There has been an issue I have wanted to bring up, but my thoughts have been rather inchoate. If you read this blog closely it won't surprise you that in general my idealistic sympathies in regards to "access" of scientific publications are in line with Michael Eisen's. He (and others) do a good enough job in this area that I don't feel like I have much to add, aside from cheering, or noting an open access success now and then.
But a broader question and concern came to mind after an exchange with Patrick Wyman. In the furtherance of my aim to not get swallowed up by one disciplinary interest I've always maintained a robust reading program in areas like history, psychology, economics, etc. As a historian with a focus on late antiquity and the early medieval period I have crossed paths with Patrick Wyman, and he mentioned to me ...
