Upon hearing that a book called “On Bull—” by a 75-year-old Princeton University professor of philosophy is on the best-seller list and generating all sorts of media buzz from heavy hitters such as “Today,” “60 Minutes” and “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” one might be tempted to think: What kind of bull— is this?
But it’s all true, which makes this book – yes, the title is fully spelled out on the cover – one of the truly quirky stories in publishing today.
The tiny 67-page book by Harry G. Frankfurt, which offers a sober, academic examination of the subject, was No. 3 on The New York Times’ best-seller list for hardcover nonfiction last week.
After a modest initial print run of 5,000 copies by Princeton University Press, the book, which sells for $9.95, has been reprinted seven times.
A total of 170,000 copies are now in print and more than 150,000 have been sold, an extraordinarily high number for a university press. It’s the top-selling philosophy book, by far, at Barnes &Noble, according to Lynne Widli, a buyer for the book chain. “It is being merchandised at the front of the store and in our cafes, and because of its tiny size, also on our information desks,” Widli said. “The book appeals to a wide audience and is selling very well across the country.”
Fueling the sales are the self-effacing professor’s TV appearances, as well as articles about the book in The New York Times, Wall Street Journal and San Francisco Chronicle, among others.
“It’s just such a surprise book for all of us,” said Princeton University Press publicist Debra Liese. “At first, we assumed it would appeal to philosophers. We expected to have some cross-over appeal, but certainly not what’s happened.”
No one is more shocked at the book’s success than Frankfurt.
After all, his previously published work (“The Reasons of Love, Necessity, Volition and Love and The Importance of What We Care About”) explored more traditional – and some would say eye-glazing – philosophical fare.
“I’m kind of stunned” by how well the book is doing, Frankfurt said over the phone from his office at Princeton. “I thought it would have a sort of pseudo-success because of the titillation of the title and the subject, and the spectacle of an Ivy League professor descending … to that level (of coarseness).
“But I didn’t expect it to be taken that seriously.”
On the other hand, the book was definitely not meant to be taken lightly. It is, after all, not a knee-slapper.
You won’t find it in the humor section of your local bookstore.
“I intended this to be a serious, scholarly, analytical essay,” Frankfurt said.
Still, said Liese, Frankfurt had hit on “a very appealing idea to a lot of people. Here’s someone taking society to task for something that has been ridiculously prevalent in our culture. … Not too many people examine (this topic.)”
In the book’s first page, Frankfurt writes that as a society “we have no clear understanding of what bull— is, why there is so much of it, or what functions it serves. … I propose to begin the development of a theoretical understanding … mainly by providing some tentative and exploratory philosophical analysis.”
Which he then goes on to do – sometimes in excruciating detail, and in the kind of dense, meandering prose that does not make for easy reading.
As to how the book actually came about, Frankfurt said his fascination with the topic began years ago.
“I know I have always been very concerned about the importance of truth … and dismayed by the lack of truth … in society,” he said.
In 1985, sick of all he was hearing, and sensing that others were sick of it, too, he wrote a lengthy essay on the subject.
Among the high points was his contention that “the essence of bull— is not that it is false, but that it is phony.”
And since the person talking is not lying, but actually paying no attention to the truth, “bull— is a greater enemy of the truth than lies are.”
In his essay, Frankfurt also posited that it’s impossible to know if there’s more of it around now than at other times in our history.
But if there is, he wrote, one possible reason is that “Bull— is unavoidable whenever circumstances require one to talk without knowing what he is talking about.”
And, today, he said, there is the “widespread conviction that it is the responsibility of a citizen in a democracy to have opinions about everything, or at least everything that pertains to the conduct of his country’s affairs.”
Last year, Ian Malcolm, the philosophy editor at Princeton University Press, suggested publishing Frankfurt’s essay in book form.
Frankfurt thought the idea was crazy.
“I thought it might be of interest to academics in English courses or writing courses,” but to few others, he said.
Instead, the book is riding a small tidal wave of publicity, and now, he says, his wife of 15 years wakes up every morning and runs to the computer to see how the book’s sales are doing.
The bottom line is that at age 75, totally unexpectedly, Harry G. Frankfurt finds himself a genuine publishing phenomenon.
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