Even the pros do it
I seem to recall, on more than one occasion as I was growing up, writing book reports my teachers hailed as wonderful. They would pepper the text with comments like “Great observation!” and “Insightful!” I was so proud. There was only one problem… I’d never read the book.
Now, it wasn’t that I didn’t want to read. On the contrary, I enjoy a good book as much as the next guy. Rather, I took issue with being told what I had to read, and being told I needed to appreciate some piece of classic literature, much of which, as best I could surmise, was mistakenly labeled classic because of its age, much the way we assume young people foolish and old people wise without really pausing to consider their worth objectively.
Before I venture further into territory best left for a standalone rant, let me get to my point. Apparently, there are people out there who have managed to turn this into a living. According to this article from London’s Evening Standard, many journalists writing book reviews “professionally” have honed their BSing skills so well throughout their educational careers that they are now paid to do it.
I’m in the wrong line of work.
fubabee:
I once won a sponsored essay contest on how this group called Junior Achievement showed me the importance of staying in school… The only thing was, we weren’t scheduled to meet with them until a week after the contest deadline….
No matter. I won tickets for the whole class to a Yankees game, got to sit in the duggout, met Dave Winfield, and got presented with an award on the pitchers mound…
Wait, how do I sign up as a book reviewer???
February 27, 2003, 10:23 pmJeremy McMasters III:
I was the kid that did that and failed the class :(
February 28, 2003, 4:50 pm