Wednesday, November 14, 2012

Eco-Chic Home

Rethink, reuse & remake your way to sustainable style

by Emily Anderson

Ways to reduce and reuse with instructions for many projects to use in various rooms.

I liked this book; it has some really nice ideas. But a lot of the instructions are very unclear, and twice (pp. 29, 175) the word "harkening" or "harkens" is used when the author meant "harking" or "harks." On page 97, I can't make heads or tails of the instructions for making a reusable snack carrier. On page 128, there are instructions for making a ladder clothes rack which call for "two identical wooden ladders" and later it says "the ladders should be open, with the steps facing out to the left and right." Oh, step-ladders. But the rest of the instructions are very confusing too. On page 172, "long-distance" should not be hyphenated. And on page 100, there's a picture with a plastic water bottle on a table; that is not environmentally-friendly.

I don't mean to be so picky, but I read a lot of books that have no errors at all. I have no formal experience or university education on proofreading, so if I can pick up on these things, a professional surely should. And if someone is writing a book with project instructions, they really ought to get someone to try making the project from those instructions before publishing the book.

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