Beware of Book Blurbs
themillions.com
themillions.com
Which probably influenced my decision to buy the book. But later I noticed the sentence that quote was from was something like "This book must be read not as an analysis of X, but as a contribution to Y". I couldn't believe it! It was a serious non-fiction book, I think, and not an obscure one, although sadly I lost track of the book it was years ago. Not easy to google. I'll never forget the unfathomable effrontery/deception of whoever had the idea then OKed it for the cover.
"The Funky Knuckles is a world class jazz orchestra made up of genetically enhanced cybernetic super men. They have played at the finest venues around the world delivering mind blowing rhythms and harmonic complexity that will shatter your fragile psyche and leave you drowning in a pool of fresh llama milk. The band members are as brilliant as they are handsome and they have performed with people such as the legendary Phill Aelony. This unstoppable crime fighting squadron will make you dance like a kraken on meth before you burst into tears of joy which can be combined with powder from a ground up cobra skull to synthesize the elixir you need to pass through solid objects."
It's cool, funny, seems appropriate to the band, - and also not meant to be taken seriously, so seems to fit that "puffery" definition. But calling it "just legal lying" would...miss the point.
"In everyday language, puffery refers to exaggerated or false praise. Puffery serves to "puff up" what is being described. In law, puffery is usually invoked as a defense argument: it identifies futile speech, typically of a seller, which does not give rise to legal liability. In a circular manner, legal explanations for this normative position describe the non-enforceable speech as a statement that no "reasonable person" would take seriously anyway."
It seems puffery in both those senses.
Actual puffery comes about because there was a legitimate intent to deceive. As your (accurate) description of the law even implies: it's a defense for advertisers when they are caught being deceptive.
I’m currently reading "The science of story telling" by Will Storr. There are 5 blurbs on the cover, one on the back cover. The book open with 3 full pages containing 18 blurbs.
That’s completely ridiculous. It really deserves the book. It makes it look silly and unconfident.
For French book, it is quite rare. When it happens, it’s a red paper above the cover that you can remove after buying the book.
Is that an American thing?
A quick glance through some books on my coffee table shows multiple blurbs on the back cover are common, maybe something short and pithy on the front cover, and maybe a page of blurbs when you open up the book.
Maybe you meant to say disservices?
Having said that, the last American book I bought after studying the blurb and the award medallion was bad enough that I didn't finish reading it.
Quite a few bookshops discourage you from opening the wrapper, especially, I find, in Germany for some reason.
Instead of an abundance mentality (let them browse the books: they might buy more than one, and it least are likely to be more satisfied) it's a zero sum (they might look into the book, read what they want, and then buy nothing).
I buy a lot of used books and of course this shrinkwrap nonsense doesn't apply there.
I don't see this in English speaking countries, India, Japan, or China; I do see it common in France and Germany. I don't buy books in other countries so can't say.
If I had been able to read a couple of sample pages, as I often do prior to buying a book, I would likely have bought some.
Well.. yes. It's obviously not the best way but it's clearly better than inferring from universally positive blurbs that you get otherwise (hence this article). Have you ever seen a blurb "this book is okish"?
I wonder if this is because the literary world is a lot not heterogenous. Making a film is very expensive, so only a (relatively) small number get made each year, and they tend to fit into specific categories. If you know what sorts of films you like, it's easier to find more films that match what you want. Books, in comparison, have far more niches, and those niches often seem shallower, so that a single book often fits in multiple spaces for different reasons. I think this makes it harder to know exactly what sort of things work well for you in a book, which makes reviews harder to compare, because other people will often be reading a book very differently to you.
I think this is similar to board games, which also tend to have many shallower niches, but at least for myself, I know which reviewers match my sort of games, and I know how to interpret their opinions. I don't feel like I have that same intuition in the literary world yet.
not once have I ever used goodreads reviews for anything other than "damn, 3.6, this must be a polarizing book" before starting it.
I’m reading a great cyberpunk novel about biotech and AI right now (biopunk?). Fun book, very enjoyable. On the cover it has a Neal Stephenson blurb: ”Autonomous is to bio and AI what Necromancer was to the internet”
And without even thinking, that’s exactly how I describe the book to anyone who asks. It’s like the Neuromancer of the tech wave that we’re on the cusp of.
I probably would never be able to come up with that on my own. But I thought I did! I literally thought that was my own description until a few days ago I realized it’s the description I see every time I open the book to read another chapter.
And yes it’s a great book. Totally recommend reading.
Dan Simmons writes like a hot-rodding angel and I will be disappointed if his tombstone does not say that verbatim.
Mistake. The "very good friend" part was a qualifier, not an endorsement. The book was trash! But Howard, the old pro, was boosting the sales of his bud. Learned to never, ever trust a book review done by a writer.
And, sure enough, checking the Amazon page again there's no fewer than seven blurbs, as well as a tagline that describes it as "The Sixth Sense meets Planet of the Apes". Barf!
*The greatest story ever told! -- Jonas Logroller, Punxsutawney Herald
if you think reviews are better, be aware that the NYRB is often referred to as "The New York Review of Each Others' Books."
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logrolling
Those in the UK will be very familiar with the satirical column in Private Eye that does precisely this (albeit for UK Publishers).
if a book has a blurb from Tom Clancy on it, i just interpret that as the same as the publisher putting a label on it saying "fans of Tom Clancy might like this"
(See at least until solsbury hill starts :-))
You agree to write a blurb before even getting a copy of the book. My wife is in this industry with plenty of experience with blurbs.
https://www.amazon.com/Blurb-Your-Enthusiasm-Z-Persuasion/dp...
The good news is that this will make it a lot easier for good writers without connections or preexisting celebrity to be discovered. The bad news is that there will be a few people who reverse engineer the AI graders and get millions of readers despite not being all that good.
This happens anyway regardless. I can't think of any other reason why The DaVinci Code was ever a thing, other than that.
Don't disrespect the hustle grindset.
Actually, the quote on the cover of Murakami's Dance Dance Dance lead me to consider, and buy the book:
"If Raymond Chandler had lived long enough to see Blade Runner, he might have written something like Dance Dance Dance" -- The Observer.
Now, I don't think that's strictly accurate, but does lend a little of the philosophical flavour and slightly sparse writing style, and I did wind up buying and then enjoying the book, and others of Murakami's, enormously.
"It's un-down-votable!"
Don't judge a book by it's cover
Take you pick.
"A thumping good detective-ghost-horror-whodunit-time-travel-romantic-musical-comedy-epic" -- the author.
Douglas Adams.