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*