XKCD Author's Unpublished Book Remains a Best-Seller For 5 Months 169
destinyland writes Tuesday is the official release date for the newest book from the geeky cartoonist behind XKCD — yet it's already become one of Amazon's best-selling books. Thanks to a hefty pre-order discount, one blogger notes that it's appeared on Amazon's list of hardcover best-sellers since the book was first announced in March, and this weekend it remains in the top 10. Randall Munroe recently announced personal appearances beginning this week throughout the U.S. (including Cambridge, New York, Seattle, and the San Francisco Bay Area) — as well as a Google Hangout on Friday, September 12. Just two weeks ago he was also awarded the Hugo Award for Best Graphic Story — and now many of his appearances are already sold out.
right on! (Score:5, Insightful)
i haven't really read xkcd in a few months, but i do love it.
his odd medium of stick figures seemed lazy the first time i read his comic, but now it seems almost purpose-picked for the kind of readership he has. it's the comic strip equivalent of a command line interface. no flash, all function.
slashdot has never motivated me to purchase anything before. i was unaware he was releasing a book. so this is a first, a slashvertisement got me.
i wish randall the most incredible success in his new book, he deserves to make many millions from it. he seems like the kind of guy that would start xkcd scholorships or something if he became wealthy.
German version is cheaper?! (Score:3, Insightful)
I sense a conspiracy.
German Version [amazon.com]
English Version [amazon.com]
Re:Ummm.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Yeah well, I disrespectfully disagree. Randall Munroe is giant asshole with a rabid following of brainless morons. He only seems smart to you because you're so incredibly stupid.
You have issues... Fortunately for you one of them can be fixed by washing your mouth out with soap....
Re:Ummm.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Yeah well, I disrespectfully disagree. Randall Munroe is giant asshole with a rabid following of brainless morons. He only seems smart to you because you're so incredibly stupid.
Both you and grandparent are wrong.
Randal Munroe is evidence that if you draw stick figures for long enough you will eventually gain recognition.
In other words you are pissed at the fact that in these kinds of comics it's content that matters and not so much how good you are at drawing?
Re:Ummm.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Randal Munroe is evidence that if you draw stick figures for long enough you will eventually gain recognition.
Sure, as long as your stick figures are saying and doing incredibly witty things.
Actually, Munroe's success is really surprising to me in spite of the brilliance of his work, because so much of what he draws is accessible to a relatively narrow audience. Not all of it, not even the majority. But there's enough that is only understandable to people who know more than most about computers, mathematics, physics, etc., that none of the non-geeks I know really like it.
Re:Ummm.... (Score:4, Insightful)
Re:Ummm.... (Score:5, Insightful)
I have a different theory. His comic appeal to people who merely believe themselves to be above average.
...but it can't appeal to people who really are above average, because it doesn't appeal to you! Right?
So, can you recommend any webcomics that appeal to people who bolster their own sense of superiority by accusing others of feeling superior, and then mocking them for it? Maybe something with "Projection" in the title...
Re:Gateway drug (Score:5, Insightful)
Far Side >> all of the above.
Affiliate link in the submitter's blog (Score:5, Insightful)
The summary includes a link to the submitter's blog, with a shortened link -- tinyURL.com/XKCDAuthor -- that expands to an Amazon link with his affiliate code embedded. While I am a huge fan of XKCD, I am not a huge fan of masked links that earn up to 8% for completely unrelated bloggers. Perhaps the summary should be edited to include a direct link to the Amazon product page?
Re:Ummm.... (Score:5, Insightful)
His comic appeal to people who merely believe themselves to be above average.
Bah.
It's got nothing to do with intelligence, or even knowledge in a general sense. It's that his comics so often rely on specialized knowledge. For example, a couple of my favorite strips are the "sudo" strip and the "Bobby Tables" strip. The former is only understandable to someone who has at least a passing acquaintance with *nix system administration, and the latter requires some knowledge of SQL and SQL injection attacks. Neither of those things is hard to understand. They don't require great intelligence. But they're not generally known. And to people who require an explanation, they're not funny (I have t-shirts of both, and I have never gotten so much as a chuckle from anyone to whom I have to explain the basis for the jokes).
You'll note, of course, that I'm not actually addressing your real point, which is a snarky argument that only people who like to feel themselves smarter or more knowledgeable than most would enjoy the strip. That's because it's not worth addressing.
Re:Ummm.... (Score:5, Insightful)
The "sudo make me a sandwich" one? Just not funny
... to you.
I "get" the "joke", it's just not even a little bit funny
... to you.
The "Bobby Tables" strip also isn't funny
... to you.
I did notice. I don't blame you. Reality is very difficult to face.
And apparently subjective opinion is a very difficult concept for you to grasp.
Re:Ummm.... (Score:5, Insightful)
Wow, did I strike a nerve!
Not really no. The downmod as flaimbait is entirely fair.
You don't like XKCD (or apparently any other webcomic) and that's fine, you have different tastes to some people here.
However, youre using that mere difference of opinion to hurl unwarranted and unjistified insults at people who do like it. In other words you're baiting people to flame you by insulting them over nothing more than a difference of taste.
That's not striking a nerve and doen't justify your actions, it's slashdot's moderation system working exactly as designed.