[tongzilla]

IMO, If what Homer meant was clearly explained- which is very attainable- his work would really have alot more power behind it!

Whether in person or in the book- it's no different - he didn't always clearly communiciate his ideas- for whatever reason, personally I just think it was an issue of - he understood the context in which he was talking and assumed that it would be obvious to others.

There are examples of that, which he specifically talked about- for example he didn't think that 21 items in 1-L were needed- as that was all obvious. After talking to many people, he realized that it wasn't obvious to people by looking at the sketch in 1-L, so in the 3rd edition he added 21 items that related to the machine. Likewise, his use of speed, velocity, acceleration, RPM's, MPH's are many times based on the context of the discussion- which make it impossible for the beginner to follow- unless clearly explained. Besides the Momentum vs. Acceleration issue in the glossary item- I'd like to post in the next day what I believe he was saying in the acceleration glossary item by using other areas of the book that are applicable plus actual quotes from Homer discussing this particular glossary item.

All of us here agree that the guy was brilliant but like most brilliant people- he had some issues. I'm with Metallion and Tongzilla, that I think there are many places where you could continue to help Homer achieve his goal-"It has to be bullet proof!" and the glossary example is one place to start. It's not so much he didn't understand the concept- the guy was more than smart, he just didn't communicate it clearly all the time.

A 7th edition really won't change much, but an 8th....?, you'd need some sunglasses!

This post will be slightly off topic, but what the heck.
I have similar views with Mike. If only Homer could empathise with people of normal intelligence without a college level physics background. If only Homer could explain ideas more clearly and lucidly.

Whenever I say that TGM may be so much better explained, people (especially those who already have a very good grasp of the concepts in TGM) argue, "See 1-H. Homer says that 'the extreme brevity herein is dictated by the advantages of holding such voluminous information to a one volume Handbook. Because of questions of all kinds, reams of additional detail must be made available-- but separately. And probably endlessly.'" They also quote, ‘In the interest of brevity, regardless of how often any point is mentioned, every effort has been made not to discuss an one aspect more than once. So a complete definition can only be the sum of the comments about it.’ Fair enough, all very good reasons, but...

Well, here's how I look at it. Yes, Homer is very clever, and he can summarise ground-breaking concepts in a few sentences. But so what. What's the use of having a really cleverly written book in one volume when 99% of golfers won't be able to utilise it? Might as well be written in Swahili to them! The Bible probably contains at least five times as many words as TGM. And yet people actually read it, understand it and carry it around with them (and live it?). Would you rather keep TGM as it is (traditionalists), so that only a select few will really understand it, or make TGM much more clearer and easier to grasp, so that 80%+ of golfer will understand it, if they want to (hehe, I would choose the former as I like keeping secrets to myself and being a better golfer than my golfing buddies ).

Note that I do not mean it should be dumbed down. Dumbing down implies simplification at the expense of correctness. That is clearly undesirable. I mean what I mean—same concepts, same laws, same physics, but explained clearer and better, which, if necessary, will need more words and take up more pages.

As for proponent’s point about the physical size of TGM...IMHO, if Homer merely wanted to make sure all this information is contained in a portable handbook, just change the font size! That's what they did to make those mini portable versions of the Bible or dictionaries- you know the ones which are about the size of your palm, printed on really thin paper.