COMMENT ⊗   VALID 00002 PAGES
C REC  PAGE   DESCRIPTION
C00001 00001
C00002 00002	\\M1BASL30\M2BASB30\M3NGR25\M4NGR20\F2\CSTANFORD UNIVERSITY
C00006 ENDMK
C⊗;
\\M1BASL30;\M2BASB30;\M3NGR25;\M4NGR20;\F2\CSTANFORD UNIVERSITY
\F3\CSTANFORD, CALIFORNIA 94305
\F4COMPUTER SCIENCE DEPARTMENT\←L\-R\/'7;\+R\→.\→S   Telephone:
\←S\→.415-497-4971
\F1\CApril 2,1975



Mr. Blake Vance, Senior Editor
American Elsevier Publishing Co., Inc
52 Vanderbilt Avenue
New York, N.Y. 10017


Dear Mr. Vance:

\JI am sorry to be so long in responding, but things here have been
incredible. I had become increasingly dissatisfied with my working arrangements
here at the lab, and finally last weekend I  told my co-worker that I no
longer wanted to work with him. So I am now looking for another position.
The net effect is to put the manuscript up in ther air for awhile, I'm 
afraid. Indeed, I haven't had a chance to work in it since last November.

While this mess has been going on I have been giving serious consideration
to the question of publication. I have decided that under my circumstances
I will sign a contract with McGraw-Hill for the publication of this
manuscript. Let me explain. I do not have a Phd. and am too old and feisty
to go through the process of getting one; Floyd, the department chairman,
doesn't have a degree either, but I'm not Floyd.

I do, however, love to teach;
I see the book as a possible "union card" for getting a good faculty
position. I also feel, perhaps incorrectly, that I will have less difficulty
getting my philosophy accepted by the community if pushed under the McGraw-Hill
umbrella. The depressing situation in education needs to be remedied and
my experience has been that once people understand what I am espousing
they tend to like it; but the difficulties involved in getting them to
read about LISP (my name is not Knuth either) have been severe.

You have been extraordinarily patient in all this. 
I'm sorry things have worked out this way. 
\.
\←L\→S\←R\-L\/'2;\+L\→L

Yours sincerely,



John R. Allen
Research Associate
Computer Science Dept
Artificial Intelligence Lab

\←S\→L