Easy. Don't write a traditional review. Note the book's author,
contents and availability, ask people to buy it through your amazon
link, and move on. I don't mean this in a personal sense, nor is it
intended as an insult, but the only people who give a rat's arse what
you think of the book are your friends, real and imaginary, and
people who don't know how to make up their own minds. The latter
would be better served by an article exhorting them to learn how to
make up their minds. I can't tell you how many wealthy people I've
met who don't have a effing clue as to what good art is, but who
spend tons of money on art because someone told them it was good/hot/
desirable/a good investment. They really didn't know what to think.
So they paid others to think for them. Some of these folks pick their
books and music the same way. They read The New York Times to
determine their own tastes.
Gag me with an effing front-end loader.
Critical comment is to be taken with minute grains of salt. It's
slightly above pure noise on the scale of crap we have to put up with
in our lives every day. The only thing I ever heard that made in
sense as far as critics go is that when one reads the same critic
often enough, one learns how to judge one's own probable reaction to
an exhibit, film, piece of music, etc. For me this has been mostly a
negative process for the past 10 years or so. My belief is that most
critics have their heads so far up their butts they can brush their
teeth from the inside. (I didn't steal that here, did I? <g>) So if
Hortense Snotbuttocks of "The Times" believes a novel is "richly
rewarding," I know it's feces between hard covers. That said, one of
my favorite pieces of criticism ever (see, a little hypocrisy never
hurt anyone) is when Stephen King wrote about a book just released by
a current "hot literary sage," and called it a "fingernail paring."
Probably, I liked his comment so much because I agreed with it. I had
just finished reading the book myself and had debated whether to take
it outside and urinate on it before heaving it down a storm drain--or
better yet, sending it back to the author in care of his publisher.
If you try to point out the elephant in the room, all you're doing is
telling us you see an elephant in the room. It may or may not be
there. We may or may not see it. Even if it is there, we may not
care. We also may not be impressed that you saw it and chose to write
about it--unless we're one of those poor souls mention above who
don't know how to make up their own minds.
As you can tell, I don't think much of reviews. At least not on
things so subjective as image making, writing, film, etc. I seldom
read them, and when I do I do it privately, and I wash my hands and
use cleansing eye-drops afterwards. There are lots of ways of calling
attention to work you either admire or loath without playing critic.
But that's my very own extremely jaded 2 cents worth.
--Bob Whitmire
www.bwp33.com
On Feb 23, 2009, at 10:58 AM, Ken Norton wrote:
> I'm very impressed with the pictures in the book and the writing.
> It's a
> book that I'd recommend, but how do I acknowledge the elephant in
> the room
> without opening up a huge world of hurt? Certain individuals have
> achieved
> "god status" and a critic of the book would probably be criticized
> as being
> a hack photographer in comparison. I'm definitely a hack in
> comparison, but
> I know when something isn't quite "right".
--
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