M-am mutat!

SFRo s-a mutat la http://sfro.biz/

The Hammer of God

Details
Title: The Hammer of God
Author: Arthur C. Clarke
Paperback: 224 pages
Publisher: Bantam Books
Language: English
ISBN: 0-553-56871-X

Review

The book is: vapid, insipid, tasteless, dull, flat. It’s like a steak made of cardboard. I read it easily like a collage of newspaper articles. It is written more like a history book than a novel.

To continue my food analogy: it is a healthy book, but a diet one. No spices inside.

I am glad I read it in English because I can fell it directly without any translation interference.

PS: Where can I find in Bucharest, English SF book at reasonable prices?

I hate Translators

Why every translator on this planet thinks I have to read a book with a hand calculator near-by?

For example the book says: “They have to travel 36 miles”

And the translator diligently adds a note: “Mile: Anglo-Saxon unit of measurement for distances. One mile equals about 1,609 meters.”

Great! Just great!. Now, my dear reader, take your trusted calculator and compute: 36 miles are about 57,904 meters. One more step and you are enlightened: about 58 kilometers.

This goes on and on and on. You have to worry about inches, nautical miles, pounds and so on.

Why not simply give in the note the full amount in metric units? Or, even better, modify the text to use metric system?

I think the quality of the translation will not be affected in any way by making these small modifications in the text

PS: In the same time I love translators and I thanks them for their very hard work behind the scenes.