Wikipedia:Peer review/Dreamtime (Duerr book)/archive1

Dreamtime (Duerr book)

This peer review discussion has been closed.
I've listed this article for peer review because I believe it is of sufficient quality, covering all the available information on the subject.

Thanks, Midnightblueowl (talk) 17:38, 6 March 2012 (UTC)

Comments by Malleus Fatuorum

Lead

• "... with the aid of a hallucinogenic salve which the Christian authorities suppressed". How do you suppress a salve?
• "... focusing on the shamanic use of hallucinogens and the experiences they induce." That's a little unclear. Are you talking about the experiences of the shamanic use of hallucinogens or the use of hallucinogens?
• "... and that it is this process which both the shaman and the European witch undertook in their visionary journeys". I'm not certain that you can undertake a process?
• "Both academic and press reviews in the Anglophone world were mixed, with critics opining that Duerr's case was unoriginal ...". "Both" stands out like a sore thumb there, and I just hate that "opining".

Background

• "He had spent the day visiting the Puye Cliff Dwellings and was returning to the Alburquerque Greyhound Bus Station. Here he met a Tewa Native yerbatero buying a cup of coffee ...". That doesn't quite work; he was returning to the bus station when he met the native? Or did he meet the native at the bus station?
• "Having taken a blow to his vanity, Duerr decided to travel to Arizona, and from this experience first thought about writing Dreamtime." That's altogether too flowery. And what is the experience anyway? The blow to his vanity or the trip to Arizona?

Cheers for this Malleus! I hope you will not mind if I take the liberty of crossing out each point as I deal with it in the text. (Midnightblueowl (talk) 14:44, 8 March 2012 (UTC))

Not at all; it's your review, do with it as you will. I'll do a bit more later this evening. Malleus Fatuorum 18:45, 8 March 2012 (UTC)

Synopsis

• What I think is missing is an introductory sentence or two outlining the range of topics discussed in the book, before diving into each chapter one by one.
• "... arguing that in the Late Middle Ages society began to increasingly accept female nudity in art and fashion." Are you comfortable with split infinitives?
• "... people have used hallucinogenic substances to reach states of consciousness outside of ordinary societal boundaries." I'm not terribly happy about "outside of", as the "of" always looks redundant to me. Could we say something like "beyond ordinary societal boundaries"?
• "Instead he champions the idea that the visionary experiences of shamans should be treated as real rather than illusionary." I know that "illusionary" is a real word, but it seems a bit contrived to me; I'd prefer "illusory", or perhaps "illusional", but your choice. (Why do we have three words meaning essentially the same thing?)

Press reviews

• "She also identified multiple influences over Duerr's thinking ...". Shouldn't that be on Duerr's thinking?
• "Atchity ultimately considered Dreamtime to simply be an 'obscure essay on the human experience.'" Another split infinitive. Some people are quite relaxed about them, but I think they're best avoided.

Well, thank you very much for this Malleus; hopefully this article can now go on and attain GA status! --Midnightblueowl (talk) 16:02, 10 March 2012 (UTC)

I don't think you should have too much trouble with this at GAN. I'm not sure what FAC might expect of an article on a textbook though, never having seen or reviewed one, but it'll be interesting to find out. Just one more thing I think needs attention:

Background

• The first paragraph repeats itself a little: "According to his own account, the idea for writing Dreamtime first came to Duerr when he was in New Mexico in the middle of 1963 ... Duerr would later relate that this blow to his vanity first provided him with the idea of writing Dreamtime." Malleus Fatuorum