Get It Right the First Time

Thanks to Donna Popacosta for pointing out this story from the Chronical for Higher Education.  It seems that Princeton University Press is recalling 4,000 copies of a book called "Cop in the Hood: My Year Policing Baltimore’s Eastern District", by Peter Moskos.

"Why would they do that?", you ask.  Well it seems that the 245 page book has more than ninety (90) spelling and grammatical errors.  Did I mention that the publisher is Princeton University Press?  They promise to have the corrected books on store shelves before the end of the month.  Although the errors slipped by Princeton’s proof readers, Moskos’ friends and family noticed the mistakes.

This is obviously an expensive and embarrassing episode for the publisher and we can all learn from it.  As the old saying goes, "There’s never enough time to do it right, but there’s always enough time to do it over."  Mistakes happen, but it always pays to check and double check our work before handing it to the customer, or sending it to the printer, or hitting the "send" button.  Some mistakes are more costly than others, but this one is a doozy.  A publishing company bearing the name of one of our country’s most prestigious universities shouldn’t let something like this happen.