``Chuck's point about the fact that authors typically supply machine readable files to the publishers. He might addd that many of the publishers print their books abroad. I know that for the one book for which I know where the publisher was located, the printing was done in China. I suspect that paper, ink and the like are cheap there....'' Michael Perelman
-------
In the earlier section of the thread, I was thinking about this and that's why I thought that one way out of the CPH (capitalist/corporate pig hegemonic) grip on knowledge was to take over the existing university and public institution presses and produce journals from these--or what's left of them. UC press used to be literally a building on Oxford with the presses downstairs in the basement---god only knows when those were moved out--probably long ago. They moved the editorial offices a couple of blocks away in the late Eighties. They probably contracted out the printing long ago, but I don't know one way or another.
In any event I was expecting the CRC encyclopedia to list `Printed in Bangladish or some such, but no, it claims to be printed in the US. CRC press headquarters are in Boca Raton, and that seems like a likely printing location---of course `US' that could be anywhere from Puerto Rico to Guam. But, Roca Raton? Now there is a light in the world of knowledge in print. Boca Raton, must be like what the Athens of Florida, right?
The other book I bought was `What is Mathematics, Really?', Reuben Hersh. I can't resist that title either. Here is Hersh and something funny about Platonism:
``Paul Erdos was a famous Hungarian mathematician who talked about the `The Book.' `The Book' contains all the most elegant mathematical proofs, the known and especially the unknown. It belongs to `the S.F.'---`the Supreme Fascist'---Erdos's pet name for the Almighty. Occasionally the S. F. permits someone a quick glimpse into the Book...'' (10p)
Sounds like Erdos's SF has permuted into the CPH
Chuck Grimes