What makes the best book of the century?
Donald K. Burleson
Remember the Y2K crap where surveys sought
to publish the “best of everything” from the 1900’s? Something
like the “best” book of the century is very subjective anyway,
but you cannot rely on traditional measures of “best”:
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Top sales – If book popularity
were measured in raw sales,
Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler would be the winner as
best book of the century. No kidding, it was the
bestselling book of the century. I read the English
translation year ago (out of morbid curiosity) and found it
to be devoid of literary merit. To be fair, it’s a
masterwork of Machiavellianism, appealing to German
xenophobia and making Hitler a millionaire in royalties.
The only content worthy of mention is the “big lie” theory.
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Intelligentsia – In the snooty
world of book aficionados, books with stupid palindromes
rules, and incredibly dense books such as “Ulysses”.
I remember when the snobs declared
“Ulysses” as the best book of the 20th century. Every
body claimed to have read it, but in-reality, few get past the 5th
page before relegating it to the outhouse to wipes their ass.
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