Hi All,
I was sent a proof copy of Tim Flannery's new book on global warming entitled "The Weather Makers", and noticed that all the numbers in it appeared to have been translated from metric originals to non-metric units. I wrote to the American publisher, and they confirmed that they have different editions for different markets, and that they translated all the units for the American version. Here's what he wrote:
My name is Brando Skyhorse and I worked with Tim Flannery on The Weather
Makers. Thanks for writing in.
I understand why you'd be interested in a metric version of the book, however
no such edition exists in the United States. While metrics is certainly the
language of science, we also wanted this book to appeal to as large a group
of readers as possible. We felt that metrics would be confusing for a great
many readers, so we decided to covert to Imperial measurements for our
edition. The Australian, Canadian and British versions of the book (all
readily available through their respective Amazon sites) use metrics so I'd
invite you to order one of these editions.
Thanks again for your email. Hope you enjoyed the book.
All my best,
B.
My response:
Dear Brando,
Thanks for the confirmation that there are different editions for different
countries. I will pursue getting the book through Amazon.ca.
I understand the importance of a book like this reaching as many people as
possible, but it would be nice if Americans had an easy and obvious *option*
of getting books with proper units. When I read phrases like "... a
temperature rise of 9 degF to 18 degF ...", it makes me feel like I'm trying
to read Braille with winter mittens on. I know the original was 5 degC to 10
degC, but there's a veil of medieval cobwebs over the clarity and logic of
the original numbers. I'm forced to reconstruct the original numbers at
every turn, which is highly distracting when trying to understand Tim
Flannery's points. This sort of publication policy only perpetuates the
confused state of the U.S. measurement non-system that isolates us from the
rest of the world.
That said, with pencil in hand for frequent marginalia, I am enjoying the
book.
Best regards, Bruce
I just thought I'd point out the option of getting books with proper units through Amazon.ca, something that wasn't so obvious to me.
Cheers,
Bruce Raup
