Chris Anderson's Free - Returned

Occasionally I'll write up a Source of Lit - The Postman! post here at the EWN, letting those that wander by know what titles have hit my mailbox recently.  In some cases, I know I'll be getting to the book in question, be it in a full review, or a mini-review or maybe author interview. In many cases though, it's to give the book at least a little bit of time here seeing that a publicist or author has taken their time to send it to me, believing it to be a book I might be interested in.  And the books that come that have absolutely nothing in common with the type I read and review here?  Well, they don't get mentioned and get donated either to the local library, or a couple of nearby retirement homes.

Just a day or two after reading what both the Virginia Quarter Review blog, and Ed Champion, had to say about Chris Anderson's new offering, Free:  The Future of a Radical Price, and a day after posting a guest essay by Steve Gillis, author and co-founder of Dzanc Books, I received a review copy in the mail. 

I'm sending this copy back to CR, the Director of Publicity at Hyperion with a note suggesting she remove me from the list of places that are sent complimentary review copies.  I'll mention in this note that I strongly disagree with their decision to not pull the book, after the findings that were made, without doing something.  While I disagreed with the University of Georgia Press's extremely quick decision to pulp Brad Vice's book a few years back, believing they could have released the book with a tip-in sheet, I did note at the time that I understood why they were doing what they did, at obvious great cost to themselves.  Hyperion's plan, if I understand it correctly, to let the book fly 'as is' and to include the sourcing online, is a ridiculous reaction to what was discovered and subsequently stated by Chris Anderson.  This is a book that will sell copies, and some of these will be sold simply on the basis that people heard there was something up with this book, without their knowledge of what that something was.  These people won't be visiting a website to find out where Anderson got his information and in some cases his words.  They won't know about it.  There's nothing in the book itself that states that full attributing of sources is available at such and such a website.

I review, or comment upon, many things here at the EWN.  And the books and journals get here via different methods - review copies, ARC's, authors sending copies, me buying copious amounts, etc.  I've never chosen one book over another to be the next one I'll review because of who sent it, or what came with the book, etc.  I choose what I'm interested in and read that one next.  I don't know how many books from Hyperion's forthcoming list(s) would be found in that group I'll be interested in, but if there is one, it will be one that I was so interested in that I went out and bought it myself.

Comments

[steven gillis]

This is why Dan and I work so well together at Dzanc. He is the calm before/after my storm but always he is a man of integrity and purpose. This is the right thing to do and I am proud to call him a friend and partner.

[Steve]

Or, in keeping with the topic and technique of Anderson's book, you could copy and post the whole thing, and call that a review.