: But in fairness to editors (given that I may end up being one eventually)--
: they're working with time constraints and with short word counts-- both of
: which work against carefully nuancing the little blurbs on a book cover.

...and they're harvesting most of the revenue from the title. I
doubt that the author receives much at all for each book--
but CLC probably sells a kit or plans set for every few books
sold. Isn't CK retired from CLC now, anyway?

IMHO the Kayak Shop books are simultaneously really great and
really shameless: they're great for a first-timer who is working
from plans, especially non-CLC plans, because they provide a
different, extensive perspective on S&G building. But they
also present CLC's design niche as a set of universal assumption;
they take some meaningless jabs at Pygmy; and they partly package
their sales pitch as a DIY manual. It's pretty amazing how much
text is reprinted verbatim from either their website's tips section
or their brochure.

That said, I like the world a little better with the CLC books
available at the local libr--ahem, Barnes & Noble. We have a
choice of what to read, and short of violating copyright, we
ought to use what's available, in whatever form.

Note that you can find a good used copy of the first book on
bibliofind.com or bookfinder.com. Last time I checked, there
were a few copies for $10 or less.

Arlen