How to write 200,000 books, with a computer's help

An article about an entrepreneur who stretches the definition of “book” (International Herald Tribune):

Parker has generated more than 200,000 books, as an advanced search
on Amazon.com under his publishing company shows, making him, in his
own words, “the most published author in the history of the planet.”
And he makes money doing it.

Among the books published under
his name are “The Official Patient’s Sourcebook on Acne Rosacea”
($24.95 and 168 pages long); “Stickler Syndrome: A Bibliography and
Dictionary for Physicians, Patients and Genome Researchers” ($28.95 for
126 pages); and “The 2007-2012 Outlook for Tufted Washable Scatter
Rugs, Bathmats and Sets That Measure 6-Feet by 9-Feet or Smaller in
India” ($495 for 144 pages).

But these are not conventional
books, and it is perhaps more accurate to call Parker a compiler than
an author. Parker, who is also the chaired professor of management
science at Insead (a business school with campuses in Fontainebleau,
France, and Singapore), has developed computer algorithms that collect
publicly available information on a subject — broad or obscure — and,
aided by his 60 to 70 computers and six or seven programmers, he turns
the results into books in a range of genres, many of them in the range
of 150 pages and printed only when a customer buys one.

View Comments

  • I was expecting that he had somehow acquired Isaac Asimov's brain and was feeding it POD orders. Reality is so disappointing.

  • Who says we didn't? I'm planning to propose a new minor in Tufted Washable Scatter Rugs.

Share
Published by
Dennis G. Jerz

Recent Posts

Representing the Humanities at Accepted Students Day.

Representing the Humanities at Accepted Students Day.

1 day ago

The daughter opens another show. This weekend only.

The daughter opens another show. This weekend only.

2 days ago

How to Disagree Academically: Using Graham’s “Disagreement Hierarchy” to organize a college term paper.

How to Disagree Academically: Using Graham's "Disagreement Hierarchy" to organize a college term paper.

2 days ago

A.I. ‘Completes’ Keith Haring’s Intentionally Unfinished Painting

After learning of his AIDS diagnosis, artist Keith Haring created the work, "Unfinished Painting" (1989),…

2 days ago

Seton Hill students Emily Vohs, Elizabeth Burns, Jake Carnahan-Curcio and Carolyn Jerz in a scene from “Dead Man’s Cell Phone.”

Seton Hill students Emily Vohs, Elizabeth Burns, Jake Carnahan-Curcio and Carolyn Jerz in a scene…

2 days ago

“The Cowherd Who Became a Poet,” by James Baldwin. (Read by Dennis Jerz)

Inspiration can come to those with the humblest heart. Caedmon the Cowherd believed he had…

2 days ago