Divide and Conquer
Friday, August 19th, 2005Back in the days of working on paper, editors had to keep an eye out for all kinds of errors and problems–all at the same time. The human brain, which is wired to think about *one* thing at a time, often missed things, and editors were forced to comb through a manuscript over and over again. They also needed to keep style sheets (still a useful practice) to recall earlier decisions. Changing one’s mind could have disastrous consequences; it often meant having to re-read the manuscript, unmaking previous decisions and implementing new ones.