But is it eco-plagiarism?
OK, OK, I'll admit to one other problem with Tom Bissell's book Chasing the Sea: for a book marketed as eco-travel, it contains remarkably little ecology. Bissell is supposedly writing about the Aral Sea, but that dismayingly-vanishing body of water doesn't make a real appearance until about 80 percent through the book. I wish he'd either done a lot more environmental research, or just marketed the book he actually wrote, which was a lot of fun but might have been better titled "Travels in Uzbekistan."
But boy, that's nothing compared to the grief he's catching on amazon.com! Like most customer reviewers, these either love or hate the book…. but they're so passionate they start generating their own little world. One is titled, "This man has NOTHING to say," while another begins, "It seems pretty obvious that the negative reviewers of this book are either idiots or jealous as hell." Simmer down! It's only a book!
Although one wonders… Does the fact that Bissell regularly trashes books make people want to trash his? My heart goes out to any author subjected to such heated invective, but at the same time a nagging voice suggests that for this author it might be karmically appropriate.
A truly devastating critique, however, makes line-by-line comparisons between "Chasing the Sea" and Ecocide in the USSR by Murray Feshbach. If this reviewer is correct, Bissell has danced awfully close to plagiarism. That -- despite any talent or karma -- would be an unforgivable sin.
What do YOU think? Drop a line to info@johnclaytonbooks.com. To receive these posts via email, write to johnclaytonoutreach-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. (You need not put any text in the message.)
But boy, that's nothing compared to the grief he's catching on amazon.com! Like most customer reviewers, these either love or hate the book…. but they're so passionate they start generating their own little world. One is titled, "This man has NOTHING to say," while another begins, "It seems pretty obvious that the negative reviewers of this book are either idiots or jealous as hell." Simmer down! It's only a book!
Although one wonders… Does the fact that Bissell regularly trashes books make people want to trash his? My heart goes out to any author subjected to such heated invective, but at the same time a nagging voice suggests that for this author it might be karmically appropriate.
A truly devastating critique, however, makes line-by-line comparisons between "Chasing the Sea" and Ecocide in the USSR by Murray Feshbach. If this reviewer is correct, Bissell has danced awfully close to plagiarism. That -- despite any talent or karma -- would be an unforgivable sin.
What do YOU think? Drop a line to info@johnclaytonbooks.com. To receive these posts via email, write to johnclaytonoutreach-subscribe@yahoogroups.com. (You need not put any text in the message.)
