kindred spirits

[redbird]

I walked over to ask one of our proofreaders if she had any question about her current project. She was wondering whether two entries were in fact for the same book. We took a look at the ISBNs, and I asked if she knew how they worked. No. Would she like to? Yes.

I did the brief this-is-how-an-ISBN-works discussion: four fields, and it does matter where you put the hyphens. Anna was genuinely interested and pleased to learn this.

Not only is there no useless knowledge, but in the right mood, the right people will smile with pleasure when you explain that 201 means Addison-Wesley, and they'll notice "So that's why Sage has four digits and Mc-Graw Hill only has two."

Some days I really like this job.

Comments

Curiosity!

[purpletigron.livejournal.com]

I expect I need to ask this question again somewhere else, because who goes back over a year to check for comments on their LiveJournal?

But can you do the ISBN fields explanation, or point me to one, as I can't find one yet on the Web?

Thanks!