Maybe you are trying to initiate a discussion. Maybe you are just trying to get the community attention. Maybe you are just putting your ideas "out there"... I really don't know what it is. But it's annoying as hell!

I even don't think that you are just karma-whoring. It seems that you lose more karma after entering in the discussion than by posting your (usually pretty inane) questions.

If you really want to test your ideas or get the community feedback, I suggest you to keep a blog, write essays, put everything you may think interesting there. The process of writing will probably get you much more valuable information than people here ever will. All you're getting (and we're getting) is noise.

Computer books can be pretty boring. This would be a way to encourage deeper reading and understanding.

This means that you are more likely to skim material that does not seem highly relevant.

But that's not a good scenario for expanding your horizons.

I'm very glad you are safely on the other side of the internet, because your suggestion gives me the overwhelming urge to impale you with a mechanical pencil. ;)

While it may be adding some suspense when reading a book sequentially (for the first time), intentional errors are absolutely confusing whenever you intend to use the book as a reference.

One notable example in popular culture is in Chaim Potok's novel "The Chosen"

http://www.amazon.com/Chosen-Chaim-Potok/dp/0449213447/ref=p...

From a review here:

http://litmed.med.nyu.edu/Annotation?action=view&annid=1...

"At Reb Saunders’s synagogue, he experiences Hasidism in practice, especially the practice whereby the Reb makes an intentional mistake in his sermon every week and challenges Danny to identify the mistake and elucidate it from the Talmud and commentaries."

"Now I know some of you have already heard of me, but for the benefit of those who are unfamiliar, let me explain how I teach. Between today until the class right before finals, it is my intention to work into each of my lectures ... one lie. Your job, as students, among other things, is to try and catch me in the Lie of the Day."

http://www.overcomingbias.com/2008/02/my-favorite-lia.html

EDIT: Didn't see that someone already posted the essence of this story below.

Also, you would tell the reader that errors have been introduced intentionally to encourage a deeper reading.

The reader could perhaps be referred to an online discussion forum where he/she could search for and discuss potential errors.

It was the job of the class to figure out what the lie was and call him on it and the end of class. This kept the students attentive and on edge.

From what I remember, there were some sessions where the students could not figure out what the lie was, so they went home with a potential error in their notes.

The trick was, the professor was also lying when he said that there would be a lie in each session.

In the end, knowing that there might be a blatant lie in each lecture kept the students paying attention and ultimately getting more out of the class. Doing something like this with books (not even computer books, necessarily) might really help people to pay attention. I'd think something like this would sell well too, just because of the marketing angle it would have.

If anyone knows where the story of the professor came from, please let me know. It was a great story.

I loved that class (and this is only a small part why).

What made Dr. K memorable was a gimmick he employed that began with his introduction at the beginning of his first class:

"Now I know some of you have already heard of me, but for the benefit of those who are unfamiliar, let me explain how I teach. Between today until the class right before finals, it is my intention to work into each of my lectures ... one lie. Your job, as students, among other things, is to try and catch me in the Lie of the Day."

Giving bad information isn't fun, or a learning style.