12-10-2009, 06:28 PM
Re: the "...who shall remain nameless" club.
I suspect that everyone in this tight circle of reviewers keeps hoping to see their name mentioned -- not for the ego-boost it might provide but out of relief at not being cast into the "who shall remain nameless" club.
However, accompanying that relief is a strange bedfellow of concern that DM is censoring himself, out of the kindness of his Buddhist heart, and going easy on close friends. Even as I cringe, I would urge him to resist such a benevolent impulse.
Two reads come readily to mind. One is The Highs and Lows of Flying by Harvey Mace, a WWII fighter pilot I met while living among the Mendocino redwoods. What a life he's had. But in the foreword of his book, while thanking his editor, he mentions how the editor "reined him in" in spots. A case in point, removing his description of how pilots took leaks while flying. Apparently the editor deemed it TMI. Who knows how much other stuff got "cleaned up." I felt it was a very bad call and wished Harvey had instead been encouraged to detail everything to the nitty-gritty.
The other is Riding Rockets by Mike Mullane, which I reviewed here some months ago. In his foreword, Mike mentions how the editor as well as colleagues took him to task over some of the things he said or included. For instance, he's very critical of politicians going into space (John Glenn in particular is targeted), and not at all a fan of Sally Ride (humorless and often spiteful). But as Mike puts it, this is his tale and his opinions formed over the course of his adventures, and he will remain true to "his experience." He proceeds to detail things as he saw and felt them, and I'm so thankful he resisted the pressure from all sides to tone things down.
Meanwhile, I'm on page 115, and back at it...
I suspect that everyone in this tight circle of reviewers keeps hoping to see their name mentioned -- not for the ego-boost it might provide but out of relief at not being cast into the "who shall remain nameless" club.
However, accompanying that relief is a strange bedfellow of concern that DM is censoring himself, out of the kindness of his Buddhist heart, and going easy on close friends. Even as I cringe, I would urge him to resist such a benevolent impulse.
Two reads come readily to mind. One is The Highs and Lows of Flying by Harvey Mace, a WWII fighter pilot I met while living among the Mendocino redwoods. What a life he's had. But in the foreword of his book, while thanking his editor, he mentions how the editor "reined him in" in spots. A case in point, removing his description of how pilots took leaks while flying. Apparently the editor deemed it TMI. Who knows how much other stuff got "cleaned up." I felt it was a very bad call and wished Harvey had instead been encouraged to detail everything to the nitty-gritty.
The other is Riding Rockets by Mike Mullane, which I reviewed here some months ago. In his foreword, Mike mentions how the editor as well as colleagues took him to task over some of the things he said or included. For instance, he's very critical of politicians going into space (John Glenn in particular is targeted), and not at all a fan of Sally Ride (humorless and often spiteful). But as Mike puts it, this is his tale and his opinions formed over the course of his adventures, and he will remain true to "his experience." He proceeds to detail things as he saw and felt them, and I'm so thankful he resisted the pressure from all sides to tone things down.
Meanwhile, I'm on page 115, and back at it...