Seeds

The Minimal Math Book for Journalists

I finally wrote back to Charisse at CQ Press. Here's most of what I said:

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Dear Charisse,

First let me apologize for not writing this note sooner.

I want to tell you how much I enjoyed and appreciated our conversation. Not that it will happen, but I'd love to be able to sit around and talk about ideas and books with you sometime.

I also want to thank you for your time and for thinking about my idea.

My intention is to work up a proposal, partly for you, but mainly to commit to a direction for me. I want to get that written soon, but who knows. Between the classes I'm teaching, the class I'm taking, keeping up on reading, squeezing in some time or bicycling and hiking, and being lucky enough to have a great wife and son who I love spending time with, this is not as high on the list as it might be.

I'm trying to figure out whether or not I can write a book that is fun to read and might be read by people who aren't forced to read it by teachers. And, to be honest, I want a commercially successful book. I don't care about getting tenure and my ego is in fine shape. If I do take the effort to write a book and if it is good enough, I want it to be useful, contribute to the field, be a good read, but also make money for both CQ and me.

In any event, I've been thinking about it every day.

I hope you have a great week.

Jay

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She hasn't responded. I guess there is really no reason for her to until I send her something to react to.

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But, in the meantime, I received a totally random email from someone named Ralph Hanson. The subject line said "CQ Press."

As you might imagine, that got my attention.

Turns out, Ralph Hanson is chair of the Department of Communication at the University of Nebraska at Kearney. His note said:

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Hey, Jay,

If you are interested in pursuing a book with CQ Press you can give me a call at my office. I've been with CQ Press for a couple of years now, and they are a wonderful outfit to work with.

Ralph

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Well, cool. So perhaps Charisse and Ralph were talking and she mentioned my idea and that I was blogging about my math class and my book in its barely post conception stage and he googled me and landed here. Or, way unlikely, he randomly found this site. Either way, it was neat to get that note. I checked out his blog and web site and it turns out, he and I have a lot to talk about.

I replied saying:

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Dear Ralph,

Thanks for your note. I will call you. I appreciate the offer. Are there better
or worse times or should I just take my chances?

Meantime, I noticed your request for student blogs. I teach a class where my
students produce an online publication called Border Beat --
http://borderbeat.net/. As part of their requirements, each student has to
create a blog about a particular topic (their choice) that relates to the
border and post once a week during the semester.

A list of the blogs is at --

http://borderbeat.net/story/show/354

Some are strong. Some aren't. But they seem to be getting comfortable in an
online environment.

If you're interested in the syllabus for the course, you can find it on the left
panel of my site: jayrochlin.com.

Again, thanks for taking the time to write and for your generous offer to visit
about publishing with CQ Press. I enjoyed my phone conversation with Charisse
and hope to talk with her again soon. I'm going to Mexico on Thursday and hope
to put some thoughts on paper that I hope will form the beginning of a formal
proposal.

Best regards,

Jay

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I'll let you know if we talk or if he writes back.

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This evening I was at a reception put on by Jan Harelson, chair of the University of Arizona Department of Journalism Advisory Council. It's made up a small but great group of volunteers who care about our department and are doing their best to try to raise money for us. The get-together was for faculty and members to get to know each other better.

During the course of the evening we all had to introduce ourselves, tell about our teaching, and let them know about our most recent and compelling research interests and activities. Well, some of my colleagues, besides being great people, are pretty heavy duty on the national scene in journalism scholarship. Books, international research projects, journal articles, honors, titles in professional organizations. When it came around to me, I had to say something more substantial than how much fun my students seem to be having producing their online magazine. So, I just blurted out, "and I'm in discussions with the chief acquisitions editor of CQ press about a book about math for journalists." Dang! Why did I have to say that out loud? Several of the members came up to me afterward saying they thought it was a good idea and really necessary. Thanks.

The Algebra Test

This time I was the second to last student finished. All but one of the students finished in what seemed like no time. Lucky them, I guess.

The test had only six or seven problems on it and I knew how to do them all.

But, sure enough, in trying to figure out the simultaneous equation in three variables, I got a different answer every time I tried. I thought I knew the steps and I made myself go slowly and deliberately, but in five tries, I got all different answers. And, in this case, five tries meant 15 different answers. I gave up when I at least got each of the three variables ending up as whole numbers.

Afterward, John, the other student, and I had a great discussion about math in general and figuring out the universe. I confessed to John about being a Big Bang Atheist. I wanted to know whether he knew of a term that describes the situation when all the math is correct and you believe your assumptions, but the conclusion is something that is absurd on its face, like the Big Bang. John, being a smart physicist, knows a lot about that kind of stuff but he didn't know a word for that. We still had a fun talk. I asked him whether I could conduct a real interview with him on tape about those kinds of things and he said sure. I hope we can put that together soon.