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by butazabuta
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The Idiot's Guide to Marketing Book Titles

The Idiot\'s Guide to Marketing Book Titles_d0034270_1329433.jpg Alas, poor Robert Pirsig -- Urban legend has it that the author of Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance submitted his novel to no fewer than 40+ publishers before one finally decided to pick him up. But through perserverance, he prevailed in the end, adding a fine piece of literature to the canon of 20th century American Lit that will be enjoyed for generations to come. And how did society thank him? Why, by shamelessly ripping him off, of course:

A quick scan of Amazon leads to 172 returns, including these fine titles:

Zen and the art of dishwashing

Zen and the Art of Funk Capitalism: A General Theory of Fallibility

Zen and the art of genetic algorithms

and my favorite...

Zen and the Art of Anything

ENOUGH with the Zen Art already -- Don't authors have some unwritten code of honor that punishes this type of behavior? There's a reason we don't hear stand-up comedians tell jokes about airline food anymore -- yes it's as bad as ever, but it just isn't funny anymore.

The same thing is true for Seven Steps of Highly Effective Booger-Pickers, and Chicken Soup for those Damned to the 4th ring of Dante's Inferno. The worst offender is possibly the Idiot's/Dummies series...

Who wants to help create the Frankenstein's Monster of book titles? Who's with me now?

The Idiot's Seven-Step Guide to Zen and the Art of Everything I needed to Know I learned from Chicken Soup

Beat that... please~
by butazabuta | 2005-10-27 13:34 | Rant! (文句)