Structural Comments

Before embarking on this overview of some of the technical ideas presented within the OST model, some general comments are raised against the format and structure of the book. While such comments may simply reflect a personal preference, they are raised because it is believed they may allow many of the ideas buried within the details of the book to be made more accessible to a wider audience. Of course, whether this is important to the author, only he can decide.

Note: It is hope that the author will not see the following comments as a criticism as they are only intended as feedback that may possibly help others review the incredible scope of the work undertaken by the author in developing all the ideas underpinning the OST model.

Given its highly technical content, it is not really surprising that the OST model, as described in the 404 pages of version-8, is not an easy read and while it is incumbent on any reviewer to read the book, it is suggested that few will be in a position to immediately comment on all the details after just one read. For there are simply too many formulations and tangential ideas that need to be investigated, and more importantly understood, before any form of overall judgment might be made. For example, there are over 250 unnumbered equation blocks, each often containing multiple expressions to say nothing of the many other equations embedded in the text. Likewise, the phrase ‘will be discussed later’ is made many times without any specific reference to where this ‘later’ discussion is actually located. However, such issues are then compounded by the book only providing a basic table of contents, no hierarchical numbered headings, no equation numbering, no topic index and no hyperlinks within the PDF book.

So, what might be changed?

It is suggested that the book might benefit by having an initial link to the OST website, which might then provide updates on any developments to the model and pointers to some of the many auxiliary papers the author has also written on this subject. These papers, as listed in Appendix-B may also provide a useful introduction to many of the key ideas and the reader is urge to consider reviewing these papers as possibly an alternative starting point. So, as indicated, it is believed that the OST book might benefit by supporting numbered headings and sub-headings that could provide a more detailed and descriptive table of contents plus a table of figures and topic index. Likewise, internal references might use specific page numbers, not section-page numbers, and/or augmented with hyperlinks, such that the headings, sub-headings or topics can be immediately referenced at the click of a button. In this respect, all ‘will be discussed later’ statements might also be made immediately accessible via hyperlinks embedded within the PDF document.

Any other considerations?

While the changes above might be seen as simply cosmetic in the sense that the actual information in the book is not really affected, it might also be suggested that the ordering of some of the material might also be considered. For example, the reader is being asked to review, and assimilate, the implications of over 100 equation blocks before the OST wave model is even introduced in chapter-5; while many of the supportive details underpinning this model are simply deferred using the ‘will be discussed later’ statement to unspecified sections in subsequent chapters. While possibly understanding why the author may have wanted to preface the details of his OST model with the many ideas, he obviously believes necessary to understand it, many readers may struggle to get any sort of initial understanding of the wave structure being proposed. Therefore, it is simply suggested that the author might consider writing an overview chapter at the start of the book, which highlights some of the most salient features of the OST wave model that includes hyperlinks to the specific technical arguments and key mathematical formulations detailed throughout the book. For this reason, the structure of this overview will follow a more top-down approach.