I found an error-free book

[JSWolf]

Backlist scan/OCR eBooks can have some glaring errors. Last one I read was the first in the Sharpe series by Bernard Cornwell and it had some nicely glaring errors including mistakes in character names. I had to stop twice to fix found errors and reload the eBook.

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by John F

If I was the publisher, I would like to think I could find the errors myself. Asking a customer to find and report so many errors shows a lack of effort by the publisher.
, b
IMO.

Four years ago I bought and read the book "Big Bang", by Simon Singh, in spanish translation (hardcover pbook), published in Spain by "Ediciones de Intervención Cultural" through its imprint "Biblioteca Buridán".

Unfortunately, there were all sorts of errors: typos ("Humanson" and "Dowell" instead of "Humason" and "Lowell"), copy-paste with partial edition (in the case of comparison tables like on geocentric and heliocentric models and Big Bang and Steady State models), substitutions ("oxigen" instead of "hidrogen"), etc.

I decided to email Simon Singh about this. The book is great and deserved a better edition. I even attached a list of errors. He forwarded my message to his agent, who, believe it or not, asked me if I would like to read the book again and send a complete list of errors, as the publisher was not very helpful!

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by hardcastle

I didn't assume, you belittled the OP for not giving up the information, as if he had any obligation to do so.

This was not a logical jump. Write a better post next time.

</sigh>

He has no obligation to do so -- just as he has no obligation to report errors.

Considering he went out of his way to report errors, he could do the courtesy of attaching his list of errors. Otherwise, I am perfecty understanding why he was dismissed as a crank.

He doesn't need to find all errors, or even most of them. Neither I nor the publishers expect him to do any proofing whatsoever. But if you buy a consumer product and it is flawed, then a meaningful complaint would include details or examples.

In this as in many other ways, I really don't understand why some people think books are special snowflakes deserving of extra-special treatment.

If the OP had provided the publisher with a subset of his list, and told them "I stopped keeping track of them because it's not my job you lazy tush" then I'd agree that the publisher has a responsibility to fix a product that has been demonstrated to be flawed. And they really do need to check the whole thing properly, too.

Until then, he is a crank.

[Luffy]

Originally Posted by icallaci

Retail ebooks rarely have glaring typos nowadays. But even retail books have errors, and now I can't help but see them. When I check the printed version, sure enough, the same errors are usually in the printed book as well. So I am doomed to roam the universe, unable to ignore typos in anything made up of words I can see. Maybe I should switch to audiobooks.

If a 300 page retail book has 5 errors in it, chances are I'll notice one or two but will forget about it in a day. Ten errors in such a book though, is distracting.

So, one error per book is hardly the end of the world.

[mr ploppy]

These are the sort of mistakes I mean, all taken from the first chapter of my current read. I can't see why anything written this century would need to go through OCR.

with the various patches adjourned on it.

"Well, maybe one of these time they’ll be right."

searching among the alphabetized authors last names.

the gangsta wanna-be’s

"Joker's going with you." Doc said.

still recorded self-help CD’s and Podcasts that were broadcasts to three million people around the world.

they’d found their niche’s and neither was completely in line with their parents.

Jose Garcia, one of Sunn Advertising’s web designer’s laughed.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

These are the sort of mistakes I mean, all taken from the first chapter of my current read. I can't see why anything written this century would need to go through OCR.

with the various patches adjourned on it.

"Well, maybe one of these time they’ll be right."

searching among the alphabetized authors last names.

the gangsta wanna-be’s

"Joker's going with you." Doc said.

still recorded self-help CD’s and Podcasts that were broadcasts to three million people around the world.

they’d found their niche’s and neither was completely in line with their parents.

Jose Garcia, one of Sunn Advertising’s web designer’s laughed.

These look like author's errors, not OCR errors, that should have been caught if the book was copyedited. Would you share the title and publisher?

[DiapDealer]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

"Joker's going with you." Doc said.

At the risk of showing my ignorance; what is wrong with that particular one? Is it not a contraction of "Joker is going with you." ? Or is the error related to something other than the 's ?

[JSWolf]

What I do is highlight the errors I've found and later I go back and correct them after I've finished reading the book.

I've not recently been finding any major errors which is very good. Just an occasional small error here and there. I've also been noticing that there are a number of ePubs have been updated and for whatever reason, we just don't get notified about them.

[Ripplinger]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

At the risk of showing my ignorance; what is wrong with that particular one? Is it not a contraction of "Joker is going with you." ? Or is the error related to something other than the 's ?

There should be a comma after you, not a period.

Originally Posted by JSWolf

What I do is highlight the errors I've found and later I go back and correct them after I've finished reading the book.

That's what I do, it's the least interruption to reading for me that way.

[Catlady]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

At the risk of showing my ignorance; what is wrong with that particular one? Is it not a contraction of "Joker is going with you." ? Or is the error related to something other than the 's ?

The period inside the end quotation mark is incorrect. It should be a comma instead:

"Joker's going with you," Doc said.

[DiapDealer]

Ah ... gotcha. I was looking in the wrong place, since so many of the other examples seemed to be focused on 's. Thanks for pointing it out.

To be completely honest, that's an example of an error that probably wouldn't cause me to bat an eye (if the story has me engrossed).

[mr ploppy]

Originally Posted by Catlady

These look like author's errors, not OCR errors, that should have been caught if the book was copyedited. Would you share the title and publisher?

They are publisher's errors. Nobody expects authors to be perfect, that is what editors and proof readers are for.

[mr ploppy]

Did anyone spot both mistakes in this one?

still recorded self-help CD’s and Podcasts that were broadcasts to three million people around the world.

[Ripplinger]

Originally Posted by mr ploppy

Did anyone spot both mistakes in this one?

still recorded self-help CD’s and Podcasts that were broadcasts to three million people around the world.

There's no apostrophe in CDs, and should be broadcast.

[arjaybe]

Originally Posted by Ripplinger

There's no apostrophe in CDs, and should be broadcast.

Not necessarily. There is a way for broadcasts to be okay. Where it's referring to the broadcasts rather than to the act of broadcasting them.