I’m not here to say if abridging is a good or horrendous thing to do.
I’m here to say that “thing that existed is horrendous because it’s done by a computer now” is a stupid take. People have been dumbing down, translating and editing existing difficult texts before computers existed.
See also : the zillion versions of any language’s version of the bible. Here’s a fun thing : they all have slightly different things changed/missing/added/tone shifted.
My parents used to have a load of those Reader’s Digest Condensed Editions, with like 4 or 5 books in one.
Never saw either of them read many (I think the only one I bothered with was Patriot Games), but you do look clever if the first thing people see when they come to your house is a load of serious looking red hardback books.
ITT : Lemmy’s luddies find out about about abridged versions of books.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abridgement#Abridgement_for_print
I prefer unabridged usually. Though the unabridged Princess Bride is a rare example of the book being better when it’s pared down a bit.
Fucking 40 pages of PACKING.
I’m not here to say if abridging is a good or horrendous thing to do.
I’m here to say that “thing that existed is horrendous because it’s done by a computer now” is a stupid take. People have been dumbing down, translating and editing existing difficult texts before computers existed.
See also : the zillion versions of any language’s version of the bible. Here’s a fun thing : they all have slightly different things changed/missing/added/tone shifted.
My parents used to have a load of those Reader’s Digest Condensed Editions, with like 4 or 5 books in one.
Never saw either of them read many (I think the only one I bothered with was Patriot Games), but you do look clever if the first thing people see when they come to your house is a load of serious looking red hardback books.