This is an admission of guilt.
I have just finished reading a book for review, and it’s absolutely excellent.
Why is this a matter for guilt? Because this book has been in the review pile for months and I’ve kept shuffling it down because it looked boring. Called Middle World it covers nanoscale stuff, in all its exciting strangeness, from Brownian motion onwards. The author, Mark Haw, does an absolute brilliant job.
The trouble is that, frankly, the cover is totally uninspiring (the green background has little yellow dots on to represent something in Brownian motion, but the effect is just a mess):
and the title sounds like a cross between something by Tolkein and something, well, deeply uninteresting. “Middle world” just didn’t inspire or enthuse me. So I kept putting it off.
Maybe it’s just that I’m deeply shallow, but I think what this shows is that even when writing popular science, you have to have a great title and a good cover to catch people’s attention. It might seem that a good enough book should be enough to get noticed, but we’ve got to be delivered to that first page before the attention can be grabbed.
I’ve read that too, Brian. I think it’s the only pop sci book I’ve read cover to cover in one sitting – partly because it’s not very long, but also because I’ve never read a book about Robert Brown before, so the material was all new to me. Makes me proud to be called Brown (for a change).
Yes, I agree with you Brian – such a shame when it sounds such a good book. The sub-title is much better.
Who the f&^% is ‘Tolkein’?
Oh, come on, half the time people type Brian as Brain – what hope has anyone of typing Tolkien? It even looks wrong.
what hope has anyone of typing Tolkien? It even looks wrong.
Sacrilege!
A Brian Turambar turun ambartanen…
But I agree about the book cover-it’s uninspiring, and indicates little about the content. Humans, unlike dogs, will often select books by the cover appearance, rather than its smell.
No, I also go for smell. Nothing like the smell of a new-minted book.