Impressive list.
Thanks, Peter. I saved the page to my computer. Any suggestions for the top 3 or so on gender issues that aren't too intellectual? Maybe you could set up a poll of about 10 of the bestselling titles and let everyone vote.
Can you cross off all the titles that are thinly veiled plagerism, lazy "anthologies",
desperate efforts of
publication as tenure track, failed rebuttals, defenseless criticism, etc. In my zeal for "education" I've ended up with shelves (OK, piles) of them over the years. I might refer to SOME of them, but theres no WAY I'd ever get the gumption to catalogue them all. The worst ones make an impressive display on the shelf. They help insulate the walls here in New Hampshire, and if I ever run out of firewood in the bitterly cold winters, well... . They don't get my
from the library of... seal, and I'll only lend/suggest them as cautionary examples, lest some "newbie" think I endorse the "intellect" therein.
Intellectual:
a : of or relating to the intellect or its use b : developed or chiefly guided by the intellect rather than by emotion or experience : rational
et cetera.
Written by a career "Academic", big-barely comprehensable- words in foreign language (I use these in written "arguements"
all the time, NOT in casual conversation) , really long, "required reading", Institutionally published, grossly overpriced, do NOT equate to "Intellectual.
Disingenuous claims of "humanities", and political "science", study are typically suspect, I'm find such
devices more and more in "professional" and "technical" offerings on anything addressing water/energy/agriculture/forensics (ie. via Taylor and Francis/CNC publications)
I stick with childrens classics, based on generations of observations of the human condition, rather than "Latest university/gub'mint studies show....reinventing the square wheel can be profitable!"
"Best selling", and "popular", are ALMOST positive red flags for NOT-
intellectual (as defined by Mirriam Webster above), but CAN be quite amusing. (SEE: Diet/self-help/chick porn books) There are exceptions. Last I knew, In English,
The Bible is consistantly "most published", but you won't see THAT on ANY NYT/Schwann's "list".
Any questions why I'll ALWAYS challange...say... Wikipedia, Dr. Hugo S., NPR, Current TV, Al Jezera (sp?) or MSNBC, as an "intellectual" source?