Today I am going to tell you a story about an odd literary encounter.
About two months ago I was at a used bookstore in Houston and noticed two college students browsing the modern literature section. One of them pulled out a book and pointed it out briefly to the other.
Normally I don’t make conversations with strangers, but in this case I had to. You see, I had a very distinct memory about this book, and for another person even to pick the same book up was an interesting event in itself. A year ago, while attending a game developers’ conference in Austin, I received a free copy of a book from a man standing outside. (As a freelance book reviewer, I am used to having review copies thrust at me, but not outside on a city street!) I talked briefly to the person distributing the book, but he was just distributing it (and had a boxful of others to give away). Obviously the book came from a POD/vanity publisher (not that there’s anything wrong with that!), but the binding was good enough and the writing seemed competent enough. I never had the chance to read it, but I did put it on my bookshelf on the off chance that I might want to pick it up later (crazier things have happened).
And now at the bookstore in Houston 150 miles away, these students had picked up the same book to talk about. I politely asked the girl why she was interested in this book.
The girl laughed and said, “Gosh, it’s the strangest thing. This man was giving away the book around campus. Everybody seemed to have a copy of this book. It was holding up tables, serving as doorstops, even serving as firewood.” Both students went on to relate the crazy contexts in which the book would turn up in people’s dorms; the book seemed to be everywhere.
“So what school do you go to?” I asked them. “I’m assuming you go to UT Austin.”
The girl’s reply left me speechless. “Oh, no, I’m just visiting Houston for the week. John and I go to University of Montana.” In other words, some man (or group of people) were distributing this same book at two college towns thousands of miles away!
I looked at the book more closely. My copy at home (labeled “Review Copy”) had peculiar marketing details on the back cover: 50,000 first printing, National Advertising budget of 100,000; Four City National Tour. I’m guessing a good portion of that advertising budget came from the author’s pockets.
Then (I couldn’t resist) I had to check amazon and the publisher’s website for more info. The Amazon listing showed over 70 comments about the book, almost all of them uniformly (even hilariously) negative. Some examples: I read this because someone mistakenly gave this to my 9 1/2 year old son, thinking it was a novel about nature, and we were all largely stuck inside for a week of -10 degree weather in Western Minnesota. Or: This was one of the worst book I have ever read. I only finished it because it was given to me as an advanced reading copy and I needed something to read while hitting the treadmill at the gym. I would give it ZERO stars if Amazon would let me. Or, in another review labeled “Worst Book in the Entire World,” one commenter writes:
This book was so bad, the author was giving copies away at a farmer’s market. That should have been a clue, but the book cover was interesting enough to make me want to read it. But once I started, I couldn’t put it down. I couldn’t put it down because I wouldn’t allow myself to believe a publisher would actually print this rubbish about an acid-head mountain climber who wanted to be a goat and jump into a volcano. I had to see if the story would get any better. It became an obsession really to read until there was something interesting in the plot. It never happened. I cried. I pulled my hair. I broke out into a rash. I began to binge drink. I became angry with people close to me, but there was no solace to be found. I wasted my time completely reading this high school paper. Why? Why? Why? I feel like my brain was raped. Can I file charges?
Another comment?
Unfortunately, I can’t give this book ZERO stars because the minimum is one – actually, I’d give it NEGATIVE stars! I received a free copy of this book a year ago and did my best to try and get through it, but I just couldn’t do it, it’s got to be the WORST book I have ever read. I can’t even tell you all why in more specific terms because I’ve done my best to eradicate from my memory the disgust I felt at having read as much as I did.
One more:
This is the worst book I have ever come across in my life. I received this book for free while leaving the state fair and my immediate response was, wow, it must be really horrible if they have to give it away. Now, I really don’t consider myself as an ultra-intellectual but I can confidently say that this book is not well written, creative or groundbreaking in anyway. It seemed to me that this guy was a man with a lot of money or some kind of “in” and got this book published by mistake. My roommates and me actually use this book as bathroom entertainment and highlight passages that we find comical.
Actually, one reviewer Brian M. Wise found redeeming qualities about the book object:
I found this book a delight to have around the house.
It served quite well as a monitor riser for my LCD screen.
My friend and I needed a book to add weight for a tofu press.
Pages 200 to 225 made wonderful firestarters when covered in paraffin wax.
One night, we took the cover and walked around the downtown Seattle area hiding our faces behind it and saying “Wooo, wolf eyes, scawwy wolf eyes”, while three people behind us kept asking people “Have you seen the walruses?” in Scooby-Doo voices.
One night we drank too much and began reading the worst prose we could find in voices like Darth Vader and Mickey Mouse over a microphone to loud techno music. People apparently loved this prose more than Lynne Cheney’s book on lesbian sexual relationships.
The cat ate pages 123 to 127 when we ran out of catgrass for him to chew.
The door below sometimes slams shut when coming in and out of the apartment, so rather than going out to buy a doorstop, we use the book!
Every so often you can pick a random phrase out of it that makes you howl with laughter.
Handing it to someone who’s taken more than six hits of acid in their lifetime and asking them whether it’s accurate in the description is highly amusing – especially when you get their faces to screw up like you’ve just asked them to kill the baby Jesus with a rusty spork.
It is an excellent candidate for book frisbee on a sunny afternoon in the park.
I take it with me when camping in the case that I run out of toilet paper.
Gosh, I’m sure I could find more excellent uses for this most entertaining book. If paper cuts were something desired, I’m sure you could add that as a bonus, since the cheap paper on the books provides HUNDREDS of those to the reader.
However, you might not want to expose your cortex to the language. It puts me in mind of the Douglas Adams characters, the Vogons, whose poetry is only the third worst in the galaxy. That, in of itself, is a distinction.
Like the movie Showgirls, this book is so jaw-droppingly bad that it’s an entertaining read just to see how badly a book COULD be written. It’s not just a gigantic cliche, it’s a cliched parody of every 1960s novel or poem written by every poet or writer seeking truth within the American experience.
So if nothing else, it’s a marvelous book to be used for anything except reading.
It’s clear from the Amazon comments that the book has been freely distributed in New York, San Francisco, LA, Denver, and probably a lot of other places. People gleefully have been trashing it from all over the country. Bookcrossing, for example, lists over 100 people who have picked up the book and found something to say about the book, some not altogether negative. Among the Amazon comments were several top 1000 reviewers (including the Amazon.com top reviewer Harriet Klausner). Clearly, these amazon.com reviewers were solicited by the author or publishing house, but still they gave the book a fair amount of reserved praise.
Some things are clear from this. First, somebody has financed an extremely zealous and expensive marketing campaign. Second, though the book is strange, slightly offensive and alienating to many readers, in fact the book is not bad, just different. A longish interview with the author on the publisher’s website is thoughtful and shows that the author is not an idiot. He’s a fan of Knut Hamsun and J.G. Ballard, is reasonably well-read and comes from a relatively successful career in the IT industry. Shapero makes it clear he is more interested in being provocative than producing great art:
R: Thornton Wilder’s The Bridge of San Luis Rey. A mess of a book. The story doesn’t go anywhere. But the question it asks and the way the question is framed is so thought-provoking that it’s a valuable experience. I read it when I was a kid, and the question has remained with me my whole life. Sean Penn’s movie, The Pledge, struck me the same way. Not a well-told story. But the question it raises and the answer it gives are so unusual and so powerful, who cares? It’s like an experiment where things go haywire, but the scientist stumbles onto a precious truth. If stories exist to enlighten us, potentially to change our lives, the thoughts they leave us with are a lot more important than their technical virtues or vices.We’re talking now about one of the great misunderstandings of art. I don’t believe that art has much value when it’s used for self-affirmation–choosing art that pleases you, or rejecting art that displeases you. That’s just playing the Siskel and Ebert game. Art has value when it challenges you. When it rattles you. When it distresses you. When it poses questions you haven’t answered or been able to answer. When it forces you to grapple with something you weren’t aware of, or didn’t understand. When it forces you to change your self-definition. That’s how art becomes an enhancement to life, rather than a retreat or escape from it.
When people opine on what they like or don’t like about a work of art, I wonder if they got any benefit from it. When people talk about the idea presented in a work of art, and whether it was true or false, it’s a fair bet that they came away with something.
This attitude (a little defensive-sounding) is at least coherent: people don’t need to like his book to be changed by it in subtle ways. Good or not, the book has acheived its purpose in being talked about by a lot of people (even on this weblog). The marketing campaign operates on the premise that if a book successfully saturates a society to a certain point, it will find an audience (somehow). If Shapero is right about anything, it’s that oblivion means certain death for artists and intellectuals. He seems skeptical that society recognizes important ideas or works of art fast enough; this blanket campaign is an attempt to increase the probability of a nuclear isotape going radioactive.
I haven’t read the book yet, (though someday I might), but I have to say that the mass of negative comments about this book arise partially from the fact that it was a free gift (and it’s easy to deride the value of something you didn’t pay for). In fact, if the book were published on a smaller scale and only made the rounds of literary/naturalist circles, it’s quite possible that the book would receive better reviews (though a smaller amount of attention). I still have no idea whether the book merits serious critical attention or whether I’d like it. But mainstream marketing assures mainstream types of reaction.
The other problem with the reviews is that the readers seem to resent the investment of time involved in finishing this awful book. Oh, really? So the helpless reader couldn’t have chosen to stop reading? Nobody was holding a gun to his head. I am a voracious and catholic reader; yet there are lots (thousands!) of books I never will get into. And I don’t. And I don’t suffer from guilt or anger as a result. In this day and age where it is a rare coincidence to run into someone who has actually read the same book you did, I really don’t want to hear protests from people who didn’t know how to stop.
It’s a little like hearing complaints from a few hundred men about what a lousy lay somebody was. The fact that a man slept with her means that at one time he found something attractive about her. Frankly, the world doesn’t care about lousy lays or tainted love. They want to hear about the times when romance succeeds or when the union of two people in sex or marriage brings something interesting or remarkable. The fact that I have fallen in love with Person R doesn’t mean that Person S is awful. And if I fall out of love with Person R, when I start complaining about it, that says more about my own standards than Person R’s intrinsic qualities as a lover.
Social forces do exert pressure on individuals to certain works of art. Look at the photo below:
My Albanian host father was holding up a book by former Stalinist dictator Enver Hoxha. Hoxha wrote several “bestsellers” (actually Marxist diatribes or autobiographies or –gasp–even fiction!) and hundreds of thousands of the books were printed and distributed everywhere. Every Albanian household was expected to possess copies and be familiar with their contents; now it is nothing more than a joke.
We are not living in Communist Albania. Here the tsunami of books by Dan Brown, Stephen King and Michael Crichton may seem inescapable. But we are not drowning; it’s easy to avoid the onslaught of multimillion dollar PR frenzies if we choose. As consumers and intellectuals in an age where books, dvd’s and mp3′s are everywhere, our job is to collect, filter, promote and even to ignore. What we collect becomes a part of us; works that don’t hold meaning or value need to be discarded or forgotten about. If our library consists of Stephen King, Metallica and Reese Witherspoon movies, that is who we are; if it consists of Giuseppi Verga, Siti Nurhaliza and I was Born But, that also defines who we are. Occasionally, in organizing our collection we have to exclude or discard. That’s natural. A massively-funded and carefully-orchestrated marketing campaign doesn’t absolve us of the obligation to choose our baubles carefully.
Update January 2009. Apparently the person in Austin who handed out the free sample has found my blog and written a comment here. We communicated privately by email and made tentative plans to recreate our meeting, and I will ceremoniously hand him back the book he gave me.
May 2009 Update. Apparently, according to one librarian, in the World Cat database, the sound recording that is available in the greatest number of libraries in the world is ….Wild Shapero’s Wild Animus (with Harry Potter books ranked number 2,3,4,5 and 6). (Do this query dt= “rec” and rank by number of libraries).
May 21 2010 Update. Amazingly, a box of Wild Animus books was mistaken for a bomb at Yale University. Could we be overlooking the obvious possibility that Rich Shapero is a terrorist trying to infiltrate the literature departments at our universities? Zeke Miller reports:
The Yale Police Department and New Haven bomb squad responded to a report of a suspicious package outside Woodbridge Hall today, but the apparent threat proved to be a false alarm.
Officers arrived shortly before 5 p.m. and closed Beinecke Plaza and part of Wall Street between College and High streets. Bomb technicians donned protective gear and used a robot to inspect the brown cardboard box, which they found contained copies of the book “Wild Animus.” Wall Street was reopened about 20 minutes later.
Similar boxes, with the same “Wild Animus” books, were seen elsewhere on campus Tuesday, including in front of Saybrook and Trumbull colleges.
New Haven Police send bomb robot to examine Wild Animus books (Jeff Kaiser, photograph)
Literary bomb defused! (Charlie Croon, photograph)
{ 90 comments… read them below or add one }
Too right this was a massive marketing campaign. I recieved a copy of this book in Amsterdam last winter. The other week I saw a Wild Animus sticker on my friends bag. She said they’d been giving out in Galway, Ireland not so long ago. Last weekend I saw people giving out W.A. audio C.D.s at the electric picnic music festival in Laoise, Ireland. I think Shapero is doing some hardcore l.s.d. public relations work here.
Free CD’s handed out yesterday at Copenhagen Business School, Denmark. What a massive marketing campain!!!
he is doing something in Shanghai lately.
I don’t see it as a marketing campaign, because the CD The Ram changed my life. I figure if it came into my hands for free and I enjoyed it, I’m not going to complain. I haven’t read the book yet, but the spoken word CD series is worth a listen to anyone interested in psychedelics or survival journeying or vision questing.
Defecating onto a page does not count as writing a novel.
dude….come on. this is really the worst blasphemous act on the human or ram brain ever carried out that i have ever encountered personally. I think it broke my brain when i was reading his album lyrics aloud to my friends to show exactly how remedial his songwriting actually was. usually i wouldnt devote any amount of time to write about bad music, the music is just so horrible on so many levels. “the flesh is sizzling, limp muscles twitching, the bones have cracks, the cracks leak marrow” This guy had to have lost his mind. Who knows maybe he had a tragic hiking accident and cracked his head on a rock and when he woke up he thought he was a ram. we should have never cut funding to the looney bins.
This has to be the worst piece of “art” ever, period. “pad, pad, pad, pad, limp muscles twitching, the flesh is sizzling as he firebarbs pry the joiiiiiiiinnnttss.
This music has permanently disturbed my psyche. Can anyone help me?
Rich Shapero, wild animus, and the ram do not even deserve negative stars.
I was givin the CD by my friend who had grabbed two of them while at Lollapalooza in Chicago. THIS CD IS GARBAGE… I’m glad no one gave me the book. Calling my friend right now to tell her NOT to listen to the Wild Animus CD, this guy may be retarded.
hey, I get what you’re saying about maybe it’s not as bad as people are making out, maybe it’s just perception, etc, and why would they keep reading if it is so awful.
I can’t speak for any of them, but I gotta say: see for yourself. you don’t have to read the whole thing. pick it up. open it to any page at random. read two paragraphs. if you’re not clutching your head like a stunned monkey by the time you’re done, well…I’ll be surprised.
I’m really happy I read it, and I think it should be taught in writing classes at every college in the country. the author doesn’t just write badly. he makes glaring, horrible authorial and stylistic decisions on every single page. it’s a nearly perfect example of everything a fiction writer should *not* do.
seriously.
try it.
Maybe it’s an experiment to see if complete crap will eventually become popular if the market is sufficiently flooded with it. I think it’s a test of human stupidity or gullibility. Some genius market guru bet his friends he could make ANY book a best seller. It even has a CD as a tie in product.
I recieved a copy of the CD yesterday in Aarhus, Denmark and though the CD is crap, it sure is interesting that we’re so many people around the world commenting on this “phenomenon”. I believe Rich Shapero is laughing his ass off where ever he might be at the moment…
I was given the CD this august in Tampere, Finland.
I was listening to it but I don’t find it interesting.
Anyway, I agree with Rune: maybe it’s crap but look how many of us are talking about it!!!
I agree with all your comments, except one: “though the book is strange, slightly offensive and alienating to many readers, in fact the book is not bad, just different.” I’m not sure how you arrive at that judgement without having read the book. I have read the book (I got it free from BookCrossing), and found it to be terrible. This is not because it was “provocative”. While I know some readers found certain aspects offensive (personally, I did not find it offensive, but to each her own), the book itself was not what you’d call provocative. Though you’re right that a good book changes the reader in subtle ways, this book does not do that. It’s not the kind of book that ‘makes you think’. It is merely a poor quality novel. Of course, that’s only my subjective judgement, but I think enough fellow readers agree with me to add some weight to this viewpoint. Perhaps with time, practice and feedback from editors, Shapiro’s writing would improve. This is what is lost by self-publishing.
Oh – one more thing! I live in Canada, so the book has not just been read all over the US, but outside it’s borders as well
Also, Shapiro is now distributing free Wild Animus music:
http://www.wildanimus.com.au/
It’s funny, actually.
I had gotten the book free from Book Crossing years ago. I thought it was alright but it was kin do of a gyp to have the ending revealed.
I thought it was more along the lines of an experimental novel, maybe like Kafka on drugs?
I listened to the music off the web site and have to say it reminded me a lot of Bob Dylan. The man can’t sing but the lyrics sure make you think.
I think the entire thing (Book, CD, Art) is really an experiment in what is art, what is literature, what is music? Some have been able to push the envelope and succeed. Others, like Shapero, are not.
Either way, I’m preparing to take the voyage again, just to see if my first impressions were right. I’m getting the book and CD (for FREE! Gotta love that) tomorrow in the mail, so we’ll see how the voyage is many years later.
Oh, and I’m in Canada too.
Art has to “rattle,” “disturb” and otherwise stir you up into emotional anarchy? How about…now follow me here…How about art ENTERTAINS? Or is simply PRETTY? Or makes one FEEL good? Why are we stuck in a place where “ART” has to repulse and “challenge?” This has not been the historic call of art. We really need to grow the hell up, people. Art is many things, but ever since we called vandals’ graffiti “art” we have lost it, yielding to the wimpish desire to evaluate (if that is possible) NOT by what we bring from the piece, but by what the piece imposes upon us. Bassackward. My hundred or so favorite books, movies, etc. score on many levels. Top among them is craft. Then, how they make me feel. And being “disturbed” or “challenged,” (altho I might be) is not a big part of it. Sites like this explain how so much “challenging” garbage is published and created these days while many perfectly brilliant works by normal people for normal people go un-observed. I quit.
Everyone should listen to the CD. I just laugh my head off every time I think of it. It is the worst album ever created. Imagine the sound engineer in the studio, how did he record it. He must have been sick with laughter the whole way through. I cry every time the CD is on it’s that funny. What a massive pile of hilarity pants.
I just finished this novel- I work at a public library and it had been discarded.
I found it bizarre, yet I continued reading it till the end. I skimmed many the lyrical chants of Ransom and found myself wanting to hear more of Lindsey’s story. I felt the author must have had first hand experience with LSD. It did leave me with an impression-
and some books leave me with none.
Somehow reading it – I experienced a bit of getting into his ‘blue jar’ – where he kept his pills
Well all, He is now sending free copies of the book in printa dn on CD to Public Libraries here in Ontario, Canada. All 13 branches inour system received them in the mail today. Who is this guy, a Bill Gates pseudonym or some other billionaire with more money than brains?
Maybe it’s an experiment to see if complete crap will eventually become popular if the market is sufficiently flooded with it. I think it’s a test of human stupidity or gullibility. Some genius market guru bet his friends he could make ANY book a best seller. It even has a CD as a tie in product.
Oh this album changed my life, alright. Now, I want my life to end sooner… so I might have less of a life to live with the memory of these GOD AWFUL HORRIBLE HIDEOUS LYRICS coiling about in my brain like epileptic snakes! Somebody KILL ME! Rich Shapero! I hate you! I hate the Ram!! Die Ram! I love roast mutton! Long live MUTTON! AND MINT JELLY!
As the writer of the original piece, let me say how amusing I find these comments. Maybe we can …form a political movement?!
Well, unlike most of the people on here, I think that Rich Shapero’s contribution to society far outweighs anything I have ever heard/read before in my life… NEVER, in my entire life, have I laughed so hard at the god-aweful horrible music, and message that he is trying to send… And the best part is… It’s 100% honest. Nothing makes me laugh more than envisioning this millionaire writing these books and albums, thinking that everyone in the world is suddenly going to get into the “Ram trend” and start living in the wild, being chased by wolves, and launching into cock and spring assaults to the ATTEMPTED rythme of his beatless/rythmeless/joyless/mind-shittifying music…
Robert – you were one of the first people to get a free copy of Wild Animus, just so you know, I probably handed it to you. The best stories won’t be told, I assure you – there were plenty.
[Note from Robert: We communicated privately by email and made tentative plans to recreate our meeting, and I will ceremoniously hand him back the book].
The book has hit Australia. One of my staff just showed it to me (but she had done her research and as such decided to gift it to the head of our creative writing school, I’m sure he can use it as a case study?)
Bought both cd:s (one with music only and one double-cd with both music and spoken words.) I payed approx. 3 dollars for both. Now I wonder, dare I listen to them? Or will my life change, considering all comments here? Please give me som advice!
I listende to the music and was surprised. It gave me the same vibes as I got listening to the Incredible String Band in the early seventies. From THAT angle the music is really good and refreshing.
This book has arrived at a Primary School in Darwin, NT Australia. I’d love to know where, how and why we got it!!!
I hated reading the book and felt like I was wasting my time. But I did walk away with some of the ideas. There is one part where Ram man is raving about how we were flung off from the molten heart and are now all embers loosing heat. I agree with that idea. Not a day goes by where I don’t feel and mourn the lack of passion and vigor in my life deeply. Still I don’t think LSD is the answer.
Although I’ve never heard of this book, I see that OCLC/WorldCat lists the AudioBook of it as being held by more libraries (1,946) worldwide than any other sound recording. In 2nd to 5th place are all Harry Potter AudioBooks.
He’s giving his book away for free? Ahhh, so that’s how we landed on a couple dozen copies. It was interesting to try to put myself in his pespective and appreciate more of the natural world. But uh… can anyone get me some LSD? I want to be found dead at the bottom of a cliff in a ram costume…!?!??
I just litened to the music on his website. Cringe!! God awfull!! I just want to let you know that i will “choose” not to finish reading this crap.
Just got a free shrinkwrapped copy (book and CD) in Harvard Sq Cambridge a couple of days ago. Must have cost a few bucks to produce and manufacture. I should have asked the people handing it out if they were volunteers or not. Haven’t checked it out yet. Only slightly joking when I say I wonder if it will plant subliminal messages in my brain.
I just got a copy on my campus at Columbia University in NYC. For free. And checked online to see what it was about. Hilarious.
My friends received a copy of the book/cd combo and passed it on to me this evening. I listened to the first few tracks of the CD, but only out of morbid curiosity after the first, wondering if it would all be of a similar (i.e. near-horrendous) standard. I have not begun to read the book, and do not know if I will, but if it is anything like the pretentious and forced lyrics found in the songs, I don’t think I will.
This book has become a legend among my friends. At a certain point during a gathering or party, someone will inevitably say, “Page number, please,” and proceed to open the book and dramatically read that page. It’s funny enough that the requests for more readings go on and on. Great party game. And really, fun to laugh at those who think money can make up for lack of talent.
A shrinkwrapped boxed set of Wild Animus made it’s way into my hands this afternoon at UCLA. A young man was handing them out as “free art.” I have no idea what is inside the box, as I have not yet removed the shrinkwrap. It is currently sitting on the floor of my car, where it will probably remain for a few weeks until the need to clean out the backseat becomes dire. After reading this blog, I find myself in no hurry to delve into its contents. I accepted it because the cover art seemed interesting, and I briefly read something about nature and rock climbing on the outside. As my younger brother is an afficionado of both, I figured I could pass it on to him. I think I’ll spare him the ordeal. Then again, he is also an afficionado of hallucinogenic drugs so he may very well enjoy it…
Some girls gave me this in the middle of the street one day. They said “free promo of performance art” but it was obvious they just wanted to get the copies off their hands. Kind of bizarre if you ask me.
What do I do with this thing now?
The music CD (The Ram/Wild Animus) was behing handed out (actually more like thrust into everyones hands) outside of the “Schnitz” just after a Tori Amos concert in Dec. 07, Portland, Oregon. I’m sure someone by now really, really wants their VERY own copy of this intriging worldwide social experiment. Serious Inquiries Only – Mint Condition! .
I just recieved a free box-set copy from a girl at the Farmers Market at University of California, San Diego campus. It came with the paperback book, CDs and a letter from the author. The girl described it as “Into the Wild meets Fear and Loathing” and that it was a true story…. After reading the amazon.com reviews and this blog I find it highly unlikely that I’ll bother to read the book. Although, I will be fair and give it a try.
Got a box set on campus. It included 3 CDs and the book. The music is awful.
I just finished the book and admit that it is somewhat odd. But my conclusion is that I would keep this book in my bookshelf. I like the plot of the story and some crazy, illusive expressions in it. A couple of times, I thought I would throw it away… but there is something that kept me come back to the book. I am glad I finished it…and I am planning to re-read someday. Wow!
I very much enjoyed this book. I did a video review of it on my blog: http://lamentedemcmurphy.blogspot.com/2010/02/wild-animus-more-like-wild-awesomus.html.
It was distributed freely to me in New Jersey.
I read about 1/5th of the book and I don’t think it’s that bad. While it isn’t great, I disagree with people who say that it’s not thought-provoking. There are parts of the book that I think are quite profound–they are very rare, but there are one or two paragraphs that I was impressed with. This guy had a trippy time in the mountains and wanted to share his experiences with other people for free…what the flying fuck is wrong with that? If you have ever thought about living in the mountains whilst dropping acid and having sex with a hot blonde girl, then this guy wrote a book about it for you. That’s one of the main joys of reading, to get other people’s perspectives on things you haven’t done yourself.
In addition, the book is a good way to learn new vocabulary words related to the geology, flora, and wildlife of Alaska because it is free and captivating enough to get through a substantial amount of pages in one sitting.
I think that the key to enjoying this book is to cut the author some slack and realize that he GIFTED you this book. Suspend your disbelief and throw him a bone, do not just dismiss him as a crazy dude who thought he was a ram and wanted to jump into a volcano. Otherwise you’re not going to enjoy the book.
Here’s some wikipedia info on the author and his book. Some of it explains the low quality of the book. And, apparently, he went to UC Berkeley. I don’t get it. Really.
Rich Shapero (1948- ) is an American venture capitalist [1] and self-published writer. He grew up in Los Angeles and attended UC Berkeley.[2] He is a partner at the venture capital company Crosspoint.[3]
Wild Animus
Shapero’s book Wild Animus was released in 2004. He used print-on-demand technology and his own publishing company to create the book, and has given away large numbers of the book for promotional purposes.[4].
A CD, The Ram, that is linked to Wild Animus, was released in 2006. It has, like the book, been given out promotionally in large numbers. Contributing musicians include Marc Ribot, Jim Campilongo, Charles Bissell, Jim Keltner, Iva Bittova, Hutch Hutchinson and Lee Rocker.
His books have been passed out on campuses throughout the northeast. Most copies were immediately discarded.[citation needed]
Just got a copy with the CD’s thrown at me on the University of Pittsburgh campus. Took me a while to figure out what it was. Very professional looking package though. Still thinking of uses for the contents.
How interesting…. I received this book years ago while leaving a Reel Big Fish concert. Denver must’ve been one of the first distribution cities.
I find it entertaining that they’re still hiring people to hand it out (they’re not volunteers, by the way, they get paid $16 an hour) – I don’t remember the book terribly well, but I remember being amused at how illogical and unbelievable the story was. It felt poorly written to me because of how one-dimensional and unnatural the characters were.
I’d be interested to perform an experiment: write a book and self-publish the way Shapero has. Then, simultaneously, hand it out for free in one half of the country and sell it for more than it’s probably worth in the other half. See what the reviews are, and if having to actually pay for the book creates more intrinsic value than giving it away for free.
They were handing the book and CD set out today at Dickinson College in Carlisle, PA. Regardless of the content, which I have not read or listened to yet, it seems to be an effective marketing campaign. The box and CDs have some very interesting art on them, but only time will tell if it is just a facade.
The complete box sets were handed out at Evergreen State College in Olympia Washington today. Three guys with a pallet of books. It was obscene.
I fount this a dreadful piece of ‘art’.
Free copies were handed out at The Farmers Market at Schmidts inPhilly.
… I received my copy in Harvard Square 3/21…some guy practically put the box set in my hand…I found the encounter so odd I had to return to the Hotel and look up the book…so I guess this marketing campaign in still in full force.
Just got handed this box set on a street corner at University of Delaware. They people handing them out had like 500 of these box sets. The packaging looks like it probably cost him a bunch, so well done there. So seeing that the guy invested all this money and was giving them out for free I was thinking that he must be really confident that he has something great. I was really hoping that it was going to be some underground indie writer with a brilliant musical/literary experience.
Got home, put the CD on, nearly pissed my pants at how incredibly ridiculous the songs were. The horrendous lyrics fit oh so perfectly with Mr. Shapero’s unintentionally comical vocal styling. Even more hilarious was the amount of studio musicians who performed on each ear-raping atrocity – who really needs 4 separate electric guitars on a folk song??? On one “song” he credited squirrels as performers because they “chattered” in the background. After listening, I dare not try to read the novel.
My roommates and I have a theory that this is just a giant joke on everyone, that Richy boy is trying to outdo Rick-Rolling. If its a joke, well done sir, well done. If you see people handing these out on your campus, do yourself a favor and pick one up, you’ll be endlessly entertained haha.
Someone was handing them out at UMass Boston today. The thing is very nicely packaged, but completely atrocious otherwise. Seriously. Everything that needs to be said has already been said in the comments or the review. My only disappointment is that I didn’t have the opportunity to ask the guy handing it out what *he* thought of it. A job’s a job, I guess.
They where handing out the boxsets today on campus they had about 20 boxes and were just shoving them in peoples hands as they passed, we didn’t even get an option of taking them or not, so I came back and looked it up, and it looks like I won’t even be opening up the packaging,yeah for a new doorstop!
Well, they struck SUNY Binghamton as well. Haven’t opened it yet, but the packaging is nice. Disappointed, but not too surprised to find out this is not so good. Glad I didn’t pay for it, though, because I’m a sucker for a slick looking design…
The bookstore at Colorado State University is handing away free box sets. Haven’t opened mine yet. I thought it actually looked pretty cool – great marketing. These comments have helped prepared me for what’s in store, lol.
I was just given a free copy at Northeastern University in Boston, MA. I searched google for reviews of the book and came across this.
Just got a copy at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon.
Great place to give people books about “acid-headed mountain climbers.”
Free copies handed out at the University of Portsmouth in the UK today! They were left on tables, bus stops, and I even saw a group of people using the CDs as frisbees. Still wondering whether to give it a go. First few tracks of “The Ram” are, to say the least, underwhelming. And to say the most, diabolical.
Free copies handed out at University of Illinois in Urbana today. The Ram being compared to bob dylan in a previous comment makes me sick. It’s more like Family Guy’s Version of Randy Newman. It was terrible, uninspiring, and it’s offensive to even mention bob dylan in the same paragraph. i think it’s a trap.
pointless , didnt finish , got given it free outside uni in Glasgow, Scotland, Uk
I was given the Wild Animus box set(cd’s, etc.) outside of Lucent L’amour, a Valentine’s day event(by the DO LAB!), in Los Angeles. I was on a good dose of ecstasy at the moment, and I was admittedly blown away by the fact that someone would be so generous with their art. I inquired about the contents of the book, and the woman who’d just given it to me asked me if I knew anything about LSD. I responded enthusiastically, YES! She went on to describe in detail what the book was about & it’s relation to LSD. Needless to say, I was very excited. So, after opening the box I decided I’d leave the music for after I’d read the book(apparently a good idea according to you folks), in hopes of having a deeper understanding. I just got through to the the eighth chapter & had previous to tonight not read a single review of the book, or looked into the writer. I have noticed the looseness & pretentiousness of his writing, along with all the faulty transitions & poor concision & yes I figured out that the beginning is the end(wack!). BUT, the message that I’ve understood so far of love & his almost subliminal messages about LSD(what I’m talking about is his ability to properly describe the “ways” it opens your mind) have had me riveted. The ram & all that is to an extent vague, when interpreted directly, but what it represents is utterly mindblowing. If you’ve ever taken LSD before I think you have an advantage at catching onto it, for those who haven’t, I’m not surprised that this flew over your heads a bit. ….but while I’m in the position of not having read the entire book, I just might be up for some unpleasant surprises. I can’t believe I wrote this much, but I guess it’s because that’s how strongly I feel about it at the moment. I’m very interested to see if I end up loving the book or not. I’ve always been considered “unique” in my life & most times not by choice. The reason I say that is because it seems that EVERYONE hates this book & I want to see if I’ll end up being the odd man out, again. I guess I’ll have to get back when I’ve read the whole thing through. Wish me luck…or not’
Just been given a box set with the book and three CDs in Sheffield, UK. Not sure I’ll bother with it!
I live in Portland, Oregon, and the book is being passed out here, on the Portland State University campus. I haven’t read it, but it was given to me yesterday. In spite of the bad reviews, I think my curiosity will inevitably get the better of me.
They were handing these out at Duke University today – box with book and CDs. Everyone on the quad seemed to have one in their hand. I took one because it sounded interesting, but haven’t opened the shrink wrap yet. It’s an international phenomenon. But why? Who is paying for all this?
Got this box set in Newcastle University last week. I’m in the process of reviewing it. I’m amazed someone had the money and the time to deliver this book so far and wide. Especially as it is for free.
The book is as god awful as everyone else is claiming. I understand that this is self-published work, which leaves me wondering how many rejections Shapero might have had from publishers and agents before deciding he’d do it his own way. Unfortunately, some people don’t get the picture: if no one will publish your book except yourself, that says a great deal about the value of your book.
Viral is right. I live in Brisbane, Australia, and during a completely spontaneous bout of house-cleaning, I happened upon this book. A book I have no memory or recollection of recieving. A book that has somehow managed to magically appear within the walls of my house.
This is hilarious! I am at university in Durham, UK and picked up the book in our student’s union where it was being distributed for free on the day of my math exam thinking it would be a fun thing to do on a day filled with algebra… And then googled the author to see who he was before reading it. I haven’t read it yet (picked it up today), and your “review” intrigues me: I am torn between not reading it, or risking it!
Well, just got a copy of the whole thing (book and all 3 CDs) for free at Oregon State University on campus. Tried the CDs (hey, free music right?)… yeah… not my cup of tea.
How can Shapero be making any money if he just keeps giving his books/cds away? I got the box set for free today on Northwestern’s Evanston campus and decided to look it up. All I can say is thank god I decided to research the book before starting to read it.
To continue the global theme, I got a copy of this this morning outside Tara St. DART station in Dublin, Ireland .. this guy obviously has more money than sense
Ha ha, I got a free copy of this book at Edinburgh Uni, Scotland, UK. Haven’t read it yet, but having read this page I might do. I Review SF&F Books normally, and I’m not entirely sure what this is, but I might make an exception. Seems to have become a global phenomonon….
What’s going on!?
And the book box found its way back to Aarhus, Denmark today – it’s really wired.
Just got one handed to me at Otago University in Dunedin, NZ! Is there anywhere the book doesn’t go?
I’d just like to add to the mix that today I recieved a free copy at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand! Prior to this I’d never heard of the book or the artist.
Three or four boxes full of these books outside Victoria University in Wellington NZ today. Not even anyone giving them away, just box lids flapping in the wind.
Book looks a right turd.
Just picked up my copy at the Australian National University, Canberra. This amount of worldwide publicity is super intense (and super stupid). If they are giving it away for free, could it really be good?
Wow!! This thing just keeps on going. I just got the box set handed to me at UNSW, Sydney! I’d love to ask him why?!? And why is he targeting all these uni students?
Also from outside U of O NZ.
I asked the guy a few questions & he was very evasive. I particularly wished to know where the money he was paid came from. He started with “it was tied up with the University”; when asked if the U. paid him he said “No.” When pushed more he stated that he was “Paid by a friends mother”… “my friend needed a hand”…”I didn’t ask where they came from, a job is a job.”.
I didn’t believe that he was that uninquisitive, but he didn’t want to say any more.
I didn’t want to be marketed to so I left it behind, but my 11yr old son came by minutes later and came away with a copy.
Today, after a brief discussion he google it and this site came up second after Amozon. We had a great laugh reading the comments, read a couple of paragraphs from the book and that will do me; did not attract & still don’t wish to be manipulated.
Throwing in that I had my copy handed to me today at Australian National University, Canberra.
it managed to get to Wellington, New Zealand… oh dear
Today I also received the book at the University of Waikato, Hamilton New Zealand. After reading this I may use it as a door stop
picked up the book + CD set outside Victoria uni in wellington NZ today.
read the book at the start of the year (feb) and was interested to see what the CD was all about. Turned it off almost as soon as i put it in.
The book is not as bad as some have stated, in fact at times is quite poetic.
When the protagonist is lost in his drug-induced moments the writing can get quite picturesque and flowing.
However the general idea of the story is quite loose, and the main character somewhat disappointing .
Still, the lengths they are going to with marketing is quite ridiculous, wonder how the guy makes any m0ney giving out this many free books.
worth a read, but doubt it will change many lives.
A copy of this book appeared on my bookshelf half a year ago, at home in Oslo, Norway. I have not been able to discover how it got there.
Got about half way through, but found myself getting slightly depressed, every time I picked it up.
Was given a copy of the book yesterday at Griffith University in Brisbane, Australia. My curiosity was significantly piqued. Shapero’s distribution campaign is remarkably pervasive, but so too are the MANY comments from all over the world about how terrible ‘Wild Animus’ is! Amusing if nothing else.
Found three copies of the book in the bins on my university campus this year. Seeing how prevalent the distribution of the book is worldwide, it’s a tiny bit scary now.
We got them today at The University Of Wollongong, East Coast Of Australia
Haven’t given it much more than a casual peruse. We used it to carry some pastries today, seemed to do that pretty well.
Wow i just receive the book in RMIT city campus, both the 3cds and the book itself… hahahaha all that coments are making me, instead of not reading, read it!!! hhahaha i think I’ll have more fun, since is not my original language and will get something else. Now im listening to the music cds. Part of them still didn’t catch the words, but it is interesting is very atonal… but anyway i have heard worst crap in the radio…..
I got a copy in canberra, australia too. Seems that they’re really getting around but what no one’s explained is why? Does he just want to get his work out there? Or something deeper/darker? I haven’t read it – I figure a free book will be trying to push some agenda… Anyone know more about Shapero?
Well my copy was handed to me on the 1st day of Spring at Sydney University.
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