OT: excellent book on information theory

[Terry Hancock]

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.

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.

-- 
Terry Hancock (hancock at AnansiSpaceworks.com)
Anansi Spaceworks http://www.AnansiSpaceworks.com