[ATM] Best book to learn mirror making

[Peter Abrahams <telscope@europa.com>]

You can waste a lot of time in following instructions that do not 
reflect the best procedures, so it is helpful when individuals warn this 
list about the shortcomings of old instruction books. 
But this has been taken to the extreme of advocating, for example, that 
the entire 3 volume ATM set be discarded; or that Texereau (of all 
people) is out of date. 
And while the Hindle cell may be out of date, the tiresome and sarcastic 
rants against John Hindle reveal only the mindlessness of the modern 
geniuses who know how to design a better cell with computers, but are 
ignorant (and apathetic) concerning the many important contributions 
made by Hindle, who was a very insightful and generous contributor to 
ATM work for many years.

When you read an older book on telescope making, you can either glean 
what is valuable, or you can focus on the errors. 
If you search for information, you will learn.
If you look for mistakes, you will remain ignorant. 
If you throw away the whole book because one chapter describes a method 
that has been supplanted, you are the loser. 
These books told their readers how to avoid mistakes.  The modern user 
will repeat the same mistakes made by his predecessors if he thinks he 
is on some higher plane.
These workers had to solve many of the same problems that we face, and 
their solutions used simpler methods that are not worthless because high 
tech methods are more precise.
The high tech methods can get tripped up by the same low tech 'gremlins' 
that the old guys fought.

There is a very large quantity of good information in the 3 volume ATM 
set, and in many other sources dating back to the 1800s.  It does help 
to be familiar with modern methods before delving into early techniques, 
so that you can choose the best methods and are not repeating mistakes.

But, why would anyone want to listen or learn from someone who says he 
has nothing to learn from the past......that is a mystery.
--Peter Abrahams


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