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Assorted links
1. The seven types of bookstore customer. Guess which kind I am?
2. Red playdoh = blue crayon? A study in the nature of humor.
I especially like today's assorted links. I've been thinking about #2 for more than a week.
Posted by Tyler Cowen on June 10, 2009 at 07:34 AM in Books | Permalink
Comments
That bookseller seems rather snide (and his breathless response to the criticisms in his posts' comments makes him seem only more so). He resents the customers who have a specific book in mind but not the exact name and author; he resents the people who kind of know what they want but would like some advice; and he resents the customers who know exactly what they want and don't want to have to go through an employee to get it. The only customers he seems to like are the ones who ask, "Where is your (X) section?" - the only question he's really able to field, it seems.
It's not difficult to imagine why the retail printed matter industry is struggling given this sort of high commitment to customer satisfaction.
Posted by: Geoff NoNick at Jun 10, 2009 8:24:29 AM
In a previous post you asked how many of us actually followed the links on your "Assorted Links" posts.
Are you measuring the difference in the number of follows generated with and without the signal: "I especially like today's assorted links?"
Posted by: Nathanael Snow at Jun 10, 2009 8:25:25 AM
The Chinese exam doesn't seem particularly hard. I don't understand why it's described as "brutal".
Posted by: Andy at Jun 10, 2009 8:51:44 AM
They omitted my real type, i.e. 'second-hand bookstore shopper'.
I can see you as either a Seeker or an Independent, but seeing that I've never seen you, I have no idea.
@ Geoff NoNick, the bookseller clearly has issues, but seems positively chuffed about customers, if you compare that post to Orwell's 'Bookshop Memories' -http://www.orwell.ru/library/articles/bookshop/english/e_shop
Posted by: Rob at Jun 10, 2009 8:55:23 AM
The Chinese exam questions don't seem brutal on first glance, but I would guess that there's a high probability that these apparently subjective questions actually have "right" and "wrong" answers, and that knowing which is which determines how good a Party member you can hope to aspire to become. I do find it somewhat telling that the underlying assumption of the first question is that it is decidedly not up to the Rabbit himself to determine how he would choose to develop his own skills. "Central Planning 101"?
Rob - Nice Orwell link. He's even crankier than the fellow in the link - but certainly better expressed.
Posted by: Geoff NoNick at Jun 10, 2009 9:10:10 AM
all of these, of course, are subtypes of the "Prefers to Shop In Person than Online". if I were a bookstore worker, I would be greatful for them.
As for me, I am a mix between "Prefers to Shop Online" and "I'm here for kid's story time, and I hope I can leave without buying any more toy trains."
Posted by: DK at Jun 10, 2009 9:18:27 AM
Zach Galifianakis is genius.
Posted by: goodnessOfFit at Jun 10, 2009 9:30:23 AM
Chinese exam instructions:
don’t interplant or plagiarize.
Note from the blogger:
*These are my translations of what are obviously translations from other languages into Chinese.
I take this to imply that the Chinese national university entrance exam questions are themselves plagiarized.
Posted by: Garrett Schmitt at Jun 10, 2009 10:09:04 AM
Since you are twenty percent of the book market in the US, I am guessing you are the best kind.
Posted by: Yancey Ward at Jun 10, 2009 10:10:05 AM
You are a browser.
Posted by: April at Jun 10, 2009 11:50:24 AM
Chinese exams are brutal in the sense that what kind of colleges you can get in is primarily decided by how well you did in this exam, and there is only one chance per year. It's not brutal in the sense of what some of the above posts guessed.
Posted by: Don't blame Bush, he's elected at Jun 10, 2009 11:51:39 AM
@Garrett Schmitt (10:09:04am)
The note refers to another question placed with an asterisk, not the phrase "don't interplant or plagiarize". The original chinese version reads "不要套作", which I would translate roughly as "do not use fancy ways to subsume another topic within this question". I have read the chinese version and can't see how it's _obviously_ translations from other languages.
@Andy (8:51:44am)
I believe it's brutal because it's hard to write excellent essays that can stand out of at least millions of other essays. In fact, the best and worst essays are made public. Some of the worst essays have the distinction of being known as 爆笑零分作文 (rough translation: "zero score essays that will make you explode with laughter"). (@Geoff (9:10:10am): This follows that the grading for the best essays, which you alleged to have "right" answers, in fact, will be judged by the wider public in what might be called "democratic" public agreement.)
Alternatively, gaokao is brutal because a few points in the total gaokao score matters whether one gets into one's dream university. Unlike universities in US, universities in China have a less subjective (aka extracurricular, teacher recommendations, personal statement) admissions process.
Posted by: cr at Jun 10, 2009 12:04:02 PM
okay okay we'll click
Posted by: no at Jun 10, 2009 1:18:26 PM
Not only snide but not very much of a wit. Must not look inside the books that are sold at the book store.
Posted by: johnson at Jun 10, 2009 2:18:54 PM
Searching "cat mystery series" on amazon.com shows both Lillian Jackson Braun and Rita Mae Brown right at the top, with cover pictures.
Amazon doesn't tell you "sadly, ‘cat mysteries’ isn’t specific enough — and I hate you".
Posted by: ZBicyclist at Jun 10, 2009 3:13:10 PM
I love browsing bookstores, though I probably do more purchasing on-line. I generally find bookstore employees, even the young, non-career-salesperson types to be very helpful and enthusiastic to help me find a good book. They may be mocking me in a blog somewhere later that day, but while I'm there, they seem genuinely interested in helping me find a book.
And yes, I DO hate it when I eat red playdoh and it tastes like a blue crayon.
Posted by: tgb1000 at Jun 10, 2009 4:24:37 PM
please share your thoughts on the Galifianakis clip.
Posted by: Mark R. at Jun 10, 2009 6:22:20 PM
I've been thinking about #2 for more than a week.
Tyler - you off your meds?
Posted by: anon at Jun 10, 2009 9:34:59 PM
a chicken!
Posted by: Robb Lutton at Jun 10, 2009 10:43:56 PM
I wonder what kind of customer I am. I browse, yes, but I usually buy at least three books (which would explain why I currently own 660 books). he seems to be under the impression that "customers" purchase a maximum of a coffee or one book.
Posted by: Hillary at Jun 10, 2009 10:45:41 PM
tgb1000: "but while I'm there, they seem genuinely interested in helping me find a book."
I've owned secondhand bookstores in two states over the past 20 years. Dozens of college students have worked parttime in my businesses. As long as customers treated them with respect, they were always eager to help.
Posted by: John Dewey at Jun 11, 2009 6:08:55 AM
that bbc show black books is a sendup of this
Posted by: 4tg at Jun 11, 2009 6:20:25 AM
"Question 2: Respond to One of the Following
Section 1: On Christmas eve, Dalton bought gray socks for his mother as a Christmas present..."
Pretty weird question.
This is part of the story of John Dalton, the guy who came up with the theory that matter was made up of atoms and molecules.
Dalton was largely self-taught, and one of his earliest papers (1794) was on his theory of the cause of color blindness. His theory turned out to be wrong, but no-one had ever described color blindness before he did. Dalton apparently hadn't realized the true significance of his paper before he published it.
Dalton's contributions to science (on atomic theory, not color blindness) are arguably up there with people like Newton, Faraday, etc, but Dalton was a Quaker (i.e., someone who believed in God, but did not recognize the legitimacy of the church hierarchy), and so perhaps his position in history has been downplayed in western societies.
I guess he might be an attractive figure to made into a hero, by anyone who didn't share 18th century religious prejudices.
Posted by: SJ at Jun 11, 2009 9:59:00 AM
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