Henke 2022f

Readers Shouldn’t have to Search the Internet, Libraries or Bookstores to Figure out Mr. Lundahl’s References Just Because He Won’t Make a Simple Bibliography with His Essays

Kevin R. Henke

September 15, 2022

In Henke (2022b), I complain about the improper referencing in Lundahl (2022a):

“Lundahl (2022a) further improperly references chapter 8 of C.S. Lewis’ book Miracles (Lewis, 1960), which is entitled “Miracles and the Laws of Nature”, and then makes a reference to a William Collins. So, who is William Collins and how is he related to C.S. Lewis’ book? It turns out that William Collins was the publisher of the edition of Miracles that Lundahl (2022a) used."

In his May 17, 2022 (12:41 PM Eastern US Time) email, Mr. Lundahl concludes that I made a good point about the confusion raised by the mentioning of William Collins and not identifying who he is/was. Mr. Lundahl then states the following:

“William Collins, you have a very good point: I would have been better off leaving him out altogether, and he came in bc [because] some have, like you, pestered me about exact references. On the internet, one is after all able to look up Miracles C. S. Lewis, and adding it was chapter 8 in the edition that is made by HarperCollins was over the top.” [my emphasis]

From this statement, it can be seen that others have protested to Mr. Lundahl about his inappropriate referencing. So, what is his excuse for not correcting this problem earlier? Also, there is nothing “over the top” about giving a complete reference, especially when C.S. Lewis revised his book Miracles in 1960. Without providing a complete reference, how could the reader know if Mr. Lundahl is referring to the original 1947 edition of Miracles or the 1960 revision? Readers would have to do what I did and spent part of an afternoon going through different bookstores until I found the edition with chapter 8 starting on page 87. The situation becomes even worse with some other books. Some textbooks go through 20 or more revised editions. There’s no excuse for this type of sloppiness from Mr. Lundahl.

To avoid his entire mess, Lundahl (2022a) should have just listed the reference for C.S. Lewis like this:

Lewis, C.S. 1960. Miracles, 2^nd ed., printed 1974: Harper One: HarperCollinsPublishers, 294pp.

It’s not difficult and if he doesn’t like the Chicago format, there are many other reasonable bibliographic formats that he could use.

Lundahl (2022i) then tries to further justify his aversion to proper referencing:

“Indeed, I actually found Collins, publisher, on the Amazon version available with preview.”

Well, the American version of Amazon.com does not have a copy of the 2012 edition of C.S. Lewis’ Miracles by William Collins publishing. Yes, there are copies of this book by other publishers in other years at US Amazon.com. Mr. Lundahl and I know that all of them should have the same print of the 1960 revision of this book. But, would all of our readers know that? The lack of suitable references in Lundahl (2022a) is being rude to our readers. He’s not thinking about them and their needs. Mr. Lundahl also fails to realize that not all of his readers would use his country’s version of Amazon, which might have a nice preview. Also, some people prefer Barnes & Noble or other on-line book sellers to Amazon. Would someone be able to easily find this exact copy on Barnes & Noble or Amazon.com in Australia? Other readers may not order books on-line. They would have to search bookstores or libraries. All of this rude mess could be avoided if Mr. Lundahl would stop being irrationally stubborn and simply make a bibliography.