Not exactly what you asked for, since I didn't find it myself, but an anecdote on the topic with something to say about authorship and the desire to communicate:
The father of a friend worked in a very obscure branch of physics relating to wave motion. He went to the Library of Congress and checked out a short publication of his research, and slipped a dollar bill between the pages with a note thanking the future reader for taking an interest in his life's work. The punchline: he returned many years later and checked out the book again, and the dollar and note were still there.
(Concern along these lines was one thing that led me to leave the "publish or perish" academic rat race and refocus my professional energies elsewhere.)
Ha, yes, and this will become more common as fewer people read book and those who do opt for ebooks and audiobooks. I'll always belong to the dead-tree club.
Not exactly what you asked for, since I didn't find it myself, but an anecdote on the topic with something to say about authorship and the desire to communicate:
The father of a friend worked in a very obscure branch of physics relating to wave motion. He went to the Library of Congress and checked out a short publication of his research, and slipped a dollar bill between the pages with a note thanking the future reader for taking an interest in his life's work. The punchline: he returned many years later and checked out the book again, and the dollar and note were still there.
(Concern along these lines was one thing that led me to leave the "publish or perish" academic rat race and refocus my professional energies elsewhere.)
Ha, yes, and this will become more common as fewer people read book and those who do opt for ebooks and audiobooks. I'll always belong to the dead-tree club.
Voted! And glad to hear you'll soon be back on your feet.