# HG changeset patch
# User Henry Thompson <ht@markup.co.uk>
# Date 1732048425 0
# Node ID bb0179426e3fdb2bd23a5ca0607378ab73cd8a64
# Parent  6a9901310a6a5fd6261f29f1bb0067058b06135e
finale, but middle needs to be filled in

diff -r 6a9901310a6a -r bb0179426e3f CR_preface.txt
--- a/CR_preface.txt	Tue Nov 19 14:35:15 2024 +0000
+++ b/CR_preface.txt	Tue Nov 19 20:33:45 2024 +0000
@@ -355,3 +355,34 @@
   much more aware of the ways in which the language was inconsistent
   and irregular. This initial sketch was the basis for much of the
   development in KRL-1."
+
+--------
+
+This is not an easy book to read, but it's a very important book, so
+it's worth the effort.  As Brian himself has said, it's written rather
+like a detective story, in which the same underlying set of facts is
+explored repeatedly, getting closer each time to a complete and
+self-consistent picture.  When I first read it, I said to Brian more
+than once "But you keeping using [some term], and it's clear you mean
+it in some important, technical, sense, but you haven't _defined_
+it".  And he said, "be patient".
+
+If you care about computer science, either as a practioner, or a
+theorist, or a concerned citizen, this book matters for you.  It's
+conclusions matter, even if parts of it are not meant for you.  So
+even if you find it hard, as a computer programmer, to see why you
+should care if the theorists have got it wrong, be patient.  If you're
+a theorist, and you find Brian's critique at best irrelevant, and at
+worst aggresive, obnoxius and founded in misunderstanding, be patient.
+If you're a citizen, and the technical details are off-putting, be
+patient.
+
+If you _are_ patient, and stay the course, When you get to the end you
+will realise that you actually do understand the terminology now, and
+that even though the work that remains is hugely challenging, and
+perhaps only imperfectly grasped by Brian himself, much less the rest
+of us, getting it done matters for all of us.  As practioners and
+theorists, we need to ask ourselves what we can do to make Brian's
+vision a reality.  As citizens, we need to cheer from the sidelines,
+and keep asking questions.  We owe him that much.
+[Haugeland?]