100% agree. As I've gotten older/more experienced, I've come to better understand that everyone really just has their own collection of preferences and experiences, and there's a context to evaluate their ideas in. One thing that really struck me about Petersen's book a few years back was how much of his perspective obviously comes from living in northern California, of all things. His clothing advice in particular. I still respect them both (RIP Sheldon), but it turns out I'm a different sort of bike rider than either one. That said, some of what Petersen says about handlebars really gets my goat because he's guilty of disseminating claims about handlebar height, reach and shoulder anatomy that are completely the reverse of reality. To the point of distributing deeply misleading diagrams and everything. But I'm trying to avoid that rant, it's not really relevant.

Oh sure, I'm not saying it's wrong to say the B17 works well for bars above the saddle, I just doubt it was intentionally designed for that.