It’s either a famine or a flood, innit? At the moment I am verily drowning in highly readable books. Worse than the fact that I have too much good, good reading to get done is the guilt. Oh, the terrible, terrible guilt. Every day I see Carrie Fisher’s latest, probably incredibly witty volume sitting there on the bookshelf dying to be picked up and read and every day I have to say “No Carrie. Not today. I’m not done with Remy yet”.
The Remy in question would be one Remy Stern who has written a rather good book about a rather annoying thing, namely infomercials. Everyone is familiar with the patter, the “how much would you expect to pay…” lines of cheese, the wondrous demonstrations of magic bullets and ab-flexes and miracle make-up, so you probably think you know infomercials pretty well. So did I. You don’t.
In But wait…there’s more! tighten your abs, make millions, and learn how the $100 billion infomercial industry sood us everything but the kitchen sink (phew, long title!) Stern fills us in on the history of how infomercials came to be (starting with boardwalk sales pitches in Atlantic City) and the tactics and psychology at work to get you to “Call now!”. Why is it always “four easy payments of $19.99”? Why is that 30 day money-back guarantee such a good selling point? And why are there always so many “free” bonus extras with your toaster oven? All this and many other strategies are at work in the land of late night direct marketing.
It’s a terrifically interesting book that I’m really enjoying (I do like to know exactly in what manner I’m being manipulated) but it is keeping me from Fool by Christopher Moore which I am sort of saving because he’s one of my favourite authors, not to mention Sex with the queen : nine hundred years of vile kings, virile lovers, and passionate politics which I think you’ll agree, sounds pretty titillating (and educational, of course).
And then of course, there’s the book that I “lost” and then had to pay for but found and which I still haven’t read (yes, it happens to librarians too, though it really shouldn’t). So much book gluttony and guilt! How will I get all these read? How do you manage with all those attractive books vying for your attention?
Christchurch City Libraries Blog 