Originally Posted by issybird
 I guess I don't see the significance of this, or even that it's much of a factor.
More Americans voting? Sure. But so what? I think this is only indirectly important, as a factor in the most significant aspect of both books and voters which is that they're overwhelmingly Anglophone. There's a huge British presence in the nominated books, so if you're going to attach some significance to Americans' reading and voting for British books, that's fine, but I don't see what that tells us.
After the Anglophone factor, which I expect crosses Anglophone national lines fairly impartially, I think the next most significant factor is going to be genre. At least to me, this board seems heavily weighted toward SFF. I'd be very surprised if Tolkien and Adams didn't win in their respective categories (and, to state the obvious, they're English).
Also of more importance than the plurality if not majority of American voters, I'd guess would be sex and age. It could be interesting to look at sex when the dust settles, but age would be impossible to quantify. Level of education is also likely to be a factor.
So I'd guess I'd like to know why you think a preponderance of American voters (as opposed to Anglphone voters) matters and what it would say about the selections. I find it odd to see being American singled out, when there are so very many social and demographic differences. |