Books in the News

Admittedly, there are people who find my sense of humor a little strange; but there were two publishing news items this week that got to me. One absurd and the other ironic.

The absurd is the story about Simon and Schuester. As in: Simon & Schuster's children's publishing division acknowledged that they will be publishing a manual on the etiquette of orgies and sex clubs by author Francesca Beauman.

And the ironic is the Guardian’s story about God vs. the Skeptics. It seems that one of the fastest growing segments in the book market is religion – up 50% over the last three years. And of all the books sold, the hands-down best seller was The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. The next best? God is not Great by Christopher Hitchens.

These statistics might lead you to believe that the agnostics are “winning”. Possibly, but there has been a concurrent 120% increase in the sale of Bibles. I love irony.