Last June, MIT Press published the book Open Access, written by open access leader Peter Suber. Alas, the book itself was not open access — it had a year-long embargo. But now it’s twelve months later, and Open Access is open access! Here are the various ways to access it:
- as a PDF file
- as HTML webpages
- as an ePub file
- as a Mobi file
- …and, of course, for (a small amount of) money
Wondering if Open Access is the right treatment of open access for you? From Gary Daught:
. . . Suber writes succinctly and with clarity, applying the logic of a philosopher (which he is), the sharpness of a debater, and the cadence of a musician (speaking to his writing style). He anticipates the many sides and questions of his readers, even honest critiques, and he answers them with directness and without polemic. He clearly aims to persuade, but he also wants to bring his readers along with with him.
Think you’re too busy to read a whole book about open access? Think again. Suber intends the book to be “a succinct introduction to the basics, long enough to cover the major topics in reasonable detail and short enough for busy people to read” (Preface). And none of us can afford to be confused on this topic, no matter how busy we are! Suber continues [bold is mine]:
My honest belief from experience in the trenches is that the largest obstacle to OA is misunderstanding. The largest cause of misunderstanding is lack of familiarity, and the largest cause of unfamiliarity is preoccupation. Everyone is busy. There has been organized opposition from some publishers, but that has been a minor impediment by comparison.
The best remedy to misunderstanding is a clear statement of the basics for busy people. Only some fellow specialists will wonder, with me, whether I’ve been too brief with some essential subtopics. But I knew that a larger book would miss the audience of busy people. Elaboration, documentation, research findings, case studies, and finer-grained recommendations are available in the voluminous literature online (most of it OA), including my own articles (all of them OA).
I know what my next subway-reading book is. Maybe make it yours too?
