First names and initials in author names
Just why is it so difficult for authors of scientific works - papers, books, etc. - to indicate what their full given names are somewhere?
I was just looking at Frank Hahn's classic Money and Inflation, which has a foreword by the series editor, J. L. Ford, but nowhere in the book does it tell you what exactly J. L. stands for. You can google the answer, but it's not so trivial: most of Ford's publications are also made using just his initials.
It eventually turns out that he's called James Lorne Ford, but really, this shouldn't be so difficult to find out. It's not as if the given name of a published author is particularly sensitive information.
(FWIW the reason I wanted to know was that his foreword contained a quote that I wanted to lift, attributing it to him.)
I was just looking at Frank Hahn's classic Money and Inflation, which has a foreword by the series editor, J. L. Ford, but nowhere in the book does it tell you what exactly J. L. stands for. You can google the answer, but it's not so trivial: most of Ford's publications are also made using just his initials.
It eventually turns out that he's called James Lorne Ford, but really, this shouldn't be so difficult to find out. It's not as if the given name of a published author is particularly sensitive information.
(FWIW the reason I wanted to know was that his foreword contained a quote that I wanted to lift, attributing it to him.)