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Post by kneazle on Feb 2, 2022 19:15:32 GMT -5
I'm reading the book Time and Again by Ben Elton which I'm enjoying. Except someone clearly failed on the fact checking as it referred to Shackleton as 'the Great New Zealander'. I figured there was pretty much no way he'd be from NZ and I didn't know about it and a very quick google showed he was born in Ireland and grew up in London.
It seemed like an odd mistake to make.
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Post by scrubb on Feb 2, 2022 21:38:13 GMT -5
Hmm, yah, that would give me pause. If he got that wrong, what else is messed up?
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Post by lillielangtry on Feb 3, 2022 2:28:59 GMT -5
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Post by Queen on Feb 4, 2022 11:57:55 GMT -5
I get that books aren't fact checked, but to call Shackleton a "Great New Zealander" is a howler.
Do you think he got his mental wires crossed with Ed Hillary?
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Post by kneazle on Feb 4, 2022 20:52:45 GMT -5
Having finished the book there is a possible explanation that I could find but it seems a reach.
There's a lot of historical detail which seems to be correct from my memory of the lead up to WWI so it's just odd that he made such an obvious mistake.
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Post by Liiisa on Feb 4, 2022 22:10:47 GMT -5
Again, my publishing superstition prevents me from mocking this publication, but yeah that would have been pretty easy to find out for sure.
It amazes me that people write whole-ass books with less obsessiveness than I write an email. (Could be related to why I've never finished any of the writing projects I've attempted, hmmm.)
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Post by tzarine on Feb 4, 2022 23:33:19 GMT -5
i worked as a fact checker for a publication in the beforeweb times it was amazingly detailed, time consuming work. my editor was super precise every fact had to be verified w a source. an address had to be shown on a map from a reference book e.g. the timeout film guide or the encyclopedia or i had to speak to an "expert" in the field
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Post by Queen on Feb 5, 2022 4:01:08 GMT -5
Again, my publishing superstition prevents me from mocking this publication, but yeah that would have been pretty easy to find out for sure. Ask any Kiwi. Ben Elton lives in London, wouldn't be hard to find one. Unless he did ask, and they were winding him up.
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Post by kneazle on Feb 5, 2022 5:14:26 GMT -5
It's even worse - he splits his time between London and Australia.
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Post by lillielangtry on Feb 5, 2022 6:35:36 GMT -5
i worked as a fact checker for a publication in the beforeweb times it was amazingly detailed, time consuming work. my editor was super precise every fact had to be verified w a source. an address had to be shown on a map from a reference book e.g. the timeout film guide or the encyclopedia or i had to speak to an "expert" in the field That sounds really interesting!
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Post by Queen on Feb 6, 2022 8:22:43 GMT -5
It's even worse - he splits his time between London and Australia. So it was an Aussie winding him up?
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Post by tzarine on Feb 6, 2022 13:27:43 GMT -5
i worked as a fact checker for a publication in the beforeweb times it was amazingly detailed, time consuming work. my editor was super precise every fact had to be verified w a source. an address had to be shown on a map from a reference book e.g. the timeout film guide or the encyclopedia or i had to speak to an "expert" in the field That sounds really interesting! lillie i was allowed to be the beijing expert bc i has covered tiananmen during the student movement my ed was lovely he worked around my teaching job & frequently ordered dinner & after late nights, gave me a taxi voucher home ah, publishing! those were the days!
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Post by Liiisa on Feb 6, 2022 14:04:56 GMT -5
Ah publishing... those were indeed the days.
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Post by tzarine on Feb 6, 2022 15:58:33 GMT -5
Ah publishing... those were indeed the days. liisa but what a waste! on ed used to messenger my proofs to me i could have walked to the office to pick them up also all those expense accounts, assigned & killed articles that drove print magazines out of business! i was once assigned to cover the "reebok human rights awards" in boston a total corporate masturbation fest. god, the speeches! & crap appetizers! the prizes would not have even covered a single 30 second tv ad!
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Post by Liiisa on Feb 6, 2022 16:21:49 GMT -5
Ahhh yes
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Post by Webs on Feb 9, 2022 22:13:49 GMT -5
It's the "buzzfeeding" of literature.
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Post by tzarine on Feb 12, 2022 12:26:35 GMT -5
eds were always going out to have meetings @ overpriced lunch places i always wished the eds would just pay me more instead of paying for my lunch one wanted me to tell "amy tan stories"
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Post by Liiisa on Feb 12, 2022 12:50:59 GMT -5
eds were always going out to have meetings @ overpriced lunch places i always wished the eds would just pay me more instead of paying for my lunch one wanted me to tell "amy tan stories" Yes, needless to say I never would have had lunch at Jean-Georges if it weren't for eds' preference for swanky lunches. (I must admit it was fabulous.) Yiiiikes at the Amy Tan stories, if I'm interpreting what you mean by that correctly.
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Post by tzarine on Feb 12, 2022 17:37:18 GMT -5
liisa it was implied "she's so popular, can you do something like that?" hoping for bestseller ive always remembered the cliche tan line: "once my feet touched china, i became chinese!" sorry, tzar stayed caucasian after he landed in beijing as did the other folks on the flight.
more recently eds have asked bout crazy rich asians
publishing!
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Post by Liiisa on Feb 12, 2022 17:50:04 GMT -5
Yup, that was basically it.
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