Sacred Cacti

[trucha]

I've decided to put the second edition of Sacred Cacti online in hopes of enabling more people to access it and perhaps gauge if there is enough interest for it to be worth bringing back into print as a third edition.

Thoughts on how best to accomplish this would be appreciated. I'm thinking of just putting it there as one or more PDF files as conversion to html will take quite a lot of time and effort.

If I can figure out how to prevent this becoming another financial burden for me I'll keep expanding what goes online.

[Gunter]

what about TN3A? i've yet to see anything from it, only TN3B, in black and white, my copy of which is getting seriously worn out and loaded with annotations and notes

I am sure that the time and effort required to put it into html is worth it, but a PDF would be a good way to allow access to the material in the meantime.

[solomon]

Keep as PDF I reckon

I was just about to purchase this book

edit: Oops, I was actually looking at purchasing TN on San Pedro.. Now I've got another book to add to my list.

Edited March 26, 2011 by centipede

[Gunter]

personally speaking, i find that there are various corrections, annotations and comments worth making in the work and HTML allows me to do this to the copy, personalizing it for my own interests, the PDF format is so concrete that it seems only good for reading, but it does not allow the modifications i feel compelled to make regarding the work, not that i feel it is inadequate, rather i just feel that there is so much more to it than the work presently contains, including information that was published in the ER, as well as here and including personal communications with numerous collectors regarding clones depicted in the work. being an information junkie myself the work seems like more of a work in progress and an outline, as if it is the pieces of the puzzle, but remains largely un-assembled thus far, no offense intended.

[Gunter]

oh damn, i too made the mistake of thinking this was about TN3B, not sacred cacti, PDF's of which have been circulating around for some time now in an unauthorized fashion, though i've yet to desire a copy of them, my mistake

[trucha]

There has been so much new information and corrections to older information (especially in the areas of Lophophora and Trichocereus) that it seems pointless to put online what I really have to view as partially finished and in many senses no more correct than the previous version. Especially as the third edition even as it stands requires some minor work and index editing to complete and that effort on my part would seem to be better spent on something more pertinent. The second edition already went to print so has no such challenges.

Your concerns can easily be addressed though - just not in one step.

Its all a volunteer labor project for me with my day-job paying for the web pages to be online so I will keep doing what I can as I can. Its a lot easier for me to focus on taking what is simple and not hugely labor intensive to put online sooner-than-later, then to turn my focus back to actually doing the updates that the third edition needs, create some correction commentaries for online posting while the updating is ongoing and getting color illustrations online.

Even with enlisting help its going to take some time to get the final version of the third edition of Sacred Cacti wrapped together due to the wealth of updating and new material/images. I am literally thousands of images behind due to the volume and the assorted photographic projects that sometimes take priority over my own.

For me to put a PDF online (at largelyaccurateinformationmedia.com) made from what was published should be a matter of no more than a few of days from now assuming I get adequate time each day.

Besides I've been working on a larger html project on cactus alkaloids and reported chemistry of cacti for the last several years or so and that is much closer to putting online in an intensely color illustrated version. It is mainly lacking in formatting for the content of the pages and will be complete. That work will go up at Erowid so needs to be completed before Sacred Cacti is updated.

There is still a lot of research work actively ongoing in the larger world and waiting to see at least some parts of it be completed will be a very good thing for Sacred Cacti Third edition.

It seems like a not bad idea to release any of the out-of-print Trout's Notes in PDF though. One of those was the color illustrations for Sacred Cacti Second Edition. I can't really say it is out of print as it was never in print.

[bit]

Perhaps you could convert it to an ebook? iBooks uses ePub format, which would appeal to all iphone/ipad users?

Should be straightforward, but I don't know what format it's in currently?

[Evil Genius]

Awesome. I have been waiting for an ebook of this forever as i was never able to get a copy. Thanks this is really great news. Cant wait till its online. bye Eg

[trucha]

I've been looking at the copies I have of the second and third editions and its not that much work to put the most recent version I have of the third edition (color) out as a pdf.

I'll post details when it occurs.

Edited March 28, 2011 by trucha

[lophty_tricho]

Nice, I look forward to it! A cracking good read

[mira]

It seems like a not bad idea to release any of the out-of-print Trout's Notes in PDF though.

 

Indeed. I tried to track down a copy of SC2 to look up a few references from journal articles to no avail. All ILL requests were fruitless and I never managed to find a copy for sale. At least for the sake of making these works accessible it seems wise...

[t st tantra]

thanx,trucha!

t s t .

[trucha]

Hey EG, thanks for the headsup on the TN website problems concerning its trich images and such.

All material was still there but somehow all of the pages had mistakenly been transferred into a folder where they no longer displayed.

I am hoping that I have that all fixed now.

Thanks for letting me know as I have no clue how long it had been that way. At least some months.

[trucha]

Thanks Archaea on the comment about copies being available illegally. That sure explains why Some SImple Tryptamines stopped selling any copies for me some months ago.

Edited April 1, 2011 by trucha

[Gunter]

at lot of people don't like electronic documents, they suck for so many reasons, i think that there is a market for legit copies

a lot of your projects are esoteric information for many, for that reason they are not well known even among those who are deeply interested in the topic and content

Please don't give up on the work just because dishonorable people exist and will disrespect your endeavors, but let us hope that someone will undermine all they work for one day and that they will somehow come to understand that what they are doing is nothing short of harmful.

[Evil Genius]

Hey EG, thanks for the headsup on the TN website problems concerning its trich images and such.

I love the site and I would hate to see it being gone one day. Everytime i am getting unsure about a Knize Trich, i check there in order to find out which one it was. Some of the Trichs on there cant be found in picture anywhere else on the net.

[Teotzlcoatl]

So when will it be online? Link me?

[Alice]

I for one prefer a paper copy rather than electronic, and I'm sure I'm not alone, so there is definately a market for it.

And if electronic, I prefer pdf as I can print it out easier without messing up all the formatting.

ebook is a great idea, also perhaps consider offering pdf's for sale? I have paid $10 to $15 for pdf's before, get the code and download etc, and have been very happy with my purchase. Of course someone might just put it straight on a torrent site, but then they could scan a paper copy and do that anyway.

[Teotzlcoatl]

I'd gladly pay for an online copy, but I'd MUCH rather have an actual book.

[mira]

Any updates? I've been eagerly waiting for a copy of SC II to show up online.

[trucha]

Its in process but its largely me and my lonesome getting stuff done so its slow going.

I have two people wanting to be helping on parts so it should start moving better at some point.

Its also on a priority behind keeping food on the table and the bills paid since this project costs me out of pocket both to create and put online. That's OK it just means everything happens slower than I'd like.

I rarely have time for enjoying conversations at these forums anymore so any direct questions will be fastest answered via email [email protected].

I just dropped in today to post a link to a project that has been taking up much of my free time the last two years.

Edited August 8, 2011 by trucha

[Teotzlcoatl]

I can't find the info on sacred cacti anywhere in any part, can anybody link me to some of it or tell me how to get it or something please?

[trucha]

If there was 200 people on the planet who wanted a copy it could go into print. There does not appear to be enough interest for doing that.

Peaks of the three volumes:

http://www.largelyaccurateinformationmedia.com/SC3/SC3_A.pdf

http://www.largelyaccurateinformationmedia.com/SC3/SC3_B.pdf

http://www.largelyaccurateinformationmedia.com/SC3/Synonym_crosslist.htm

http://www.largelyaccurateinformationmedia.com/SC3/BySpecies_list.htm

Its not going to become available until there is enough time and human power to actually do the work.

[Teotzlcoatl]

There HAS to be 200 people that want the book!

[Teotzlcoatl]

I just want to see page 127 on "Other" peyote species... anyway to get that info?