Comments on: Charles Taylor, 2/3 http://virtualstoa.net/2008/01/30/charles-taylor-23/ Chris Brooke's Weblog Sat, 30 Aug 2008 15:04:37 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.5 by: Sjoerd http://virtualstoa.net/2008/01/30/charles-taylor-23/#comment-159520 Tue, 05 Feb 2008 18:53:14 +0000 http://virtualstoa.net/2008/01/30/charles-taylor-23/#comment-159520 I'm glad you agree, Patchen. I'm surprised, actually, that, as far as I'm aware at least, none of the grand old grumpies such as Roger Scruton, George Steiner or Paul Johnson, nor any critic of the stature of Stefan Collini has written anything about this. Especially Steiner one might think would be livid about this sort of thing. Perhaps he just hasn't noticed. I suppose a certain level of remuneration enables one (that is, them) to buy hardcover first editions and one doesn't notice what is being done to one's work. Fame and a few fellowships would help as well, one imagines. I’m glad you agree, Patchen. I’m surprised, actually, that, as far as I’m aware at least, none of the grand old grumpies such as Roger Scruton, George Steiner or Paul Johnson, nor any critic of the stature of Stefan Collini has written anything about this. Especially Steiner one might think would be livid about this sort of thing. Perhaps he just hasn’t noticed. I suppose a certain level of remuneration enables one (that is, them) to buy hardcover first editions and one doesn’t notice what is being done to one’s work. Fame and a few fellowships would help as well, one imagines.

]]> by: Patchen http://virtualstoa.net/2008/01/30/charles-taylor-23/#comment-158923 Mon, 04 Feb 2008 22:34:16 +0000 http://virtualstoa.net/2008/01/30/charles-taylor-23/#comment-158923 Oh, if only it were a just a practical joke. It's an atrocity. I understand the rationale: it allows them to print much, much smaller batches of books cost-effectively, and so to keep in print books that sell regularly but in pretty tiny quantities. But the quality ranges from the genuinely embarrassing (books that look like they've been printed by fax machines) to the mildly annoying (books that are just slightly fuzzier than the real thing, but enough to create those headaches after twenty minutes or so). Thanks, Sjoerd, I thought I was the only one who felt quite so strongly about this. Two or three more comrades and a few pitchforks.... Oh, if only it were a just a practical joke. It’s an atrocity. I understand the rationale: it allows them to print much, much smaller batches of books cost-effectively, and so to keep in print books that sell regularly but in pretty tiny quantities. But the quality ranges from the genuinely embarrassing (books that look like they’ve been printed by fax machines) to the mildly annoying (books that are just slightly fuzzier than the real thing, but enough to create those headaches after twenty minutes or so).

Thanks, Sjoerd, I thought I was the only one who felt quite so strongly about this. Two or three more comrades and a few pitchforks….

]]> by: Sjoerd http://virtualstoa.net/2008/01/30/charles-taylor-23/#comment-158753 Mon, 04 Feb 2008 18:11:35 +0000 http://virtualstoa.net/2008/01/30/charles-taylor-23/#comment-158753 Someone ought to box publishers' ears for the practical joke they dare refer to as digital reprinting. My (digitally reprinted) copy of Moral Luck by Bernard -- Homer and I have got ethics right -- Williams (Cambridge University Press) leads to brain-crunching headaches after two minutes of reading. The Germans do this sort of thing better, see Rüdiger Safranki's perfectly legible (as well as readable) bio of Heidegger for instance. Williams is great of course, even if he is not a catholic, and CUP do him down by mangling his work (and other people's) like this. Someone ought to box publishers’ ears for the practical joke they dare refer to as digital reprinting. My (digitally reprinted) copy of Moral Luck by Bernard — Homer and I have got ethics right — Williams (Cambridge University Press) leads to brain-crunching headaches after two minutes of reading. The Germans do this sort of thing better, see Rüdiger Safranki’s perfectly legible (as well as readable) bio of Heidegger for instance.
Williams is great of course, even if he is not a catholic, and CUP do him down by mangling his work (and other people’s) like this.

]]> by: cliche guevara http://virtualstoa.net/2008/01/30/charles-taylor-23/#comment-156910 Sat, 02 Feb 2008 10:07:03 +0000 http://virtualstoa.net/2008/01/30/charles-taylor-23/#comment-156910 I chucked the stupid plastic thing on Rawls' lectures in the bin within five minutes of being out of Blackwells. I chucked the stupid plastic thing on Rawls’ lectures in the bin within five minutes of being out of Blackwells.

]]> by: Chris Brooke http://virtualstoa.net/2008/01/30/charles-taylor-23/#comment-156379 Fri, 01 Feb 2008 17:38:22 +0000 http://virtualstoa.net/2008/01/30/charles-taylor-23/#comment-156379 Hello Jon -- and it was good to see you the other day in Oxford. Hello Jon — and it was good to see you the other day in Oxford.

]]> by: Jon Pike http://virtualstoa.net/2008/01/30/charles-taylor-23/#comment-156330 Fri, 01 Feb 2008 15:12:54 +0000 http://virtualstoa.net/2008/01/30/charles-taylor-23/#comment-156330 Hallo Chris The cover of my copy of 'Scanlon - What we owe' (HUP) is printed askew. Very annoying. The spine is half cover, and the cover is half spine. 'Nussbaum: Frontiers of Justice' (you guessed it) is similarly skew but not as bad. And both sit there and mock me: why didn't I check the cover before I left the shop eh? Hallo Chris

The cover of my copy of ‘Scanlon - What we owe’ (HUP) is printed askew. Very annoying. The spine is half cover, and the cover is half spine.
‘Nussbaum: Frontiers of Justice’ (you guessed it) is similarly skew but not as bad. And both sit there and mock me: why didn’t I check the cover before I left the shop eh?

]]> by: Alex Rossiter http://virtualstoa.net/2008/01/30/charles-taylor-23/#comment-155494 Thu, 31 Jan 2008 11:56:08 +0000 http://virtualstoa.net/2008/01/30/charles-taylor-23/#comment-155494 I ended up binning mine after much kefuffle as it was making my bookshelf look silly. I ended up binning mine after much kefuffle as it was making my bookshelf look silly.

]]> by: Patchen http://virtualstoa.net/2008/01/30/charles-taylor-23/#comment-154790 Wed, 30 Jan 2008 15:58:12 +0000 http://virtualstoa.net/2008/01/30/charles-taylor-23/#comment-154790 Chris, you spent enough time there to know the answer to this question: overweening Harvard pride, which leads them to believe that their books are <i>so</i> important that people will buy them no matter how preposterous the design. And we do, don't we? Chris, you spent enough time there to know the answer to this question: overweening Harvard pride, which leads them to believe that their books are so important that people will buy them no matter how preposterous the design.

And we do, don’t we?

]]> by: Joseph Harder http://virtualstoa.net/2008/01/30/charles-taylor-23/#comment-154752 Wed, 30 Jan 2008 14:33:00 +0000 http://virtualstoa.net/2008/01/30/charles-taylor-23/#comment-154752 I recently bought the book myself,and i must agree, the dust jacket is unintentionally hilarious. I recently bought the book myself,and i must agree, the dust jacket is unintentionally hilarious.

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