January 1st, 2008
Kirkbride’s Book
It’s long been my goal to transcribe the entire contents of Dr. Kirkbride’s book, On the Contruction, Organization, and General Arrangments of Hospitals for the Insane, and make it available online. I even tracked down and bought an original copy for a few hundred dollars and spent hours copying chapters into digital form so I could post them here. I got as far as chapter fifty, and then essentially gave up. I always meant to continue, but it’s questionable that I ever would have either. It was just too tedious.
Just today though I discovered that Google has the entire book published in Google Book Search. You can even download the entire thing in PDF format. I’m both happy and a little sad. I think it’s fantastic that it’s available and that there’s no need for me to endure the tedium of copying, but I also feel disappointed that I was outdone by Google. It’s funny because a recent article about Google mentions how they’re viewed as competitors by a wide variety of entities. I never thought I would be one of those entities:)
So for all of you who keep asking me when more of Kirkbride’s book will be posted: NEVER. Go read it at Google.
That Google Book thing is cool – it even shows some of the illustrations. I don’t blame you for not transcribing any more, it sounds like a lot of work. Thanks for sharing the google link!