Hey, am a bit over half way through summarizing MCTB2. Given that MCTB2 is over 320,000 words, I decided to try to see how pithy I could get and slash it by about 90%, which is basically an editor's dream and an author's nightmare. We'll see how close to that I can get 32,000 word ideal.

To accomplish this, I have had to totally switch mentality and be a ruthless, hack and slash editor of my own work. There is a very strict aesthetic of just keeping practice-focused details in nearly all sections save a few that are about other topics.

I am happy that I have a few people helping me with this. I have no idea when it will be done, but will let you know how it goes here.

It will initially be freely available on www.mctb.org, with page-by-page links to the full version of MCTB2 for those who read the terse summary and want the long, complete version.

At some point, I also plan to publish it as a book also through Aeon Publications, so there will be a compact print form for those who want that, like something you could throw in a small bag before hopping a plane to Asia... 

May this work benefit practitioners,

Daniel

Very cool... so ~60 pages double spaced? Wow. I can see it becoming even more of a classic than MCTB, like Mahasi's Progress of Insight (~40pgs).vs his Manual of Insight (~750pgs).

Best wishes and happy slashing!!

I think it will. This is a great idea. Editing can be a really interesting exercise. Now and again I will have worked for an excessively long time on, say, the first three or four paragraphs of an article. In the moment, I'll think my little lead-in is really excellent. Later, I'll read it again and see that I didn't get to the point until the fourth or fifth paragraph. I'll 'decapitate' the piece by cutting the entire intro. Suddenly, the whole thing comes to life.
Even cutting a few words from a sentence can make a difference, as with Mark Twain's maxim 'If you can catch an adjective, kill it.'

 

This would be of great help in trying to get dharma-interested folks to read MCTB.

Probably more like 100+ typical paperback book pages?

While I was able to cut Parts V and VI, which represent about half the book, by about 90%, or a 1:10 ratio, I am hitting closer to a 85% with Part IV, meaning a 1:6 ratio, and predict that this ratio will decrease somewhat as I get towards the front, as those are the core sections that may be significantly less useful if cut too hard, but I will see how it goes and what I can get away with without stripping the thing down past recognition.

That 1:10 vs 1:6 ratio might not sound like a lot, until you realize that this is the difference between a 100 page book and a 150 page book, so, perhaps realistically 125 pages? We'll see.

Remember, MCTB2 is not at all normally formatted, with a small 10.5pt font, single spacing, and crown-quarto-sized pages, which are much larger than typical pages, and hitting at slightly over 500 words per page on average, whereas normal would be between 250 and 390 or so, so in most normal book formats, MCTB2 would be somewhere between 800 and 1,200 pages or so, depending, hence the larger formatting choices for that printing.

Ah, good point. I "think" in 8x10 inch pages.

Not a small task but I agree with Noah, it's going to be a great gateway document!

Very cool. If any part of this could be crowdsourced (from your perspective), I'm sure people here would love to help.

Btw, speaking of books, have you updated the booklist on your site in awhile? I just looked and it doesn't have the Trauma Sensitive Mindfulness, Manual of Insight, Mind Illuminated, etc. When I first got into this stuff that book list was very helpful for me.

Ah, this is awesome. Being that I am the slowest reader that I've ever met, this condensed version will be a huge help. I would love to breeze through a condensed version, and then slowly make my way through the big book.