Laugh at or hurl out the nearest window, Tucker Max’s memoir, fraught with “frat-titude”, demonstrates an interesting look at the reading public. Case in point is the most recent New York Times Bestseller Nonfiction Paperback List (Nov. 8, 2009). Exact order of the Top 5 from the NYT's list follows:
1. FREAKONOMICS, by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner
2. THREE CUPS OF TEA, by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin
3. I HOPE THEY SERVE BEER IN HELL, by Tucker Max
4. THE GLASS CASTLE, by Jeannette Walls
5. BLINK, by Malcolm Gladwell
Smack between one man’s quest for world peace, the vastly popular (and quirky) explorations of human psychology and economics, and a tear jerking rise-from-the-ashes memoir sits Max – laughing all the way to the swim-up bar. (One can read all about how Max reaps the fruit of his efforts on the author’s site. Trips to Cancun, Ireland, and Buenos Aires are apparently on the agenda.)
The film based on the book sank at the box office and will soon leave theaters with a disappointing $1.5 million in box office revenue. (Max believes that the I Hope They Serve Beer in Hell the movie – was not properly marketed.) So one could ask how IHTSBIH the paperback still thrives in the marketplace.
His list mates share a truckload of "serious" credentials between them. His was the only book that was not released in hardcover. Max describes himself with a string of expletives. He graduated law school – and managed to do so – even though he admits rarely buying a textbook or attending classes. (He spent one semester living in Cancun.)
There is no denying that Max is an expert on his chosen field of knowledge--a sort of dissertation on "Girls Gone Wild." And in this role, he is as convincing as the rest of them are. Gladwell, writer for the New Yorker, takes abstract social psychology theories and makes them palatable for the wait-til-it-leaves-hardcover masses. Levitt and Dubner (an economist and journalist respectively) simplify economics with anecdotes of sumo wrestlers and crack cocaine dealers. Glamorous celebrity journalist Walls can convince the world she was once so poor she had to dig out of garbage cans. And Mortenson (with the help of cowriter Relin) presents great acts of humanitarianism in stricken Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Max has made himself into as much of a brand as Gladwell. He is as authentically himself as Walls. He is practiced and studied as Levitt and Dubner incorporated. His goals are as focused and driven as Mortenson.
Max has edged himself into a position of respect (among the learned and dignified). Funny as it may taste, IHTSBIH is more champagne than swill. And the power of strong, clear ideas still win.
In this article:
Freakonomics, Harper Perennial, (paperback, August 2009) ISBN: 978-0060731335
Three Cups of Tea, Penguin Books, (paperback, January 2007) ISBN: 978-0143038252
I Hope They Serve Beer In Hell, Citadel (Mti edition, September 1, 2009) ISBN: 978-0806532257
The Glass Castle, Scribner, (paperback, January 2006) ISBN: 978-0743247542
Blink, Back Bay Books, (paperback, January 2007) ISBN: 978-0316010665
