OT: excellent book on information theory

[Steve Holden]

Terry Hancock wrote:
> On Tue, 17 Jan 2006 13:28:15 +0000
> Steve Holden <steve at holdenweb.com> wrote:
> 
>>Grant Edwards wrote:
>>
>>>Very interesting.  And rather sad that editors think the
>>>average Amermican reader too dim-witted to figure out
>>>(in context, even) that a "car park" is a "parking lot"
>>>and a "dustbin" is a "trash can."
>>>
>>
>>They know that the average American could work it out.
>>They also know  that the average American doesn't like to
>>do anything remotely like hard  thinking, hence they make
>>these changes so the books don't read like  "foreign
>>literature".
> 
> 
> I'll pass on the snobbery.
> 
I don't know what snobbery is involved: the same is true of the average 
English reader, but the book was written in English.

> The real reason is that it was an expensively promoted
> book. Customizing it for an American audience was a way to
> suck money out of that flow into the pockets of the
> American publisher. In order to justify that expense, they
> have to have something to show for their efforts.
> 
> Or if you want to put it another way, if you pay somebody
> to fiddle with the prose, fiddle they will.
> 
If you say so. Stranger things have happened.

regards
  Steve
-- 
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