If the author licenses the book under a creative commons or other libre license, its open source. If not, its not open source hardware.
If the author would just announce that the book is licensed openly, then it would liberate lots of other orgs to be able to include his work in their work. Otherwise this is a dead end for other open hardware manufacturers
Pretty sure Trump’s doctor said he was in excellent health. And Stalin’s doctor said he was in excellent health. What’s your point?