More Praise for HITS

Commenter eriks says Heads in the Sand: "I got the book yesterday and the Preface is the best summary of the Friedman Unit that I've seen. I'll read more when classes finish." Woo! Praise is always welcome -- send me an email -- but I'll also take on your criticisms and disagreements if you're inclined to try to get a response.

The bad thing about bloggers writing books is that we torment you with nagging about the need to buy our book. But the good thing is that if you do buy the book, you're also buying in to a vast interactive new media experience.

Comments

Matthew's book is available at my local Barnes and Noble.

Unfortunately, however, Matthew appears to be screwed by his last name.

The New Arrivals bookshelves are ordered by last name --so "Heads in the Sand" is on the BACK of the Racks down near the floor -- where probably 30 percent of our obese population won't even be able to see it.

By contrast, Glenn Beck's mug is up in front at eye level.

Is Yglesias Spanish for "shitty end of the stick"??

Maybe Matthew should ask Richard to hack B&N's Inventory Control software and convince it that my purchase indicates a best seller -- so that it will ship pallets of Heads in the Sand out to the store and copies will be stacked up in the aisles.

Posted by Don Williams | April 11, 2008 1:48 PM

But is it more annoying to be endlessly nagged about buying the book before you buy it, or is it worse to then buy the book and still be subjected to the nagging? It's like an NPR pledge drive. It just doesn't stop.

At least if I haven't bought it yet I feel like I deserve the nagging in some sense. If I'd bought it I'd have the annoyance combined with a feeling that I was being treated unfairly.

Posted by KCinDC | April 11, 2008 1:48 PM

Re KCinDC "If I'd bought it I'd have the annoyance combined with a feeling that I was being treated unfairly."
-------------
So write a review for Amazon saying that Matthew's promotion of the book reflects the deep insecurity that comes from having a short penis.

You guys lack initiative.

Posted by Don Williams | April 11, 2008 1:58 PM

KCinDC-- You should see this year's MY totebags and mugs, they're fabulous. And or your pledge of just ten dollars a month, we'll send you your choice of a totebag or a mug, and as an added bonus we'll preorder your a copy of T.A.T.U.'s upcoming 2008 album "Upravleniye Otbrosami," which is sure to be a hit among die-hard Yglesias fans.

Posted by Galen | April 11, 2008 1:58 PM

. . . clearly my proofreading skillz rival those of our esteemed host. That's "and for your pledge" and "preorder you a copy."

Posted by Galen | April 11, 2008 2:03 PM

Wouldn't it be really odd and self-defeating if Matt weren't to repeatedly promote his book? People who have something to sell should try to sell that something.

Posted by RJ | April 11, 2008 2:07 PM

Oo! Oo! Is this the shameless self-promotion thread? Because I have a blog called How Insane Is John McCain? that has been praised by William Kristol* as "the worst piece of trash he's ever read." It contains fun items such as advice from McCain's robotic wife Cindybot and my intern Joe Lieberman.

Matthew Yglesias LOVES it**.

Blurbs are fun.

*(he never actually said this)
** (or at least I think he would, he's never actually said so)

Posted by How Insane Is John McCain? | April 11, 2008 2:09 PM

True, RJ, but wouldn't it be really odd if his commenters didn't make fun of the promotion a bit?

Posted by KCinDC | April 11, 2008 2:16 PM

Why would we want to have an interactive discussion here when we could just do it on the Amazon site, which points us to "related forums":

Bush is like Hitler
IS OBAMA BLACK?
FAKE GANG MEMOIR REALLY TICKS ME OFF
Prostitution

I wonder what HITS has to say about fake gang memoirs?

Posted by Christopher M | April 11, 2008 2:21 PM

LMAO that The Wire is listed as one of your categories at Amazon.

Posted by cletus | April 11, 2008 2:28 PM

Dang, did anyone notice that the book costs $17.13 at Amazon and $20.76 at Barnes & Noble?! WTF!

I'm glad I bought mine at Amazon. Hope that doesn't mean you get less money, Matthew.

Posted by Al | April 11, 2008 2:35 PM

Galen, aren't there going to be MY hoodies? I was told there'd be hoodies.

Posted by KCinDC | April 11, 2008 2:44 PM

The repeated nagging caused me to buy it just now. Our local Barnes & Noble has closed, in a sign of things to come, so I got it from Amazon.

Posted by Jim Naureckas | April 11, 2008 3:00 PM

I think you have to give at a higher level to qualify for a hoodie. Which of course leads me to wonder what the names of those giving levels are. . .

Should it be based on features of the blog, like the "Poor Spelling" and "Inaccurate Prognostication" levels? Or maybe titles of classic posts? Maybe Common themes: "Robot Uprising", "Things I Leard From Comic Books", "My Brother Went to Yale but I Went To Harvard Which Means I'm Better", "The Wire is Teh Awesome," "Boston Sucks, Especially in the Winter."

Thoughts?

Posted by Galen | April 11, 2008 3:06 PM

From HITS, page 36:

"As the country prepared to devise a strategy for combating Islamist terrorism, the sensible thing would have been for the nation to immerse itself in actual empirical information about the nature of the problem"
-----------
1) I strongly agree. I remember being appalled at how the TV networks did NOTHING to report real news in the first week after Sept 11 --but instead simply broadcast the same scenes of death and destruction over and over.

After the second day, it became clear that what was occurring was deliberate brainwashing and propaganda, not reporting of the facts to citizens of a republic so they could have a rational discussion over how to address a threat.

2) In the weeks that followed, you could see how EVERYBODY in TV news was supporting Bush's obvious lies. Lies that contradicted what was in the news agencies' own archives.

And you saw the TV CEOs roll over and agree to Condi Rice's order that they not broadcast Bin Laden's comments.
The coverup to ensure powerful factions would escape responsibility.

I finally understood what it must have been like to have been in Germany in 1933.

3) Our current news media needs to be destroyed. They receive great wealth and great privileges -- in exchange for informing the US voters. Instead, they have lied to us. Again and Again.

Posted by Don Williams | April 11, 2008 3:07 PM

If we are going to start referring to the book by its acronym, I'm going to start calling it "Sand, Heads In The." Then again, I haven't read it yet.

Posted by live | April 11, 2008 3:29 PM

"HITS" reminds me of "HLOTS" -- which provides a connection to "The Wire".

Posted by KCinDC | April 11, 2008 3:35 PM

I was an enthusiastic supporter of the biggest American foreign policy disaster in the last 50 years but you should buy my book. Back then I was merely a blogger but now I am a serious foreign policy hand. Just like all the hackish neocons my support for the war is what made me serious. Those who do not buy my book are dirty fucking hippies.

Posted by longer MY | April 11, 2008 6:08 PM

Indeed and putting them in submarines. Indeed this was one of the key conclusions of the NIE, that the Iranians are rational actors and deterrable like everyone else, and the Israelis know it.

Posted by Chris Dornan | April 11, 2008 10:21 PM

I won't, I won't, I won't!!!!!

What is it I won't do again? Oh, Hell with it... pass me the bong...

Posted by dirty fucking hippy | April 11, 2008 11:36 PM

"Maybe Matthew should ask Richard to hack B&N's Inventory Control software and convince it that my purchase indicates a best seller -- so that it will ship pallets of Heads in the Sand out to the store and copies will be stacked up in the aisles."

Nope.

I'm gonna hack the publisher's inventory control so that the whole production run gets sent to the Barnes and Noble - in Pyongyang, North Korea.

Posted by Richard Steven Hack | April 12, 2008 12:24 AM