>> Sure. But if you read something in a book, there is a high probability
>> that it has some basis in fact. If you read something off da intertubes,
>> it could be utter nonesense.
> 
> You haven't read some of the textbooks that are in the US educational 
> system.  Fair amount of nonsense in there, put in by religious nutjobs 
> who want public schools to teach their particular brand of religion.

OK, that's quite worrying.

Then again, I always thought the Americans were crazy. One time I 
stumbled across some sex education material from the USA and I was like 
"OMG, WTF? Are you *kidding* me?! Who wrote this? In which century?"

>> Of course, today even books can't always be considered reliable. The
>> last book I read was called Darwin's Black Box...
> 
> It's always been the case that books couldn't be considered reliable.  
> Just read any history book and see if it tells *both* sides (history 
> books are typically written by the winners, not the losers).

I believe the quotation you're searching for is "history is written by 
the victors".

I'd say that most history I've read is pretty accurate - but it would be 
more truthful to say that most history I've read is so mind-numbingly 
boring that I couldn't actually give a **** whether it's accurate or 
not. ;-)

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