 1992 -- they also knew about the ASPA --
and concurred.. Again, people that work directly from the originals are
well aware of the things I write about. How many times has the question of
"what is a word": come up across the years? Daniels, by the very nature of
the material he does work with (clay), has never seen these things on a
regular basis and vehemently denies their existence. Yet, we are talking
about things that are widely known in fields that range from Iron age
Mediterranean to Medieval to Classical Studies to Late Antiquity to the DSS
to Biblical Studies.. .The concepts discussed in the book are being put to
use in various fields and already are bringing results.
You mention the bibliography; if I ever have the chance for a revised
edition, the bibliography will increase by at least 12 pages. An enormous
amount of archaeological and genetic material has been published in the
last few years that fully support my conclusions as to the route of contacts.
In any case, your caveats are not warranted. The book is the culmination of
a lifetime of research and experience -- more than 51 years now. I was
specifically advised to get the book out there presenting the whole,
first -- and then to write a series of books that present all the data in
a scientific manner as time allowed. Three of those books in the series are
well under way. With reasonable health, the full series should make it.
Freedom of speech is a given in the US, but I do think you should mention
that you have attacked me many times across the years -- and that includes
writing letters to editors that question my right to speak on the scripts
and writing systems of the DSS (although I have published and lectured on
them) and to use my legitimate title of "Dr." -- just to put things in
perspective for others.
BTW, congratulations on finally finding a job in my home town.
Rochelle Altman, Ph.D. Medieval English Literature
Historian of Writing Systems and Script Designer
--
Dr. R. I. S. Altman, co-coordinator, IOUDAIOS-L [log in to unmask]
**********************************************************************
To join the list, send the message: join medieval-religion YOUR NAME
to: [log in to unmask]
To send a message to the list, address it to:
[log in to unmask]
To leave the list, send the message: leave medieval-religion
to: [log in to unmask]
In order to report problems or to contact the list's owners, write to:
[log in to unmask]
For further information, visit our web site:
http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/lists/medieval-religion.html
|