"soviet orders and medals (1918-1991)" by andrew reznik

[SovPha]

I would like to recommend this great book (288 pages) which was written by ANDREW REZNIK. A great guide for beginners and even advanced collectors of Soviet civilian and military awards. The author can be found on Facebook. Enjoy the evening.

[Woolgar]

There is already a slightly controversial thread about this book

Nick

[Marcel Banziger]

Discussed quite a while ago already. See: Soviet Orders and Medals book

And no, it is not recommendable in all fairness. Just robbed together info taken from various sources, several using texts literally.

[SovPha]

Hello, Marcel, Ok. I personally like this book. Yes, it's not perfect, and yes it doesn't cover all variations, etc. You all are great and knowledgeable, but nobody released yet a book similar to this one. If yes, please let me know where I can purchase a copy from.

This was the actual reply from Andrew on Facebook:

"I have seen that couple guys are blaming me in plagiarism with the Soviet awards book, here is my response, and it's only comment that i will made. The book is created as popular science publication in English language for help in identification of the Soviet state awards. To create the book i was consulting and used information that was researched by Ukrainian professor of Dnipropetrovskiy university Valentin Len Лень Валентин Валентинович — Вікіпедія, who is an author of over 70 science works on the thematic of Soviet faleristics and is my good friend, his works were took as a basic information in creating of articles on many well known websites, include Mondvor.ru . Many photos of the awards were taken from the internet, all internet resources are listen in the book. That's why before blaming me in plagiarism first think what is plagiarism, all known information was taking somewhere first. My thought that the book isn't perfect but it's cost the money and is affordable for the people who are interested in collecting of the Soviet orders and medals. No one is forcing you to buy it. And if you have any questions personally to me, I am always available to discuss it in private messages. Sincerely Andrew Reznik".

SovPha

[Marcel Banziger]

Let's say he compiled lots of info taken from various sources. Let's not call him an author because apart from the intro I don't think anything is written by himself. Lots of info and text come straight from the Wikipedia page Soviet orders, medals and decorations. More is taken from a.o. the excellent Mondvor website, just translated into English (using google I guess because it's not always correct and occasionally even looks weird). Lots of pics were teken from Sovietorders.com (without asking permission!!), including copying text literally from the sales adds. So ask ourselves the question now: can you call yourself an author when you write an introduction only? Let's be very honest, with time anyone of us could take the text and pics from several online sources, compile this together into one book. Use text taken from online info pages, sales adds and use some translation where necessary and voila, a book is ready. Furthermore, if this is thé book in English, than why are several variations left out from some orders and medals (Nevsky, Sevastopol and Leningrad f.e.)?
Of course, it all looks very nicely done, nothing bad to say about that. Plus, the majority of info on Soviet orders and medals is all compiled in one book which is a plus. Though when you're really into collecting you just as easily go directly to the original sources for this info. And I will say it again to conclude, you simply can not call yourself an author when all you did is just compile material what others have written!

[Random Internet Neilbody]

The discussion between Marcel and SovPha shows what a divisive book Mr Reznik’s latest offering is. The community appears to be split into 2 groups. They appear to react differently to the same question. Is it acceptable to profit financially from using other people’s material without their permission? Mr Reznik’s schooling no doubt informed him that any author of an essay (or in this case a book) can reference the work of others but cannot pass it off as their own. If that’s not true then why do universities scan student essays for plagiarism? Is it because serious, scholarly work has a thick bibliography section at the back? It’s the bit you rarely read, but it’s there for a reason. So people know that you are not trying to pass the work off as your own. Which text is err.. ‘borrowed’ and which is original. Which picture was err. ‘appropriated’ and from where. I’m sure that the owners of the items (if they were sellers) would be very appreciative of the advertising. My guess, and its only a guess, is that if the book’s subtitle was, ‘Here’s some stuff I ripped off the internet and thanks to everyone who was unknowingly involved’, it would raise two quandaries. (1) Everyone who has ever copied and pasted anything can now call themselves an author, wow, my grandmother is an author!, and more importantly (2) Is this worth 90 euros? Most societies punish theft, not reward it. I’m no social scientist, but I presume that we do this to discourage people. This book is screaming out for someone to copy and paste the text, move a few sentences around, sharpen up the English and republish electronically for 5 euros. When Mr Reznik’s sales plummet, with whom would our sympathies lie? Just a thought.

[Marcel Banziger]

This book is screaming out for someone to copy and paste the text, move a few sentences around, sharpen up the English and republish electronically for 5 euros.

Plus add those missing variants of some of the awards to make it more complete