It’s not us. Those were all there within minutes after this thread was posted, which is when I read the story and checked amazon’s page. I’m guessing either amazon is aware of the bad publicity and is letting the bad reviews through for now and/or the bad reviewer’s site is encouraging lots of bad reviews.
If the first chapter shows that the author doesn’t know what he’s talking about, then I’d suggest that reading the first chapter and then saying that the author is full of what makes the grass grow green is fair, especially in a book that’s supposed to be about scientific theories. If the author shows a basic misunderstanding of the basic principles, any conclusions that he draws are extremely likely to be wrong.
I went back and looked at all the reviews. There are one- and two-star reviews going all the way back to August 2005. They’re kind of lost among 5-star reviews, but they’re there.
Does anyone know exactly when the correspondence with amazon actually happened? I don’t see any dates on the website linked in the OP.
GT
A statistical analysis of one-star reviews at Amazon.com
It is, at least, a stab at a mathematical analysis of the situation.
I read the reviews for a good laugh. Usually they are written by people who are upset that someone wrote a negative book about whatever special group they are members of. (Yes, and I find the ones written about books critical of evangelical Christianity funny too. Some of the critical statements are not always unfounded. And then, of course, some are.)
I agree, stupid should hurt.
This is actually a very well written one star review.
Some of then are like “You dumbfuck…you are such an idiot and your book should be banned.” (Think about the Respect the Zipper threads and apply it to books)
Is it just me or do a lot of those 5 star reviews seem oddly simlar in tone?
That review is my very own, & I thank you warmly.
Ah, you are welcome.
Heard an interview on Marketplace the other day that made me think of this thread. It’s about the impact of negative reviews on book sales. Also talked about which reviews to believe. According to the guy being interviewed, 5-star reviews tend to be inaccurate (written by author, Mom, or other biased source); negative reviews tend to be closer to the mark.
Also…note that the original blog entry that Derleth linked to a couple posts upthread has been moved and replaced with an entry that says that the original analysis was done for the author’s own amusement.
GT
Try as I might, I can’t quite work up the outrage some of you seem to have here.
puts his outrage hat on
mmmmMMMMPHRHMHMMPH!!!1!!
Nope.
Several years ago, I posted a negative review of an edition of a book I had once helped produce (I indexed it) some years before that, and then later came to regret having contributed anything to it. I don’t remember how many stars I gave it. I did point out carefully what had gone wrong with it and exactly why I thought the editors had ruined it. This was the only Amazon review that brought me lots of email inquiries by interested readers who wanted to know more about my criticism.
Then a couple months later it was gone without a trace. Now I see my suspicions confirmed.
Star Jones has written a book?
Huh.