According to Chambers Dictionary, the noun
"metrics" is the "theory of measurement".
Does this mean that the American version of the
book has been really dumbed down? :-)
----- Original Message -----
Sent: Thursday, March 23, 2006 4:48
PM
Subject: [USMA:36356] Units used in
popular science books: buy Canadian
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:
Dear Bruce,
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
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