Fellow APG members:

First of all, Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and Happy Kwanza, or  
Blessed Solstice (though that has passed), etc.  In other words,  
Season's Greetings.

Of all the wonderful I gifts I was blessed to receive this holiday  
season, one was quite unique and one that some of you may not be  
aware of.  It is a book sent by a cousin/client of mine who always  
sends me on the most amazing journeys.  The book?

"The Public Domain: Enclosing the Commons of the Mind" by William  
Neal Reynolds, Professor of Law at Duke University.  He nom-de-plume  
is James Boyle.  It is a very readable primer going straight to the  
cut of today's "public domain" laws, copyright laws, patent law (did  
you know someone patented the peanut butter and jelly sandwich?) and  
what he sees as some alarming trends in this area.  His hope is that  
by making what is always called  simply too "arcane" and "technical"  
that the average person need not bother to understand it, that the  
average person not only CAN understand it, but WILL understand.  He  
very much wants the every-burgeoning body politic on the internet --  
and this particularly applies to we genealogists -- to get up to  
speed on the real issues facing the "information age."

No, I have not read the book yet, but sometimes you can judge a book  
by its cover and reading the introduction.  It looks to be an  
enjoyable read not bogged down in jargon.  In fact, you will learn  
quite a bit jargon explained in plain English.

I hope you are all having, or have had, or will have, a most  
enjoyable season of family and friendship.

Craig Kilby
Lancaster, VA

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