The author’s unexpectedly early departure from this world prevented the publication of the second edition of his first book, but he left behind material for further reflection, along with the first edition by IP “Svjetlost” d.d. Sarajevo, Institute for Textbooks and Teaching Materials, 1998, 2,000 copies. As his closest friends and collaborators, it is both our honour and duty to edit this material and complete his work.
They say that true creation requires modifying the existing tools. In that spirit, when it comes to quoting other people’s words, the author wrote this book in a somewhat specific way, about which we, as editors, wish to make two notes to the reader:
- The book is the result of several decades of research, but the author himself said: “I did not read books to write books. Because I don’t trust anyone’s memory, not even my own, I wrote down what I felt was worth the effort. When I decided to compile my thoughts in the form of a book, I often couldn’t recall the authors of the wonderful and astonishing statements or definitions.” To help the reader navigate, we have subsequently managed to find the authors and sources for most of the quotes, but we have also retained those for which we could not.
- Parts of quotes are often bolded, which does not necessarily mean that these parts were emphasized in the original text from which the quote was taken. However, given that they come from various sources and contexts, the author considered it important to highlight the parts that deserve particular attention. To faithfully convey his intention, we have preserved these emphases in the text.
We believe that the authenticity of these unique aspects of his writing is one of the key elements of the value of the work you hold before you.