Quote:
Originally Posted by hidari
Have enjoyed the thread thus far..... The popular books always tend to remind me of the lemming effect...on books, film etc... Everyone is buying it so it must be good!?????
|
I think it is more a case of: Everyone is buying it so I am missing out on a massive cultural movement if I don't also buy it. Being good isn't the key factor, it's the loss of being left out if you don't participate.
Most people want to belong to and share the moment. The book/film/song doesn't have to be exquisite to be satisfying that way. I would say that this makes it even closer to the lemming effect, as it is based more on herd instinct than bad taste.
I thought it was bizarre at the time that Hawking's book "A Brief History of Time" sold so many copies but was read by so few people. "Why are they buying it if they don't read it?" I thought. It makes more sense to me now.