The WELL: inkwell.vue.207: Steven Johnson, "Mind Wide Open"

#63: gary (ggg) Tue 2 Mar 04 19:50

Tue, 02 Mar 2004 19:50:00 PST

Amazon.com rankings aren't just the top books of the year (and I read that there are now 150,000 books published, in English, in one year) --

-- rather, they're rankings out of the entire Amazon.com catalogue, which is to say, of all the millions of books in print (I think it's like 5 million). [Read entire topic]

#62: jane hirshfield (jh) Mon 1 Mar 04 21:57

Mon, 01 Mar 2004 21:57:00 PST

And to think I leapt for joy on breaking under 1000. Which I only learned about when an evil friend looked and tipped me off. I think I peaked in the 600s or 300s or something.

One thing about them selling the used books now, it really destroyed my ongoing rankings for backlist titles. Every one of them took an enormous dive from where they'd sat steadily for years.

By the way, I just got a new book by Michael Shermer which might be of interest to those who read Mind Wide Open--it's about the biological bases of ethics, morality, etc. He's starting his book tour today, and I heard him give a private preview talk about it yesterday. (Hope it's not bad form to mention another book, Steven, in your topic.) [Read entire topic]

#61: pardon my amygdala (murffy) Mon 1 Mar 04 11:42

Mon, 01 Mar 2004 11:42:00 PST

If your expectations have been reset to 3 or better, I'd say you're in trouble. [Read entire topic]

#60: Steven Johnson (stevenjohnson) Sun 29 Feb 04 19:27

Sun, 29 Feb 2004 19:27:00 PST

Down to #20 on the Amazon list... Too distraught to post here... Must... get... more... dopamine.... [Read entire topic]

#59: pardon my amygdala (murffy) Sun 29 Feb 04 13:43

Sun, 29 Feb 2004 13:43:00 PST

Oh, another thing, that Amazon.com sales rank has got to be a dopamine curse for book writers. Something they ought not to pay attention to, but how could they possibly not pay attention to it. I know I couldn't. [Read entire topic]

#58: pardon my amygdala (murffy) Sun 29 Feb 04 13:38

Sun, 29 Feb 2004 13:38:00 PST

I'll do my best.

Thanks Jon, and thanks Steven for your time. [Read entire topic]

#57: Jeff Loomis (jal) Sat 28 Feb 04 00:32

Sat, 28 Feb 2004 00:32:00 PST

Re: hypomania, like you said it's a good thing in moderation. It's funny how some research correlates it with larger amygdala and other research smaller amygdala. But there does seem to be a connection there.

Of course there are drugs, but they don't really cure you, even if you'd like to be cured. Just enjoy. [Read entire topic]

#56: gary (ggg) Fri 27 Feb 04 20:27

Fri, 27 Feb 2004 20:27:00 PST

picked up a copy at city lights, where it's prominently displayed in its own little, face-out row on top of new arrivals ...

... the dopamine thread is very interesting too. There's a resonance to something Daniel Goleman talks about, wherein the "set point" gets reset (through emotional intelligence) and so, in a sense, rewiring.

... and so now Steve knows that when he's bumped from his #3 throne at amazon by some flash-in-the-pan fluke (later, rather than sooner, we hope), he won't go pig out on a cartonful of reese peanut butter cups ... [Read entire topic]

#55: Uncle Jax, the Nicest Asshole on the Well (jax) Fri 27 Feb 04 19:49

Fri, 27 Feb 2004 19:49:00 PST

I just wanted to ask Steve if he'd ever read the novel "Doctor Pascal" by Emile Zola. Some funny 19th-C. ideas about neurochemistry in that book from a time when the science was just being discovered. [Read entire topic]

#54: Jon Lebkowsky (jonl) Fri 27 Feb 04 19:20

Fri, 27 Feb 2004 19:20:00 PST

Today would normally be the wind-down of this discussion, though of course everyone is welcome to keep the conversation going as long as you'd like... and I don't think we've quite had closure, anyway. But I do want to step in and thank Steven and Mark for baring their brains over the last couple of weeks! [Read entire topic]