Use of first person in a book

[Lars T. Kyllingstad]

JMNorris wrote:
> I once had a student in a college course ask me if he was permited to
> use the first person in a term paper.  Ugh.  I heard a rumor that the
> Education  Dept. at my school would automatically give an F for the use
> of "I".  Education Departments are generally the academically weakest in
> any university.  "I" is better than the royal "we", and "the author" is
> downright stilted.  Note that the royal "we" is still first person, just
> not singular. 


I think that, in most cases, the author is using "we" to mean "you and 
I", i.e. the author and the reader. I like that -- it makes me feel like 
the author is saying "come on, walk with me while I explain this".

I would most definitely cringe if I ever read a research paper in my own 
field, theoretical physics, that was written in first person singular.

     Author: "After performing the above transformation, I can now write
              the Lagrangian density as ..."
         Me: "Hey, wait a minute! YOU write the Lagrangian like that?
              What about me, can't I do that too? Are we talking
              mathematics here, or are we discussing your personal
              preference in Lagrangians?"

For experimental papers I'd find it more acceptable, as they to a larger 
extent describe the author's personal experience, which is not 
necessarily reproducible by others. On the other hand, papers in 
experimental sciences tend to have dozens of authors and co-authors 
anyway, so the plural "we" is still the appropriate thing to use. ^^

For educational books like Andrei's I like the first person singular 
style, as long as it's not overused.

-Lars