4/14/08

Times: Professor Published 200,000 Books - So?

I don't see what is such a big deal! Vehamevin yavin.

Sandy Huffaker for The New York Times

He Wrote 200,000 Books (but Computers Did Some of the Work)

Philip Parker says he has computers do the substantial amount of repetitive work that is required in the writing of so many books.

It’s not easy to write a book. First you have to pick a title. And then there is the table of contents. If you want the book to be categorized, either by a bookseller or a library, it has to be assigned a unique numerical code, like an ISBN, for International Standard Book Number. There have to be proper margins. Finally, there’s the back cover.

Oh, and there is all that stuff in the middle, too. The writing.

Philip M. Parker seems to have licked that problem. Mr. Parker has generated more than 200,000 books, as an advanced search on Amazon.com under his publishing company shows, making him, in his own words, “the most published author in the history of the planet.” And he makes money doing it....

2 comments:

John D. Enright said...

I'd bet that if he published a list of "his" works, it would constitute another book!

Anonymous said...

Doesn't Jacob Neusner employ the same method? I mean he still hasn't reached 200000 books yet but well he is pretty close.