IVP - Andy Unedited

Don't Just Spot the Future, Make the Future

Our desire to know the future seems limitless. Our ability to know it, however, is very limited. So how are we to satisfy those longings that even Snickers can't satisfy? Here's a clue: it's not measuring how many hits you get when you Google something because everything gets a gazillion hits.

The latest issue of Wired magazine, on the other hand, has a helpful article on how to spot what could be the next big thing. Their first of seven tips is the most helpful: Look for cross-pollinators. The intersection of two disciplines, two enterprises, two hobbies has been the source of new sciences, new marketing methods, new music. Look for those who creatively bring together two otherwise unconnected things.

Clarence Birdseye was a naturalist who took a vacation in Labrador where he saw how frozen fish tasted great when cooked later. As a result he launched not a new science but a whole new food industry.

Then there was the Oxford philologist who invented a language. His Catholicism, love of nature and suspicions of the industrial world, combined with his need to create a history for this language, resulted in what we all know as Middle Earth.

And that is a clue for writers and publishers looking for good book ideas. Look for the creative intersection of typically unrelated fields of thought or enterprise.

Kenneth Bailey combined New Testament studies with a savvy understanding of Middle Eastern peasant culture to bring us Jesus Through Middle Eastern Eyes. William Struthers combined brain science with the topic of pornography addiction and the result was Wired for Intimacy, a very insightful book on the why and how of a rampant problem.

Yes, we take a chance when pursuing something that's not tried and true. But it just might be the future.

Sherlock and Me

I've never been much of a mystery reader. And not much of a Sherlock Holmes enthusiast either. I found the Robert Downey Jr. movies enjoyable but not enthralling. Nonetheless I have become of megafan of the new Masterpiece Mysteries series. Definitely watch the premier of season two of Sherlock this Sunday. The writing is fabulous, the casting perfect, the production values high, the setting fresh (present-day London), the soundtrack terrific, the balance of humor and tension spot on.

I Finally Read My First e-Book

I finally read my first e-book.

OK, call me late to the party, late adopter, troglodyte. Tell me, "Welcome to the twenty-first century." Ask me if I have indoor plumbing.

So, here's how it went.

A Book by Any Other Name

How important is the title of a book when sending a proposal? Very important and not at all.

Sometimes a title can be so bad the editor can't get past it and rejects the project before ever looking at the proposal seriously. A proposed title can also be so good that it sets expectations sky high. But often the title doesn't help or hinder, so the editor has to engage the proposal to make a determination.

Slide Rules and Blank Stares

"We used to do that with a slide rule."

Blank stare. "What's a slide rule?"

"It's a device they used before calculators to do division, multiplication, square roots, squares and trig functions."

Blank stare.

Hungry for The Hunger Games?

Massive box office smash. Best selling books. What's the appeal of The Hunger Games? My take is that boys love the action. The girls love it as a romance. The guys love it as a video game/reality show mashup with not-so-virtual violence. The girls love the idea of being torn between and pursed by two courageous, honorable hunks, especially as that is played out more in the second and third books.