On emails from readers

[Brian Clegg]

I regularly get emails as well as posts on my Facebook page/Twitter feed from readers, and 95% of them are lovely or wacky - both are fun. But sometimes I get some that are ANGRY because I've got something wrong - and then, I must admit, my heart drops. Because I do make mistakes - everyone does. I think I know science reasonably well, but I write about every topic under the sun, and it's easy enough to make a slip.

Luckily, in at least half the cases, I can go from depressed to smug in one easy leap. For your entertainment, I'm going to share the latest email I have received and my response.:

Dear Sir,

Began reading your latest book, “Final Frontier”, but had to quit after reading page #65, when it became obvious that you really have no clue as to what you are talking about.

You are discussing the construction of a paternoster-type space elevator on the Moon, when you state “The mechanism would be designed to swing at just the right speed to match THE ROTATION OF THE MOON”. Unless I have been lied to by every book on planetary physics that I have ever read, the Moon is tidally locked to the Earth, AND HAS NO ROTATION. Perhaps you somehow missed that small bit of information?

As I said, I stopped reading the book at that point, and will probably avoid your works in the future.
​

Now, I must admit, if I did email someone to tell them what was wrong with their book (which, frankly I wouldn't, and I wouldn't recommend doing) I would think for a few minutes about what I was saying.

Here was my response:

Hello,
Thank you for your email. I do make mistakes and I am happy to admit to them - everyone is human - but in this case, I didn’t. The Moon is orbiting the Earth. If it didn’t rotate, it would not be able to keep the same face towards the Earth all the time. It is indeed tidally locked - but this means having the right speed of rotation to match its orbit, not that it doesn’t rotate at all.

Best regards,
Brian Clegg​

 

[Carol Rose]

He/she obviously didn't pay attention in his/her grade school science classes. One has to wonder what books on "planetary physics" he/she read that gave him/her this misinformation, when all he/she had to was look it up on Wikipedia!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moon

 

[Carol Rose]

P.S. Your emails are far more entertaining than mine. LOL! Mine are filled with requests to keep writing books in series I've ended and buried.

 

[AgentPete]

Any reader letter that begins “Dear Sir...” is probably one that requires a tight clench before you begin...

Unfortunately, this person will most likely share their “triumph” far and wide. [Sigh] What can you do...?

 

[flootzavut]

What always baffles me is that people write these strident, accusatory emails without double checking that they know what they're talking about. I find that absurd and slightly amusing.

On the rare occasion that I write a message to let someone know I think they've made a mistake I 1) check every possible resource I can to ensure I'm not talking complete nonsense and 2) make sure I phrase the message as politely and respectfully as possible. Saves embarrassment and looking like an idiot/tool.

(Also, I'm pretty sure I understood that about the moon and the earth by about the age of ten...)

 

[Frances Gow]

Love your response, Brain - nice one.

 

[Kelly Michelle Baker]

Nice response! I think your approach was swell. I'm a little more reserved, and if I had received so rude an email, I likely would have ignored it. There's nothing wrong with a little constructive criticism, but downright-nasty people don't deserve your time. Life is too short!! Since their criticism was false, I suppose a reply was too tempting!

 

[Brian Clegg]

The way I look at it, they may feel guilty and buy some more books!

 

[Katie-Ellen]

More likely to feel affronted at not 'winning.' Even had they been right, you'd have been in good company. Frederick Forsyth was furious, I read somewhere, to be told that being shot didn't physically hurl you against a wall, as described in his final show down between Lebel and The Jackal in 'The Day of the Jackal'. He's massive on doing research. That is such a cracking read, even now, and I must have read it a dozen times. The MSS I'm sending out, I needed to tweak some astronomical content...move a night sky to a different month. I got a serving police officer (my brother ) to check certain details of police procedural. There'll always be someone ready to jump gleefully up and down, non-fiction or fiction.

 

[Katie-Ellen]

Just bought your 'Dice World.' Randomness, destiny, trends and the bucking, probability...all very much a working interest for me.