Most Irritating Thing About eBooks You Download - Page 2

montsnmags · 06-04-2008, 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by MoSo

When I worked for a newspaper and we published legal notices in Spanish - a language none of us spoke natively - we proofread them against the original copy end-to-front, word by word. You'd have to do the same there.

Yes, and I suspect that's why books here on MR are so reliable. They have people who, though perhaps not going "word by word", are working to upload texts that they love and therefore don't mind, or even enjoy, partly or fully re-reading.

Quote:

I occasionally proofread for Distributed Proofreaders, and I have to say that most of the newly scanned things have very, very few OCR/scanner errors.

Another suspicion...because most of the public domain books I have been looking for are well-known classics, perhaps they were some of the earlier-scanned rather than "newly scanned". I have found, on occasion, some public domain ebooks where it is fairly obvious that no subsequent checking was done.

Finnegans Wake would probably require the expertise from your first paragraph's experience.

Cheers,
Marc

RWood · 06-04-2008, 11:33 PM

I dislike many of the books from the Sony site have wide margins around the text. One had almost 0.5" on all sides and tiny, tiny text inside that margin. Even at the "L" setting it was still hard to read. (Not that there were that many words left on each line.)

Laine · 06-05-2008, 12:10 AM

Just lately I have been driven mad by really stupid errors in books - not sure if it is lack of editing or OCR.
Last year I read a historical Romance in which there was a picture of lemonade at a picnic and someone used the ores to row a boat. This kind of stuff throws me out of reader's trance.
It seems to be happening more and more.

HarryT · 06-05-2008, 04:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by montsnmags

Another suspicion...because most of the public domain books I have been looking for are well-known classics, perhaps they were some of the earlier-scanned rather than "newly scanned".

Even worse than that - all the oldest PG books were typed in by hand, and very often the typist skipped a sentence or even more. The very worst example I've come across is the PG version of Dickens' "Oliver Twist" which, proofing it against a printed version (the only way to properly proof a book) turned out to have dozens of missing sentences, a couple of missing paragraphs, and one case which half a page had been missed out!

The version of "Oliver Twist" we now have on MobileRead is properly proofed and complete. The PG version is dreadful.

montsnmags · 06-05-2008, 05:23 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

...
The version of "Oliver Twist" we now have on MobileRead is properly proofed and complete. The PG version is dreadful.

Ah, see, there's the "love" I'm talking about, and that's why I come here first to get my PD books if they're available. C'mere and give me a hug, big guy!

Oh, okay, just a firm handshake then.

Cheers,
Marc

zelda_pinwheel · 06-05-2008, 06:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Laine

Just lately I have been driven mad by really stupid errors in books - not sure if it is lack of editing or OCR.
Last year I read a historical Romance in which there was a picture of lemonade at a picnic and someone used the ores to row a boat. This kind of stuff throws me out of reader's trance.
It seems to be happening more and more.

oh, i love a good picture of lemonade, it's so refreshing in hot weather, and you don't have to worry about spilling it.

HarryT · 06-05-2008, 06:23 AM

What's wrong with using oars to row a boat, by the way? Oars have been around for thousands of years - certainly since the times of Phoenicians traders around 1000 BC or so.

Jellby · 06-05-2008, 06:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

What's wrong with using oars to row a boat, by the way? Oars have been around for thousands of years - certainly since the times of Phoenicians traders around 1000 BC or so.

But "ores"?

zelda_pinwheel · 06-05-2008, 06:45 AM

well, ores work better than oars, because most of them are a lot heavier than wood, so you get a stronger pull and you can go a lot faster.

HarryT · 06-05-2008, 07:46 AM

I assumed it was just a typo; it would be rather pointless to try to correct everyone's spelling mistakes. However, if a book really did say that a boat was rowed with "ores" then that is, of course, a different matter entirely.

Jellby · 06-05-2008, 07:50 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HarryT

I assumed it was just a typo; it would be rather pointless to try to correct everyone's spelling mistakes. However, if a book really did say that a boat was rowed with "ores" then that is, of course, a different matter entirely.

Well, if the message was about errors in books, I assume it's actually an error in a book

zelda_pinwheel · 06-05-2008, 07:53 AM

i just assumed that if it were her own typo (and not in the book) she probably wouldn't have used it as an example here...

EDIT : right, what Jellby said (must learn to stop opening 6 topics in tabs at once and not refreshing the last page before replying...)

HarryT · 06-05-2008, 07:54 AM

But presumably the point about the "lemonade" is that it would be an anachronism at that point in history (I'm guessing?).

zelda_pinwheel · 06-05-2008, 08:03 AM

oh ? nothing strikes you as odd about serving images of refreshments, rather than the refreshments themselves ?

HarryT · 06-05-2008, 08:48 AM

Now I'm getting really confused

. I thought that the previous poster was saying that the book contain a picture of lemonade being served at a picnic

.

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06-04-2008, 11:33 PM	#17
RWood Technogeezer Posts: 7,233 Karma: 1601464 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Virginia, USA Device: Sony PRS-500	I dislike many of the books from the Sony site have wide margins around the text. One had almost 0.5" on all sides and tiny, tiny text inside that margin. Even at the "L" setting it was still hard to read. (Not that there were that many words left on each line.)

06-05-2008, 12:10 AM	#18
Laine Addict Posts: 341 Karma: 1162396 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Cabramatta, Sydney, Australia Device: Aura H2O, Voyage	Just lately I have been driven mad by really stupid errors in books - not sure if it is lack of editing or OCR. Last year I read a historical Romance in which there was a picture of lemonade at a picnic and someone used the ores to row a boat. This kind of stuff throws me out of reader's trance. It seems to be happening more and more.

06-05-2008, 06:23 AM	#22
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,550 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	What's wrong with using oars to row a boat, by the way? Oars have been around for thousands of years - certainly since the times of Phoenicians traders around 1000 BC or so.

06-05-2008, 06:45 AM	#24
zelda_pinwheel zeldinha zippy zeldissima Posts: 27,827 Karma: 921169 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Paris, France Device: eb1150 & is that a nook in her pocket, or she just happy to see you?	well, ores work better than oars, because most of them are a lot heavier than wood, so you get a stronger pull and you can go a lot faster.

06-05-2008, 07:46 AM	#25
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,550 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	I assumed it was just a typo; it would be rather pointless to try to correct everyone's spelling mistakes. However, if a book really did say that a boat was rowed with "ores" then that is, of course, a different matter entirely.

06-05-2008, 07:53 AM	#27
zelda_pinwheel zeldinha zippy zeldissima Posts: 27,827 Karma: 921169 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Paris, France Device: eb1150 & is that a nook in her pocket, or she just happy to see you?	i just assumed that if it were her own typo (and not in the book) she probably wouldn't have used it as an example here... EDIT : right, what Jellby said (must learn to stop opening 6 topics in tabs at once and not refreshing the last page before replying...)

06-05-2008, 07:54 AM	#28
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,550 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	But presumably the point about the "lemonade" is that it would be an anachronism at that point in history (I'm guessing?).

06-05-2008, 08:03 AM	#29
zelda_pinwheel zeldinha zippy zeldissima Posts: 27,827 Karma: 921169 Join Date: Dec 2007 Location: Paris, France Device: eb1150 & is that a nook in her pocket, or she just happy to see you?	oh ? nothing strikes you as odd about serving images of refreshments, rather than the refreshments themselves ?

06-05-2008, 08:48 AM	#30
HarryT eBook Enthusiast Posts: 85,550 Karma: 93383099 Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: UK Device: Kindle Oasis 2, iPad Pro 10.5", iPhone 6	Now I'm getting really confused . I thought that the previous poster was saying that the book contain a picture of lemonade being served at a picnic .