On Mon, 10 May 2010 09:06:42 +0100, Invisible wrote:

>>> 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.

You're telling me.  I went to public school here. ;-)

> 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?"

LOL - but yes, that is one area in particular where some areas are in the 
dark ages when it comes to education.

>>> 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 wasn't actually searching for a quotation.

> 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. ;-)

Well, I think the native Americans might have a slightly different view 
on the accuracy of American History vis-a-vis the battles they fought 
against the colonists.

Jim

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