Comments on: Book update

By: Diane Duane

Diane Duane — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 21:48:59 +0000

Phil, can Peter and I backstop you? Not on science, which you have handled: but P. in particular is the poorfreader’s proofreader. He catches what I miss in MSs, which is saying something.

Best! D.

By: Buzz Parsec

Buzz Parsec — Wed, 09 Apr 2008 20:55:50 +0000

Random thought -

If the Coen brothers make a sci-fi end-of-the-world flick, maybe they’ll include a battered, beat-up, soaked in bank robbery blue dye copy of DFTS as the “user manual”

(A more typical Coen brothers movie would follow the exploits of a bunch of UFOlogists or other woo-woo believers as the roam around trying to catch up with sightings and always just miss them, because there really nothing there, which everyone in the movie except the heros will understand. Stanton Freeman is scary enough to be the villain… Think he would sue if they used a heavy-set guy with a replica of his beard and the initials SF in the role?)

By: JKH

JKH — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 23:23:27 +0000

Can’t wait Phil. I’ll definitely be buying one. So that makes only 999 gazillion, 999 zillion, 999 katrillion.. etc, etc….999 trillion, 999 billion, 999 million, 999 thousand, 999 to go!

Hey wow, isn’t that exactly how many dumbass creationists it takes to screw in a light bulb? Hmmmm

By: Brian

Brian — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:26:42 +0000

I produced my latest manuscript entirely using interpretive dance.

You woulnd’t believe the errors I found.

By: PK

PK — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 16:17:29 +0000

I have heard before how someone wrote a manuscript in LaTeX, only to have it transformed into a Word (!) document by a sweat shop in South-East Asia. Talk about perversion! The author in question spent the entire lifetime of the book’s edition picking out typos.

For scientific publishing there is absolutely no reason to use anything other than LaTeX, preferably with a dedicated style (i.e., “class”). Why some publishers not do this is beyond me…

By: Cindy

Cindy — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:59:58 +0000

Phil,

Please try to catch all the typos. I’m using a new edition of an Astronomy textbook and it’s riddled with typos. I’m really pissed at the typo in a figure that screws up the value of the speed of light! And it was even incorrect in the electronic version of the figure on the DVD.

And if you don’t catch all of the typos, I’ll email you.

By: Navneeth

Navneeth — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:54:56 +0000

Wait! What if a tiny blackhole at the centre of the solar system (or somewhere in the Swiss-French border) swallows the Earth, or a GRB goes off close by, or an asteroid from beyond planet X slams onto the Earth, before your book releases??? *GASP*

By: Greg

Greg — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:32:52 +0000

There will be advance copies at T.A.M. 6, won’t there?

By: Bunk

Bunk — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 15:01:31 +0000

Congratulations on being so close to completion. It must nicely combine great relief with a sense of accomplishment. I look forward to reading it.

By: Nandes

Nandes — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 13:14:37 +0000

October?

garbishe!

By: Donnie B.

Donnie B. — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 12:22:29 +0000

We’re all waiting with bated breath.

Except PZ, of course, who’s waiting with baited breath.

By: Kevin F.

Kevin F. — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:43:10 +0000

Can I borrow (1 Bazillion times price of book) dollars to buy a Bazillion copies?

By: !AstralProjectile

!AstralProjectile — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:34:20 +0000

(Continuing pointless discussion)
By convention, usually the range is exclusive of the upper bound…

By: sirjonsnow

sirjonsnow — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 11:22:02 +0000

Can we get a pic of the cover?

By: Dana Hunter

Dana Hunter — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 09:23:37 +0000

Phil, darling, we’ll make sure your book sells a gajillion copies! I can’t wait for October – I just hope it comes out before my trip to Mexico! Wanna be on the beach reading your book!

Then I’ll have to read it again when I’m sober…

By: Quiet Desperation

Quiet Desperation — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 07:34:56 +0000

the number between 1020 and 1020 is 1020.

Nonsense. between 1020 and 1020 lies a gap, and that’s where God lives!

But seriously, between 1020 and 1020 is the third personality of 1020… the one that makes the happiness turn to anger so quickly… the one that must punish the small animals until it’s simply not enough, and larger targets must be found.

By: Chip

Chip — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 05:37:44 +0000

Its one of life’s fine moments when you create something you’re actually happy with. Looking forward to your new book.

By: Joel Birch

Joel Birch — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 03:11:39 +0000

MandyDax: do you know if your screen-reader would read out the “title” attribute if that number was wrapped in an [abbr] tag? If it did then that might be a good thing for web developers to do to increase accessibility.

Really looking forward to your book BA!

By: Steve t

Steve t — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 02:58:04 +0000

October?? Nuts. I was hoping for some nice space-reading in the summer. Oh well, I suppose these things take time.

By: Tensor

Tensor — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 02:20:59 +0000

Can we start worshipping it now, and avoid the rush in October?

By: MandyDax

MandyDax — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 01:18:00 +0000

Poo, ^{doesn’t work in comments here, I guess.}

By: MandyDax

MandyDax — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 01:16:59 +0000

…1020 becomes 1020…

At work, I get Firefox to read me my web-browsing, and the engine behind the voice simulation doesn’t understand superscripts, so it ignores them: “one thousand twenty becomes one thousand twenty.”

Oh well, if I hear it say that there are “one thousand eleven stars in the milky way galaxy,” I think I can figure out what happened there. I’m looking forward to your book. It should be a great read, and just in time to be a birthday present to me.

By: DaveS

DaveS — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:56:16 +0000

“Is Brad Pitt going to be in the movie adaptation?”

Nah, Will Wheaton.

By: J_w23

J_w23 — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:56:16 +0000

Lately I bought your first book and I noticed you’ve done your literature well… Death from the skies sounds really exiting, now I hope this book is more than just a plain exiting piece of lecture. With the literature behind the lecture right, I’ll be sure to give it a lovely read; is it?

Cheers, from half way around the world

By: Lugosi

Lugosi — Tue, 08 Apr 2008 00:20:16 +0000

Is Brad Pitt going to be in the movie adaptation?