I’ve written about the exigency of critiques in the map-design process in the past. Usually I am all for them. They provide feedback that is very important for the novice and even advanced cartographer that help to make the map better. I’ve even suggested that children and non-cartographers can be a source of good critique in that their untrained eye may uncover foibles or potential improvements that other cartographers could gloss-over.
However, yesterday, as I was plowing through yet another few pages of Mark Twain’s autobiography (a behemoth) I saw the other side of the equation. In one of the chapters, Twain describes how a wealthy man approached him to write an introduction to a new translation of some Joan of Arc papers. Because Twain had already written a book about Joan of Arc (Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc) he was a natural for the task.
Unfortunately, after Twain submitted the introduction to the wealthy man, who was a novice editor, the man edited it and sent it back. The way Twain describes the situation is much more humorous than I’m making it sound here, but suffice to say that Twain was not pleased and wound up writing a reply saying that the man needed to not publish the introduction whether edited or not and that, further, the man was to destroy any copies of it so that it would not wind up in print.
I’m not sure what Twain would have done if the proposed edits had actually been appropriate ones (they were not) but it seems as though he would have had a similar reaction regardless. Apparently one does not edit an author’s introduction…ever.
The main moral for me was that one should consider your own level of competence relative to that of the critics’ and act accordingly. In other words, do not be afraid to throw out critical remarks that you deem unhelpful or just plain stupid.
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