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Grand unified books thread

Started by Syt, March 16, 2009, 01:52:42 AM

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Razgovory

Quote from: The Minsky Moment on May 16, 2013, 01:16:38 PM
Quote from: Josephus on May 16, 2013, 07:11:13 AM
Dan Brown is very good at what he does.

But what exactly is it that he does so well?
The problem with the write crap and make millions strategy is figuring out what it is that Dan Brown does differently from the equally lousy writers who don't sell millions of books.

I'd like to know why many so many people who can write better then he does don't sell millions of books.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

The Minsky Moment

Quote from: Josephus on May 16, 2013, 02:46:04 PM
Taut, tightly written. Elements of suspense. A mystery. Lots of puzzle solving, and riddles. Oh and a conspiracy which if you don't know any history, might even be true.

Fair enough.
But aren't there an awful lot of books that fit that very same formula?
The purpose of studying economics is not to acquire a set of ready-made answers to economic questions, but to learn how to avoid being deceived by economists.
--Joan Robinson

garbon

Quote from: Razgovory on May 16, 2013, 03:11:00 PM
Quote from: The Minsky Moment on May 16, 2013, 01:16:38 PM
Quote from: Josephus on May 16, 2013, 07:11:13 AM
Dan Brown is very good at what he does.

But what exactly is it that he does so well?
The problem with the write crap and make millions strategy is figuring out what it is that Dan Brown does differently from the equally lousy writers who don't sell millions of books.

I'd like to know why many so many people who can write better then he does don't sell millions of books.

Because most people don't really gravitate towards well written books. There's a big market out there for trash.
"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

Josephus

Quote from: The Minsky Moment on May 16, 2013, 04:09:45 PM
Quote from: Josephus on May 16, 2013, 02:46:04 PM
Taut, tightly written. Elements of suspense. A mystery. Lots of puzzle solving, and riddles. Oh and a conspiracy which if you don't know any history, might even be true.

Fair enough.
But aren't there an awful lot of books that fit that very same formula?

Maybe. I think that book came out at the right time, is all. His previous books went mostly unnoticed until then. Da Vinci Code got a lot of press, the scandalous conspiracy really helped. The Catholic Church ranting and raving also helped. It may very well be, if he wrote it today, it would have slipped un noticed. Im not defending him. I think he's shit. But he's good at writing shit.

It's the same with pop music. A lot of shit. A small percentage of it sells really well.
Civis Romanus Sum<br /><br />"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world." Jack Layton 1950-2011

Ed Anger

You all need to read the Left Behind books. All of them.
Stay Alive...Let the Man Drive

crazy canuck

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 16, 2013, 04:42:33 PM
You all need to read the Left Behind books. All of them.

You are full of hate

Ed Anger

Stay Alive...Let the Man Drive

Josephus

Quote from: Ed Anger on May 16, 2013, 04:42:33 PM
You all need to read the Left Behind books. All of them.

How many were there in all? I know my ex read a couple of them.
Civis Romanus Sum<br /><br />"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world." Jack Layton 1950-2011


Admiral Yi


Ed Anger

Quote from: Josephus on May 16, 2013, 05:42:07 PM
Quote from: Ed Anger on May 16, 2013, 04:42:33 PM
You all need to read the Left Behind books. All of them.

How many were there in all? I know my ex read a couple of them.

16? It is around that.

Not counting the spinoffs and stuff.
Stay Alive...Let the Man Drive


fhdz

Quote from: Admiral Yi on May 16, 2013, 06:20:58 PM
e e anger

clearly has no problem cumming; thus the army of children
and the horse you rode in on

Habbaku

Reading Crucible of War by Fred Anderson.  Why can't people on the frontier be nice to each other?  All this scalping business seems so unnecessary.

On audiobook : Peter the Great by Robert Massie has me convinced that Charles was a madman who would have gotten along well with the likes of Teddy Roosevelt.
The medievals were only too right in taking nolo episcopari as the best reason a man could give to others for making him a bishop. Give me a king whose chief interest in life is stamps, railways, or race-horses; and who has the power to sack his Vizier (or whatever you care to call him) if he does not like the cut of his trousers.

Government is an abstract noun meaning the art and process of governing and it should be an offence to write it with a capital G or so as to refer to people.

-J. R. R. Tolkien

The Brain

Women want me. Men want to be with me.