I’m trying not to be Neurotic Author Guy and obsessively check online reviews of How to Teach Relativity to Your Dog every fifteen minutes. I’ve actually been pretty successful at it, so successful that I didn’t notice the first posted review at Amazon until my parents mentioned it to me. It’s a really good one, though:
I’m at the point know where I could answer some of the most basic questions that his dog has, but I remember a time when I couldn’t and when the questions the dog asks would’ve been exactly the questions that I would have had. Pretty much every time a statement by the author left me slightly confused or uncertain his dog would stop him in his tracks and ask either the question that I was thinking or a different question that either way would lead to the answer that I needed. I wish that all science authors, whether their books in dominated by dialogue or not would be as focused as Chad Orzel when it comes to anticipating questions that readers might have. I don’t think writing the book as a series of ‘conversations with his dog’ was the reason that this book is successful; I think it is the fact that the author was able to anticipate and answer clearly questions that readers might stumble upon, and using his dog was an excellent way to not only answer important questions that could cause readers to stumble, but also because the dog’s interruptions highlighting important points that often can be confusing or just need to be addressed to develop a clearer understanding.
This book will blow your mind!!!!!
Woo-hoo! I couldn’t ask for better than that.
So, you know, if you were waiting to hear a random Amazonian’s take on the book before buying it, well, there you go. Grab your copy now.
Just ordered recently, hasn’t arrived yet.