By reading Kill Duck Before Serving: Red Faces at The New York Times A collection of the paper's most interesting, embarrassing and unusual corrections a journalist can learn many lessons. The book is witty, so much so that I finished it in one sitting, it talks about all the mistakes the New York Times has made over the years. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay I took many things away from this book, but the most shocking thing is that we are all human. I am my own harshest critic; sometimes I make stupid mistakes and get mad at myself for getting the correct AP style of "am" wrong. Even a prestigious newspaper like the New York Times makes mistakes, so I shouldn't be angry at myself for making mistakes. The learning process is important and part of the way we learn is by making mistakes. Some mistakes they made I wouldn't even have made, for example on November 19, 2000 they declared that Napoleon was a peasant, which is simply not true, he is the son of a nobleman, this mistake in particular is quite interesting, because it leads me to believe that the writer never bothered to look up the information. It just feels rushed and lazy; a simple Google search or textbook search would have presented the correct information. If the writers and editors of the New York Times fail to look up Napoleon's correct origins, then I think it's fair that I make mistakes, too. Another lesson I learned from the novel is that writing is not easy. It seems simple enough to write a report on Kwame's situation in Detroit. The things that come to mind seem easy: convince the audience of Kwame's affair with his chief of staff, prove that he is stealing money from the city, and tell how he illegally fired a police officer. After reading the book I am more tired, firstly is it legal to publish the information? I mean, it came from Kwame's cell phone records after all. The information may be false; I might make a mistake about how much money is stolen, etc. It's not a simple process, and Kill Duck Before Serving really outlines that process. Stories are difficult to write correctly and require a lot of care and patience. To make sure I don't end up in the next edition of Kill Duck Before Serving, I have to be careful and double check all my facts so that 2 planes crashing into something doesn't accidentally become 20 or 200. Keep in mind: This is just one example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay Kill Duck Before Serving actually shows how difficult writing can be. It makes me feel better about writing, if the New York Times can print 172 pages of mistakes it made, then it's okay for an aspiring journalist like me to make mistakes too. The novel really helps to keep the morale high and also entertains the reader.