tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8732486.post2611748867998974289..comments2023-10-26T03:19:41.569-07:00Comments on Stephen Bodio's Querencia: Egregious-- and Hilarious-- ErrorSteve Bodiohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14434597061701369867noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8732486.post-51277127872978836422007-04-19T19:14:00.000-07:002007-04-19T19:14:00.000-07:00Mark-- just saw your second comment--YES!!!As a li...Mark-- just saw your second comment--YES!!!<BR/><BR/>As a literate person more (formally) educated in science than the humanities, I submit that most scientists are knowledgeable about the arts, while most humanities people are ignorant of science, and indifferent or even proud about the fact.<BR/><BR/>This became especially apparent to me in the seventies, when my late partner Betsy worked for MIT and I came into contact with polymaths like Phillip Morisson. Later years have only reinforced this notion. For instance, Helen ("Pluvialis") lectures on science, and is a poet of note. Show me the complimentary phenomenon-- please! In the past maybe-- Robinson Jeffers? Ted Hughes? But now? Maybe Pluvi's friend Rob Macfarlane...Steve Bodiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14434597061701369867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8732486.post-78215134966773382662007-04-19T19:11:00.000-07:002007-04-19T19:11:00.000-07:00Hey, at least they didn't mix up T.H. White and E....Hey, at least they didn't mix up T.H. White and E.B. White (<I>Charlotte's Web</I> and <I>Stuart Little</I>)!Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8732486.post-44254028999376891922007-04-19T19:05:00.000-07:002007-04-19T19:05:00.000-07:00True, Mark. But outside of our corner (that is, fa...True, Mark. But outside of our corner (that is, falconry) it might be even worse that someone who works for a major NY publisher did not know the difference between a popular and never- out- of- print novelist and a Nobel Prize winner with a different name!<BR/><BR/>Incidentally that bio was changed an hour after I emailed them but I have no response from them as of yet and doubt I will...<BR/><BR/>"Thank you"?Steve Bodiohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14434597061701369867noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8732486.post-7928524254341182592007-04-19T19:04:00.000-07:002007-04-19T19:04:00.000-07:00Steve asks/pleads "Isn't anyone literate amymore?"...Steve asks/pleads "Isn't anyone literate amymore?" Here's a quote that captures the problem in a nutshell. This is Brian Greene, writing as guest editor of the 2006 edition of <I>The Best American Science and Nature Writing</I>:<BR/><BR/>"There is an implicit agreement in 'educated circles' that it's 'barbaric to be unfamiliar with Plato or Monet or Dickens, but quite natural to be oblivious of quarks and chi-squares.' [That passage in turn quoted from a <I>NYT</I> op-ed by Nicholas Kristof.] As a professional scientist, I've often encountered this attitude among nonscientists. It's rarely derogatory, and it's frequently accompanied by embarassment -- sometimes feigned -- that the otherwise intelligent and informed individual has no understanding of science or mathematics. Generally, the encounters end with a well-meaning chuckle (one in which decorum obliges me to partake) that says in short 'it's really okay not to know any math or science.'"<BR/><BR/>If math and "hard sciences" such as physics get little respect from the literati, small wonder that natural history (imagine getting upset over mere trifles like using pictures of <I>the wrong bloody bird</I>) gets short shrift.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8732486.post-13729373491880763262007-04-19T18:46:00.000-07:002007-04-19T18:46:00.000-07:00On the one hand, it's nice that someone is making ...On the one hand, it's nice that someone is making an effort to keep these books in print, and possibly bring them to a larger audience...<BR/><BR/>On the other hand, the art directors seem to among those who, in the words of a reviewer, "cannot tell a hawk from a handsaw" -- and so overlook the possibility that there might be more than one <I>type</I> of hawk.<BR/><BR/>Frustrating.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8732486.post-26970258814639769082007-04-19T08:49:00.000-07:002007-04-19T08:49:00.000-07:00I visited the site, and it looks like the bio was ...I visited the site, and it looks like the bio was changed. As for the covers . . . big sigh.Chas S. Cliftonhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00923547685265741325noreply@blogger.com