Ok, the real truth is, there is no war on books. The problem is NOT the books, its the people reading them.
Books of all types, are not to Teach you, they are more to make you aware of something. Wait, that really depends on what your use of those books are.
For instance, academics of all types, work with books, they discuss them, Argue them, compare them, debate them. They do that, then write another book from the books they read. The new book is the current understanding or acceptance taken from the other books. Their passion, their love, may not be the actual subject of the books, but the books themselves and the authors who wrote them. These fine folks discuss these books, and somehow think you can come up with an answer from the books. They want/do debate a subject from the stuff in the books. They think the one with the best memory of what they read in the books is the winner of a debate.
But somehow, there is more then academics. Unfortunately, the subject of this forum is NOT academic, its an applied art, its something you do, Its practiced. This makes for a devision of how people look at those books.
Lets take a common example of how this would work. Its excepted in the world of varanid academia that ALL varanids are solitary. If you took a written test, that would be the correct answer. If your answered, varanids are solitary, you would be correct.
As a keeper, I keep monitors. As in the discription OF THIS FORUM, to "keep and breed monitors" The monitors breed very very poorly when kept solitary. On the otherhand, when kept socially, they breed in a manner one would expect from a wild creature that has lots of predators. That is, they produce LOTS AND LOTS of babies on a regular basis. And That is very true by the way.
In our case, you know, ones who actually keep them, if you answer they are solitary, you would be wrong. As the results have clearly expressed they are not solitary. They are, many different degrees of social. (all social animals contain different degrees)
You see, with a subject that requires applied information, what you read is not judged by you the reader, but judged by results gained from applying that information, to the subject.
This is where the GREAT DIVIDE occurs. Because there are varanid practioners these days, and ones with a long and successful history, there is now a divide in what should be considered USEFUL information.
To rehash the above, academic information is information discussed/debated/theorized, between academics and not for application, but instead to reach a common interpitation of the literature. In an applied subject like the keeping and breeding, all applied data can be judged by ACTUAL RESULTS.
The academics are always want to apply math to animals. So lets use that to express a point. A simple academic math problem, 10 10=20(10plus10equals20) is absolutely correct. But with a subject like ours, 10 plus 10 equals, 0 to 300 aprox per year. Yea, per year, as if they live longer then a year, it will change the result. What you say, explain that! 10 males plus 10 females has the opportunity to kill eachother off and equal zero, or produce lots of babies and equal aprox 300 per year. But if they live ten years or more, it could equal zero to many thousands.
How well you the keeper applys your husbandry will determine what the actual answer is. Funny thing, this is exactly how it works in nature. In nature, 10 males plus 10 females will without question result in 0 to 300 per year. Of course over time, it could easily result in thousands as well. Now compare the academic math to applied, to our subject math. The answers are so different its crazy. Academics must be dumb as a stone.
Sadly, the truth is, they are dumb as a stone. When it comes to living animals. Sorry, but we all are, only the varanid biologists are amoungst the dumbest. They seem to be stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Let me tell you how dumb they are. They are so dumb, they do not understand the difference between academic information and applied information. They are so dumb, that some of the premiere academics came here to argue academic data, against actual recieved results. In fact, they are so dumb, they thought that words would override results. They were so dumb they thought that words, any words would overpower a clutch of babie monitors. How friggin sad is that?
In an applied field, which is what keeping is, one clutch of babies overrides all the books in the world. Its this simple, you can stack all the monitor books up in a pile and they will never ever produce one single baby monitor. Nor will they keep a single monitor alive. I imagine they could be used for shelters, you know, Retes boards or the like.
OK, back to the subject. You the readers ARE THE ONLY ONES RESPONSIBLE for understanding what is academic and what is applied. Not me or those authors. YOU YOU YOU YOU. The truth is, I loved reading those books and Scientific papers, I just did not hold them as the holy Grail. I hold the subject as the holy grail. THE ACTUAL MONITORS ARE the holy grail. Their results trump all data/information in books. That is here, where we are keeping monitors(an applied field)(if done really well, an applied art)
The academics are and should be free to debate and theorize and write/publish any subject they want to any extent they want. But you lads are the ones responsible for understanding what is academic and what is REAL. REAL FOR REAL MONITORS, not paper monitors.
SO many of you what some big war with those like me, against those who are academics. There is no war or rift. I produce tons of varanid data on a daily basis, they the academics discuss data in their books on a daily basis. Its you that have to pick. Its you that are responsible for getting it right or wrong. Its you that are responsible with the lifes of your monitors. Sadly, its the monitors that suffer or prosper in an applied field.
With that said, I do not suffer, my monitors do not suffer, when I have a great debate with some academic or other. After any of those discussions, I simply go feed some monitors, dig up eggs, sort out babies, etc. Also, they do not suffer either, they simply go back to reading and writing and teaching academic knowledge. WHO SUFFERS IS YOUR MONITORS. Your monitors suffer because you keepers do not understand CONTEXT. Academic information vs. applied information, are sadly out of context to eachother. I only say, sadly, because it gives you the oppertunity to be wrong.
Lastly, even information taken from actual in context results, if applied wrong, can result in failure. In fact, that is often the case when working with living breathing animals.
I think academics are weak, they are afraid to face failure. So as long as they are academic, they never fail. As a keeper, failure is at the end of very single road we take. Our joy is, the successes we experience along the road to eventual failure. All monitors we keep WILL die, sooner or later, its what occurs in the middle thats important. And If I contributed anything to the keeping of varanids, its one simple thing, LIFE EVENTS. Longevity is worthless unless life has some meaning. LIFE EVENTS is key. Cheers
