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Re: solar monopole

Date: Sat, 14 Feb 1998 10:15:01 -0800 (PST)
Reply-to: phys-l@atlantis.uwf.edu
From: William Beaty <billb@eskimo.com>
To: phys-l@atlantis.uwf.edu
Subject: solar monopole


Those diagrams of sun's b-field used to set off my "BAD DIAGRAM" mental
alarms. Common textbook misconceptions have a subclass which is hard to
discuss here without GIFs: incorrect or misleading diagrams. I've heard
that some K-6 publishers include diagrams which are not reviewed by
authors of the actual text. This opens a pathway for "telephone game"
distortions, where an artist must interpret what an author writes, but
without any feedback and progressive corrections from the author.

William J. Beaty SCIENCE HOBBYIST website
billb@eskimo.com www.eskimo.com/~billb
EE/programmer/sci-exhibits science projects, tesla, weird science
Seattle, WA 206-781-3320 freenrg-L taoshum-L vortex-L webhead-L

We had the same experience, with a final-year secondary school text.
Our publisher (a local offshoot of a US publisher) had let me see the
final proofs of all diagrams & text of an earlier book we did with
them, but when it got to the second & most important book, they
wouldn't let me near them.
The result: 2 minor typo errors (to my
knowledge) in 500 pages for the first book, and about 30 pages of
corrections needed to the second book. And they have never
incorporated those corrections in subsequent printings.
Needless to say, those publishers are not among my favourite people,
but I now know not to curse authors automatically for mistakes in
textbooks ...
Cheers
Margaret Mazzolini


Dr. Margaret Mazzolini
Astrophysics & Supercomputing Group
School of Biophysical Sciences and Electrical Engineering
Swinburne University of Technology
P.O. Box 218,
Hawthorn VIC 3122 Australia
email: mmazzolini@swin.edu.au
phone: (61 3) 9214 8084 fax: (61 3) 9819 0856