A while back in the middle of a long thread about Ruby documentation 
someone (forget who) mentioned the idea about creating a collaborative 
Ruby book.  The idea, if I recall correctly, was that those who chose to 
participate would be given CVS access to a repository that contains the 
documents in docbook format.  As each participant has time/information the 
participant writes a section of the book.  Others may come along and 
correct the section.  And still others might feel inclined to add to a 
particular section.

This would be different from the wiki approach in that at the end of this 
collaborative process we would actually have a book that is publishable.

This seems like an excellent idea.  Sometimes I think I'd like to write a 
book, but then I become convinced that the task is just too daunting 
especially compared to the monetary rewards.  This idea would let people 
contribute small parts of a book.

It seems like the place to start would be with a proposed list of chapters 
and then work down to smaller subsections of chapters.

Phil