>Cmon David, lets employ some common sense here. If what you say is correct, If I wrote a book about a langauge that you knew nothing about or did not have any experience with, are you saying that you could be an effective TE? I don't think so. Surely, you would be at the bottom of the list of candidates that would be qualified to do the job. i.e., you would be my last choice...

I suspect you haven't seen a good technical editor in action. They can and do edit manuscripts for things they aren't experienced in. However, most do specialize in subject areas, and do end up being very conversant in the topics they've edited.

Again, I really think you are confusing the functions of editing and reviewing. It's not very useful to dismiss technical editors because they are not peer reviewers.

If they *hard* sciences can manage with technical editors, well, I suspect we could get some benefit from them, too. :)