Longtime readers know that my "real job" is editing textbooks. I started out doing just medical books and journals, but with all the consolidation in the publishing business, I now edit absolutely everything. I just finished books on world religions, criminal law, ferreting out racism in social work agencies, and the impact of Muslim literature in colonial America. Now I'm doing a self-help manual for people with obsessive-compulsive disorders.
I get asked all the time, "Isn't it boring?"
In a way, yes, but in another way it's amazing the nuggets of information I learn. Just this past week I found two relevant items in the world religions book:
1. An interesting immigration strategy, from a chapter on Zoroastrianism: "On arrival, the king of the Gujarat sent out a cup of milk filled to the brim, to signify that the country was overflowing with residents and couldn’t accept any more. The king of the Zoroastrians, however, returned the cup of milk with a spoonful of sugar sprinkled over the top, to indicate that the Zoroastrians wouldn’t cause the country to overflow—they would merely sweeten the mixture.
The Gujarati king admitted the seafaring refugees on three conditions: that they would promise not to eat beef; not to marry into the existing population; and not to convert any Hindus."
2. An explanation for this year's political craziness, quoting a book by Gerald Gardner on Wiccan practices: "Even wild and meaningless shrieking produces power. But this method inflames the mind and renders it difficult to control the power."
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