my book Corrupted Science re-reviewed

[realthog]

That nice man Jeff VanderMeer has posted a review of my book Corrupted Science on his blog "Ecstatic Days". In part he says:

As a writer and a reviewer, I sometimes come across a book that hasn’t gotten enough attention but seems to deserve that attention not just for its quality, but for its relevance. Corrupted Science by John Grant is one of these books. . . . This isn’t just a wonderfully written and relevant book—it’s also a beautiful little hardcover, lovingly put together . . .

There's lots more at http://www.jeffvandermeer.com:80/2008/04/18/corrupted-science-by-john-grant-resurrected/.

One of the oddities about Corrupted Science is that I, too, in my modest way thought it might be an important book. So did the UK publisher. So even did the book's designer, who sent me a string of e-mails spelling out how much he hoped people would read the book and get the message. Likewise the book's UK publicist. Unfortunately, the book's US distributor decided it'd be best marketed into the wacky-science-fun-for-kids market. Ya know, alongside books like The God Delusion and The Republican War on Science and Toys You Can Make in Your Own Back Yard. Somewhere out there you'll see a lot of very confused kids.

 

Comments

[sarcobatus.livejournal.com]

Nice review!

But a contrary marketing strategy by the US distributor . . . think it might be deliberate?

Hopefully there will not be a bunch of confused kids out there but a lot of enlightened ones instead.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

"think it might be deliberate?"

Nope: it seems to have been entirely a matter of laziness and incompetence.

"not be a bunch of confused kids out there but a lot of enlightened ones instead"

Yep, in a way I kind of think/hope that too. On the other hand, if they're expecting a godfearing book of quirky science factoids and get hit between the eyeballs by, for example, the full horrors of the Nazi medical experiments, then, yes, I'd expect them to be confused.

[sarcobatus.livejournal.com]

"if they're expecting a godfearing book of quirky science factoids and get hit between the eyeballs by, for example, the full horrors of the Nazi medical experiments, then, yes, I'd expect them to be confused."

They'll want answers, and they will seek them out.

I remember reading a Life magazine article when I was nine years old about Nazi Germany and concentration camps. The article was full of photos of concentration camp victims, which I will never forget. I had to learn more about the war and what happened to Jews in Europe after reading that article. I was not confused at all afterward regarding just how low the human animal can go.

Conversely, I know how wonderful we can be too.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

"They'll want answers, and they will seek them out."

Couldn't agree more. But the marketing operation in the US for this book is such that kids may be sold it as a fun, wow-aren't-scientists-wacky? book and discover it's not that at all -- hence my remark about their likely confusion.

[sarcobatus.livejournal.com]

Yes, I can see where they'd be confused. Just goes to show how much of your book the US distributor DID NOT read. I don't know if it's just the US but it seems that a great deal of people have become so lazy and bereft of critical thinking that it's amazing they even make the effort to eat and copulate. But then, eating and copulating requires zero critical thinking.

Methinks the reptilian brain reigns supreme.

Perfect fodder for robber barons, eh?

[realthog.livejournal.com]

"Just goes to show how much of your book the US distributor DID NOT read."

The publicist concerned seemed proud of the fact that she had not in fact even glanced at it. Nor had she looked at the press release the UK publisher had sent her. Indeed, she got pretty aggressive when we suggested she might have done these things. She had based her expert decisions on the US distributor's catalogue blurb, written by someone long before the book had even gone to the printer.

[scottakennedy.livejournal.com]

That's really frustrating. From the reviews I've read (I admit, the book is still lingering on my Amazon wish list), it sounded like a pretty serious piece of scholarship (like The Mismeasure of Man) rather than a book for kids. Grr.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

"it sounded like a pretty serious piece of scholarship"

"Scholarship" might be going a bit over the top, but, yes, it's a book with serious intent.

[sarcobatus.livejournal.com]

Sheesh.

[charlesatan.livejournal.com]

Glad to hear it's getting a new lease on life. (And a promotion by VanderMeer!)

[norilanabooks.livejournal.com]

Excellent!

[realthog.livejournal.com]

I thought so too! The book has had really a lot of fine reviews, most of them since the turn of the year and, at least in the US, exclusively by people who bought their own copies. The review list in the UK produced several reviews, again pleasingly excellent, from the likes of the Beeb. But it was always envisaged that the US was the most important market, because this is the country currently most at threat (at least in the West) from the ideological/political corruption of science, and to see it simply piffled away was . . . galling.

[hutch0.livejournal.com]

I'd like to venture a cautious YAAAY!!!, if I may. Good stuff.

[realthog.livejournal.com]

Many thanks, Hutch! All good for the ol' ego, you know. Not that I actually have an ego, of course: the humblest of men, that's me.

[hutch0.livejournal.com]

You are indeed a man of almost cosmological humility, I agree.