Bill says this is good stealing...

I recently came upon this 2006 letter of recommendation (From the Desk of Bill Hartman PT ) promoting and recommending a certain ‘book’. I found a number of aspects of this letter interesting, not the least the section where the letter writer stated:

He lays out all the principles you’ll ever need for successful programming for athletes and fitness clients. Did he make them up himself. Nope. He studied, he surrounded himself with good people, and he stole. Not in a bad way. He’ll always tell you where he gets his information, but mostly he relies on first hand experience.

Many questions arise from this paragraph alone, but for now just a few…. Firstly, when is stealing good? In most jurisdictions it’s a crime. And is stealing absolved because you tell where you stole it from?

As for ‘he’ll always tell you where he get’s his information’ – really?

Because in this ‘book’, which in my opinion contains more copyright breaches than any book I have ever seen or hope to ever see, I count one credit and one references to my works. Which you might think is great except for one problem – a significant proportion of this ‘book’ is copied from my works.

In my eyes that’s unauthorized copying and a breach of copyright. In academic circles that’s plagiarism. Apparently in some US circles of ‘highly respected professionals’ this is acceptable behaviour? Mmmm….

….Whose experience? Always tells you where he gets his information? Whose copyright? Sorry Bill – if you still stand by these claims you and I share different definitions of reality.

I reckon this bloke summed it up with greater accuracy, and he probably is not an ‘industry professional’. (which may explain perhaps why he was able to tell it like he saw it….):

His Fitness Bible also seemed like a plagiarized Get Buffed! (Ian King). Unfortunately, I spent 100 bucks on it. Anyone want it for 50?

--Posted in 2008 by Bricknyce on the t-nation.com forum *

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