I'm now reading "Dead or alive" (the successor to 'The teeth of the tiger') that doesn't have as much filler as its predecessor (because it was written with someone else), but it still bears the mark of bad editing. For example:
Chapter 7: They’d adapted well and quickly, having taken out three URC soldiers in short order—four at the Charlottesville Mall shooting and three in Europe with the Magic Pen.
Someone doesn't know arithmetic. Surely four and three equal seven, not three.
Chapter 16: The witness reports would invariably fall into one of three general categories: I saw nothing; someone in a mask ran in, shot the man, and ran out, it all happened so fast; and Rosikhina’s favorite, Ya ne govo’ryu po russki. I don’t speak Russian. And of those accounts, the only true statement they’d get was likely the last one.
What do you think the only true statement was? No marks if you thought it was "I don't speak Russian". No, it's "It all happened so fast", which is not the final statement.
Obviously I missed my true vocation: I should have been a copy editor. I would have had a field day with the novels of Tom Clancy and his offspring.
One might ask why I am reading these books if they are so bad. They are actually fairly enjoyable and thought provoking, but the real reason is that when I have a few minutes spare from work, I don't have to concentrate hard on reading a serious non-fiction book.
At least this book piqued my curiosity suffiently to discover what a carbine is: a long gun that has its barrel shortened. Thus I discovered that the last few times that I did reserve duty (over twenty years ago), I was armed with an M4 carbine, as are the military in the first chapter of this book.
| Title | Tags | ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 91 | 1970 - Nice enough to eat/Habonim camps II | Habonim, Sandy Denny, Nick Drake, Blodwyn Pig, Nice enough to eat, 1970, Joe Boyd, John and Beverley Martin | |
| 736 | Analysing Excel | DBA, Excel | |
| 876 | Vinyl log 18 - 10 July | Sandy Denny, Vinyl log, Fairport Convention | |
| 1407 | Funeral playlist | Personal, Father |
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