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Jan N. Sammer
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78 Hartley Avenue
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Princeton NJ
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08540
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August 26, 1981
Mr. Dewey B. Larson
755 N. E. Royal Court
Portland, OR 97232
Dear Mr. Larson:
Here is a report on my trip to Washington—I mentioned to you on the phone last week that I would go there to see the editor of Frontiers of Science.
I visited Elizabeth Philip at her office late Monday afternoon; she had a xerox of the galley proofs ready for me (copy enclosed; I am sorry about the poor quality). You will note that her changes are very few, involving mostly dividing up longer sentences and paragraphs and including subheadings. There is also an omission near the end where you quote some statements on general and special relativity. I hope you find everything in order. The issue should be out within a week.
I brought to Elizabeth the text of the ad for your books. The price (50.00 for half page) is being covered from NSA-ISUS funds by Rainer—this is something we agreed on in LA. There was also a 15.00 typesetting charge for which I gave her a check. As you suggested, only three books are being advertized: Nothing But Motion, New Light on Space and Time and Beyond Newton. The prices are the same as those charged by North Pacific, and the text of the ad was taken almost verbatim from the printed publicity flier used by NPP. Elizabeth expressed an interest in eventually including your books in her book service, explaining that for this she would need a 50% discount. When I pointed out that your books are being sold at only slightly above cost, she said she was ready to charge significantly more than the publisher, so long as the books were not offered for lower prices by NPP in the same issue. Would this be agreeable to you?
More importantly perhaps, Elizabeth asked for another article by you, one that would explain in some more detail the main features of the Reciprocal system, and one that would clarify some of the — to her—obscure points of the first article. As an example she mentioned a diagram of the atom with its three axes of rotation. I told her that quite possibly a ready piece by you, suitable for the purpose, could be found, and said I would consult with you.
I have thought of two possibilities: “Step-by-Step” which has the advantage of being systematic and complete but a serious drawback in being perhaps too difficult for the kind of readership that Frontiers of Science presently caters to. The other suggestion would be your “Science without Apologies” — a slightly edited version is included among the papers in the boxed mns. I gave you in L.A. We could consider omitting the first eight pages of introductory material, if she wants a more concise article. But I hope you will have some suggestions in time — we have a few weeks, at least, to think about this.
I do hope you are well and busy and happy,
With warm regards to Dorothy,
Yours,
Jan Sammer