Assessing Why Author Simon Winchester Is So Popular

Slate Magazine:

Simon Winchester, the author of The Professor and the Madman and other best-selling works of popular history, came out with his last book in the fall, around the time the House fell to the GOP and Italy's prime minister got dropped, like a thin piece of veal, into the frying pan for alleged acts of willful bunga bunga.

Read the whole story: Slate Magazine

Comments

[cupcake hh]

03:29 AM on 04/01/2011

Because he is Such a wonderful writer..!

[Didderbops]

10:57 PM on 03/31/2011

Who?

[mssreader]

07:29 PM on 03/31/2011

Has anyone here read The Man Who Loved China? I loved the book so much that I searched for a book on Joseph Neeham finding an out of print copy bio. I can't lay my hands on it right now but I found the man fascinating but his tenure at Cambridge and journeys and stays in China was fascinating.

[Babis]

07:40 PM on 03/31/2011

I remember skimming the NYT Book Review on The Man Who Loved China, but I haven't read it. Does sound interesting.

[c-tom]

06:23 PM on 03/31/2011

"acts of willful bunga bunga" WTF

[Babis]

07:38 PM on 03/31/2011

Berlusconi referred to the sex parties he had at his house as "bunga bunga parties."

‘I am 75 (in September) and even though I am a bit of a mischievous one ... 33 girls in two months is too many, even for a 30-year-old. It’s too many for anybody.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1366779/Italian-prime-minister-Berlusconi-claims-slept-33-women.html#ixzz1IDumoWb2

[Chomsky Knows]

01:33 PM on 03/31/2011

He's not as popular as Major Charles Emerson Winchester the Third

[Babis]

06:35 PM on 03/31/2011

F&F

[Fetus]

06:37 PM on 03/31/2011

Nor is he as popular as Barry, Drag Queen of Scots.

[Oxfordblues]

12:07 PM on 03/31/2011

I loved Professor and the Madman. Though NF it was one of those rare books that had me reading into the night. His writing is literature at it's best and the he plays fair with the people he's writing about bring them to life with character and flaws. He does his research and treats such with dignity and truth.

[Babis]

06:36 PM on 03/31/2011

That was a fun read. I had trouble putting it down, too.

[Behind the Tweed Curtain]

10:48 AM on 03/31/2011

Well - the answer is right in the piece - 'Winchester favours esoteric, often "tweedy" subjects.' And his voice is a treat to listen to - on CD reading Krakatoa: The Day the World Exploded - or more sobering than that - talking about the Cascadia Subduction Zone as he did recently on the CBC.

Any writer who can give a riveting account of the compilation of the OED ought to be popular.

[Oxfordblues]

12:10 PM on 03/31/2011

Hi Tweed, "tweedy" subject? Great! I haven't listened to his CDs but love a great voice so will pick up Day the World Exploded. Thanks for bringing up his voice.

[Behind the Tweed Curtain]

12:29 PM on 03/31/2011

The Professor and the Madman is a really well-written, interesting book. I usually pass my books on to the kids, but I've held on to that one. It would be great to listen to, also.

[Behind the Tweed Curtain]

12:30 PM on 03/31/2011

Oops - missed your comment earlier. Preaching to the choir, I see. Apologies.

[Babis]

06:43 PM on 03/31/2011

I'm one of those sad cases that can get lost reading random, and not so random, bits from the OED. I think that was what initially drew me in to The Professor and the Madman. His writing kept me there. I'll have to try his Alice.

[Behind the Tweed Curtain]

07:06 PM on 03/31/2011

Oh, don't misunderstand me. Reading the OED is one thing, writing a riveting account of how it was put together is the tricky bit.

[Lev Raphael]

07:36 AM on 03/31/2011

I don't even have to read the article to answer this, though I did.

because he writes so damned well and tells such fascinating, novelistic stories.