Monday, September 3, 2007 | Reason : In the News | print version

The God Delusion One-Year Countdown

by RichardDawkins.net

UPDATE 9-20-07 - It looks like TGD has fallen off the NYT bestseller list after 51 straight weeks:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/books/bestseller/0930besthardnonfiction.html

It looks as if The God Delusion may hit the one-year mark on the New York Times Bestseller list! The new lists usually come out on friday, nine days before the date they are listed with. The God Delusion is currently #28, and it can only drop as low as #35 before it falls off the list. I'm not really sure how NYT calculates the rankings, and I've heard it is a strange and complicated mix of calculations -- but surely book sales have something to do with it! I've posted a countdown on the homepage which ends on Friday September 21st, when TGD's 52nd-week bestseller list posts, should the book make it. The link will be:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/books/bestseller/0930besthardnonfiction.html

I wonder if the new flea's "iPod" book that asks readers to buy a copy of The God Delusion will have any effect?

Who would have thought this could happen a year ago?

Josh Timonen

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1. Comment #67498 by Johnny O on September 3, 2007 at 3:40 pm

Am I being too naive and full of hope to think that TGD staying in the best seller list for so long is a sign of the changing American view of Religion?

Yeah, probably...

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2. Comment #67501 by LordSummerisle on September 3, 2007 at 3:51 pm

If TGD does manage this momentous task, it will no doubt be atrributable to the fundamentalists, eager to "know their enemy".

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3. Comment #67515 by Will in Aus on September 3, 2007 at 4:30 pm

I sincerely hope that this is a sign of the turning tide, from juvenile fantasy to a refreshing and uplifting existence based on logic and reason....

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4. Comment #67545 by notsobad on September 3, 2007 at 7:03 pm

Sorry, I didn't help
...I bought it in Ireland ;)

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5. Comment #67639 by CJ22 on September 4, 2007 at 5:04 am

Was this just an excuse to try out the countdown applet Josh? ;)

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6. Comment #67644 by prettygoodformonkeys on September 4, 2007 at 5:28 am

I should have been buying them instead of lending mine out.
I suppose I'll buy one more - I haven't seen mine in almost a year anyway & I'd like to read it again!

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7. Comment #67656 by doodinthemood on September 4, 2007 at 7:25 am

Is there a typo, or is "freakenomics" still selling hundreds of copies a week after two years? Maybe NYT bestseller list calculation has a loophole that's been exploited somehow?

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8. Comment #67668 by Richard Morgan on September 4, 2007 at 9:18 am

(#35 is the number it must not drop below!)

It's not gonna stop me lovin' ya, it's not gonna stop me respectin' ya; but fuh crissake !
#35 is the number below which it must not drop.
Geddit?
Uddawise, I gonna have tuh report yawl to Lynne Truss.

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9. Comment #67681 by admin on September 4, 2007 at 10:38 am

Richard Morgan,
Sorry, a little backwards sometimes my grammar coach is. :)
- Josh

yoda

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10. Comment #67698 by Northern Bright on September 4, 2007 at 12:03 pm

3. Comment #67501 by LordSummerisle on September 3, 2007 at 3:51 pm

If TGD does manage this momentous task, it will no doubt be atrributable to the fundamentalists, eager to "know their enemy".

I've got this wonderful image in my mind of bookshops across the US bursting at the seams with fundamentalists returning their copies of TGD and demanding their money back, in a frenzied effort to prevent it reaching this landmark! ;-)

(Could that be a new collective noun, btw - a frenzy of fundamentalists?)

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11. Comment #67731 by Johnny O on September 4, 2007 at 2:36 pm

(Could that be a new collective noun, btw - a frenzy of fundamentalists?)

I believe the collective noun for Fundamentalists is a "Fuckwit"

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12. Comment #67734 by Richard Morgan on September 4, 2007 at 2:53 pm

Northern Bright :

Could that be a new collective noun, btw - a frenzy of fundamentalists?

For me, "frenzy" is too positive a word, because it does imply energy and movement, albeit chaotic movement. And I sense the fundamentalist movement as something at best laborious, at worst quagmire-like, muddy thinking, plodding ignorance and blindness. So as a collective noun, I suggest (inviting other suggestions) :
a bilge of fundamentalists, and a star-burst of atheists.
Over to you, my fine young neologians!

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13. Comment #67740 by Dr Benway on September 4, 2007 at 3:05 pm

Richard Morgan:

#35 is the number below which it must not drop.

"This is the kind of tedious nonsense up with which I will not put!" - Churchill-ish

At least we don't speak middle English any longer.

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14. Comment #67743 by Richard Morgan on September 4, 2007 at 3:16 pm

Dr Benway,

At least we don't speak middle English any longer.

In your comment, "middle" is one word too many! But I love you anyway.
Who was it who said that England and the USA were two countries separated by a common language?

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15. Comment #67830 by Northern Bright on September 5, 2007 at 1:07 am

A fulmination of fundamentalists?

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16. Comment #67831 by Northern Bright on September 5, 2007 at 1:08 am

A farrago of fundamentalists?

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17. Comment #67832 by Northern Bright on September 5, 2007 at 1:10 am

A fatwa of fundamentalists?

A fatuousness of fundamentalists?

Ok, ok, I'll stop now.

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18. Comment #67834 by Quetzalcoatl on September 5, 2007 at 1:22 am

How about- A fornication of fundamentalists.

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19. Comment #67837 by Haymoon on September 5, 2007 at 1:34 am

A fatuity of fundamentalists

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20. Comment #67917 by CJ22 on September 5, 2007 at 6:53 am

In the UK, it's "a fuckload".

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21. Comment #68049 by BT Murtagh on September 5, 2007 at 8:55 pm

September 21st? That would make a nice accidental birthday present for me! :)

I think I'll buy a copy for my local library.

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22. Comment #68050 by Richard Morgan on September 5, 2007 at 9:01 pm

Ok, ok, I'll stop now.

Good. Thank you.

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23. Comment #70815 by Tatarize on September 17, 2007 at 2:18 am

35/35 with a week to go. That might suck. Though... yeah... thinking good thoughts... because we all know changes reality.

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24. Comment #71464 by queen5102 on September 18, 2007 at 8:35 pm

I just bought three more copies on Amazon for gifts. Hope this helps.

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25. Comment #72179 by Northern Bright on September 20, 2007 at 1:43 pm

UPDATE 9-20-07 - It looks like TGD has fallen off the NYT bestseller list after 51 straight weeks:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/09/30/books/bestseller/0930besthardnonfiction.html

What a shame - we'd all have loved to see it make the 1 year mark. But hey - 51 weeks is no mean achievement! How many books stay at the top for anything like that long? And the paperback edition is still right up there on the bestseller shelf in Borders. Something tells me there's still PLENTY of life left in this one! So congratulations, Richard - 51 weeks at the top for a book about atheism: who would ever have predicted that?

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