Readers surely recall the review I gave of Mark Steyn’s new book A Disgrace To The Profession on Michael E. Mann’s science as told by other climate scientists around the world.
On August 11th, when I ran my review, this was the ranking for the book in Amazon – #12,246:
Today, two days later, the ranking is #539, an over 22 fold increase!
And this is without the paperback even being able to ship yet! It is due to ship on August 15th. You can check the number yourself, here midway down the page. Lower numbers are better, i.e. the best selling book is #1.
Compare that to Mann’s recent book release Dire Predictions, 2nd edition: Understanding Climate Change at #6,579:
Or Dana Nuccitelli’s Climatology versus Pseudoscience: Exposing the Failed Predictions of Global Warming Skeptics at #849,477:
It seems they aren’t getting much traction.
You can pre-order Steyn’s book A Disgrace To The Profession on Amazon here, Shipping starts August 15th. Note that it is now available on Kindle for immediate reading as well as paperback.
Maybe if enough people pre-order, it will hit the best-sellers list before it even ships. That would be something, wouldn’t it?
UPDATE: Steyn writes about our favorite climate wackadoodle, “Sou” aka Miriam O’Brien and her fanboying the flames:
It all sounds quite exciting from that opening. But, alas, Sou is one almighty snoozeroo. Still, she does lay it on with a trowel. I enjoyed this bit:
Unlike the other defendents, Mark Steyn seems intent on adding to his own destruction. He is undoubtedly adding ammunition for Michael Mann’s lawyers to fire. Even the title of his book shrieks of unfettered malice toward Professor Mann and could be viewed as explicitly libelous: “A Disgrace to the Profession: the world’s scientists in their own words on Michael Mann, his hockey stick, and their damage to science.”
Actually, it’s A Disgrace to the Profession: the world’s scientists – in their own words – on Michael E Mann, his hockey stick, and their damage to science. Volume One. But close enough. At any rate, Sou now urges Doctor Fraudpants to sue again, and this time not just me and not just our illustrator Josh but, in a spectacular reverse class-action suit (as Anthony Watts called it), all the scientists I quote in the book:
What would be great would be to see some of the other defamers sued. Now that Josh has involved himself formally, will he also be sued? Anthony Watts has highlighted a section in Mark Steyn’s book where he quotes Judith Curry – who appears to have a personal grudge against Professor Mann. Is she happy to open up the possibility of her being sued? She is a supporter of Mark Steyn so probably yes. I doubt she’d get the support of the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund. She’d be on her own.
No, she wouldn’t. She’d be one of hundreds of “defamers” – because Sioux City Sou says sue ’em all, Mikey. Sue everyone! And then sue ’em again! Sue early, sue often. Because “scientist” is, as everyone knows, a derivation of the Olde English word for plaintiff (“suentist”). Which reminds me: that “Climate Science Legal Defense Fund” that’s backing Mann is somewhat misnamed. He’s never the defendant; he’s always the guy that sues. So it ought to be the Climate Science Serial Litigants’ Fund.
As for Steyn:
He’s also setting out to make himself an enemy of the court and the entire US judicial system, calling it a “septic tank”.
Actually I think I called it a “choked septic tank“. A non-choked one would be a great improvement.
But fortunately even the grimmest tale has a hero:
The personal cost to Professor Mann is great. He is undeterred. He knows that he is not just standing up for himself, he has become a symbol of climate scientists and science everywhere. A true hero.
Did you ever know that you’re her he-e-e-e-e-ro? Brings a tear to your eye. Meanwhile, back in the real world: Opposing Mann and his attempt to slice’n’dice the First Amendment are, among others, the American Civil Liberties Union and almost every major media organization from The Washington Post to NBC News. Whereas not a single amicus brief was filed in support of Mann by any scientist or any scientific body. As I say in the book, Mann claims to be taking a stand for science, but science is disinclined to take a stand for him. A handful of impressionable rubes like Sou may regard Mann as “a symbol of climate scientists and science everywhere”, but most scientists want to steer well clear.
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excellent effort, by steyn and wuwt ,well done.
Excuse me, Anthony, but does the ranking reflect accumulated sales, or current (e.g. weekly snapshot) sales? If the latter, Steyn’s book could have slipped way back down again after it peaks. And, to be fair, Mann’s book could have peaked higher than Steyn’s will, at the end of the day. I am more interested in total accumulated sales, in that case, not how high a book peaked.
“Excuse me, Anthony, but does the ranking reflect accumulated sales, or current (e.g. weekly snapshot) sales?”
Yes! 🙂
More than you ever wanted to know about Amazon sales rank:
https://chrismcmullen.wordpress.com/2014/10/18/amazon-com-sales-rank-how-does-it-work-research-based/
An excellent question brians356. This may be helpful:
http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/8-things-people-dont-know-amazons-bestsellers-rank-sales-rank/
It would be interesting if Amazon would report the total sales and total time on sale data.
Cheers.
There was a scandal some years back in the UK, when it was discovered that certain bookshops SOLD their sales ranking. $15,000 would buy the top 3. $10,000 would buy the top 5 etc: etc:
Not saying Amazon would do such a thing, as they are such an ethical company who would never pay their workers the minimum wage with slave-like working conditions….
http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2013/11/25/amazon-staff-investigation_n_4335894.html
Paying minimum wage is unethical?
Also, I tried to order a slave on Amazon and apparently this is not even available to Prime members. Oh well.
Huff poat? that makes it soooo reliable, like mickey’s data.
Ahem; post
Duly ordered
Just preordered it, if for no other reason than to stick a finger in the eye of Little Mikey Mann.
Me too, EL.
Great minds, etc., . . . . 😀
That’s initially why I ordered mine – and to help Steyn with his defense efforts. But … boy! is the book a hoot!
If inclined to really help, you can buy a gift certificate at Steynonline for $500 or a grand or more. DC First Amendment lawyers don’t come cheap.
Thanks for the heads-up, WUWT. Duly pre-ordered.
Of course, even if it did become a best seller, the NY Times would find a way to keep it off their list.
And, to pick nits, I don’t see how moving up from 12,000th place to 539th is a 22-fold increase. Yes, if you divide 12,000 by 539 you get 22, but rankings don’t work that way, IMHO.
Thanks!
You could say it is a 95% improvement, couldn’t you?
At least a 97% improvement, perhaps?
I’d compute the ratio based on book sales for the last week. Then I’d give Mann a break and come up with the ratio between the total sales. I doubt it will take long for Steyn to move ahead.
It’s possible they plugged the numbers into Mann’s algorithm, and the graph popped out a 22 fold increase regardless of the was the real world works
once the Amazon ranking for any book gets under 400, it qualifies for its Movers And Shakers as long as the day to day to day change is still great. They are separated by
print https://www.amazon.com/gp/movers-and-shakers/books/
and
digital https://www.amazon.com/gp/movers-and-shakers/digital-text
getting 20 copies of the paper back for all my friends in Madison and Ann Arbor, wow, this made Christmas Shopping so easy this year, thank you Mr. Steyn.
wow!
Great idea
Might be a daft question, but if I buy the kindle edition does it help the ranking?
I’m off to Scotland on a diving trip and a kindle fits in my rucksack rather more easily than 5 paperbacks!
Mind you, I might not be able to actually get in the water, what with it being so acidic and all that hidden heat waiting to boil me alive when I dive down to the depths…
Diving? In Scotland? You, Sir, are a brave, brave man.
Scapa Flow, time to visit the Kaiser’s ships
Not as brave as those (like me) who LIVE here!
I lived in Thurso for 3 years. My kitchen window looked out over Scapa Flow. I’m familiar with the area. So take care, those are dangerous seas with very fast tides. But it is very nice this time of year.
Not Scapa, I’m diving off the shores of Oban in the West of Scotland. Superb wildlife and outstanding wrecks, not to mention a manic drift dive at the Falls of Lora that has you whisked quickly down to 30m and pumelled by the current as it pushes you along at 8 knots. You often see fish somersaulting past you. All done in a cosy dry-suit of course, as I haven’t found Trenberth’s missing heat yet.
When I’m diving in those waters and watching the tides rise and fall so quickly, it makes me realise how ridiculous the Greenies are when they get their knickers in a twist about a 3mm/year sea level rise. I’d love to take them out on a boat, stick some scuba kit on them, chuck them over the side and say, “go on, tell me you can feel the sea level rising, I dare ya!”
Maybe David’s an underwater welder.
Visited both Scapa Flow and the Falls of Lora many times, you must be mad to dive in the Falls of Lora. I understand Scapa Flow is an interesting place to dive.
Piper Paul,
Not a welder (I’d be a liability with the torch!).
I’m a teacher. Maths and Science and a sceptic to boot – a rare breed
Those wrecks you mention, didn’t just decide to sink there of their own free will.
Be careful. Keep in contact and keep your dives rational. But have a great time!
While you’re down in the deeps, be sure to name the sharks after your favorite climate alarmists; at least name the aft end of the sharks after them.
My Dad and his mates dived Scapa and other Scottish areas back in the 70’s when there were no special gas mixes etc for hobby divers and dry suits were only for commercial outfits. They went out with some local divers from Orkney who a few of years later found some bits of the German torpedoes that sank the battleship Royal Oak, thus confirming that U47 had done what many said was impossible.
I remember camping among the abandoned earthworks and blockhouses of the old seaplane base and looking out over the Flow where a salvage ship was working at blowing some of the old grand fleet wrecks to get the condensers out.
James Bull
Going to try and wrestle the missing heat out of Nessie’s jaws? 😎
I imagine you realise that even in Summer the North Sea is so cold that your survival time without suitable protective clothing is measured in minutes, and rather few at that. Anyway, have a good trip, you should have some great diving.
Ah, Oban. Not quite so cold as it’s Atlantic coast and in the gulf stream. Very wet climate, not that that should worry a diver 😉
Dry Suits – the only way
To be fair, Mann’s book ‘Dire Predictions’ is 7th. in Books | Science and Math | Earth Sciences | Climatology.
How many other books are there in that particular section?
There are Top 100 lists for each section.
It seems to me that this book should also be in the Climatology category, as it addresses what’s been going on in that field.
Steyn’s book is now 1st. in Climatology, and Mann’s book is 14th.
…and only third among books authored by sons of Mann’s mother…
I know it’s not nice to gloat, but I can’t help it:
Hey, Warren! How do you like the ranking? It seems a lot of people are learning about Mann’s awful non-science. Perhaps you should read a copy and get yourself edumacated!
Unprecedented!
I just noticed… it’s “Volume I”! Chuckle.
I’ve only read the cover, and it made me laugh. I’m afraid, like the Monty Python sketch of the World’s Most Dangerous Joke (kids, just google it…) that I’ll wind up literally killing myself if I read too much, too soon.
It cost more to ship the paperback than it does to buy the ebook, but if the money buys just one rotten tomatoe for Nobel Mike, it is worth it.
Craig,
Sound, but do cut us real Laureates a bit of slack.
Me, and my mates, and others (several), were in the 500,000,000 or so EU citizens who won the prize a few years ago.
I can’t remember what is was for.
I don’t remember seeing my Eurocent prize money.
Maybe a little French red wine that day?
We don’t make a fuss about it, unless non-laureates are mentioned – as you did.
Have a great weekend.
Auto
Just placed an order for the book! Thanks for letting us know about it.
I watched Michael Mann interviewed on Real Time by Bill Maher last night. (Running through the channels to see what was on and found Manns face poking out of the screen). Maher gave him the “pass” with a sickening lack of serious questions and gave him the floor to tell his sickening “consensus” lies, same the other old BS. Mann said that Germany is doing GREAT with solar and wind and actually getting 30% of it’s energy from renewables… without any mention of the problems they are having. “We still have time to save the earth” says Mann. Mann claimed that 34 serious scientific organizations are on board with the “Consensus”. What gives this pompous ass permission to presume his superior authority about the climate when so much is “NOT Settled?” Where does his authority come from? It is completely irrational for one “Scientist” to completely ignore any evidence (with or without merit) which runs contrary to his own understanding of the facts. Is he getting paid as a servant of the green agenda or is he simply a delusional idiot who cannot bring himself to admit that there are many who disagree with him and many of them who are standing on reasonably firm scientific ground. What gives him the authority or superiority to put fear of catastrophic global warming into peoples minds and lives without a real consensus when he knows the “consensus” is a lie…That the science is not settled? He is a real piece of human waste for his lack of objectivity and his drive to change the world into his image of it, while disregarding the harm it will have on so many, financially and physically. I suppose the “Authority” of Mann has spoken and he isn’t able, emotionally or rationally, to deal with rejection or legitimate questions about his scientific guesses. He acts like a child.
He’s getting paid, in the form of grants from the government and other highly biased institutions.
And people that are covering his a.. as far as any court cases are concerned
In 2003 Germany sourced just over 25% of its electricity generation from brown coal. After a decade of committing hundred’s of billions to the expansion of renewables it now sources just over 25% of it’s electricity generation from brown coal. Some acheivement.
Maybe Mann has been fooled by facebook and twitter memes that declare that Germany sources half it’s electricity from solar.
It doesn’t. in 2013 solar PV provided approx 5%. And an expensive and intermittent 5%, at that.
Historically, the Germans have shown themselves to have a capacity for committing to vastly ambitious but ultimately self-defeating schemes based on ideological obsessions.
Some people never learn…
http://www.theenergycollective.com/robertwilson190/456961/reality-check-germany-does-not-get-half-its-energy-solar
D
Our Mann of the Sheeple claims 34 serious scientific organisations support him.
My area has at least seven scientific organisations.
By a first order guess, therefore, the UK has not less than 17000 scientific organisations [error bar plus 17000; minus 8500]
It may be otiose to extend this into the EU [with about 7 or 8 times the population of the UK], but if we do, allowing lower estimates, this will approximate 34000 scientific organisations.
Now possible our Mann of the Century is dissing 99% as not serious.
Has he done the research?
Or, perhaps, he is on a 97% (plus) disapproval.
P.S. – I haven’t figured outside Europe.
That might make our Mann of the For the People, of the People, by the people, a little less positively received.
Auto.
Just enquiring, but not holding my breath for Manian openness . . . . .
I ordered the book, and applaud both Steyn and Watts.
Nevertheless, I think Anthony’s phrase “22 fold increase” [in ranking] is somewhat meaningless. Ranks are cannot be compared. Consider: the 2nd place runner cannot be said to have run “five times faster” than the 10th place runner.
Nevertheless, great writing by Steyn, and a welcome boost in sales due, apparently, to our host Anthony.
Those who can’t wait can go online to Mark Steyn’s own website and order an autographed copy. Steyn gets more of the money as well.
“The personal cost to Professor Mann is great.”
I get the impression that Mann is on auto-pilot in this litigation. Probably checks up on it now and then see how it’s going. He’s happy to let the lawyers do the work and the Climate Science Legal Defense Fund pick up the tab. It doesn’t even matter if he wins or loses — he has caused Steyn enormous vexation, and that is the entire point.
Yes
|Yes but Stein has counter sued for more than is in the CliSciDefense Fund. When the smoke clears they’ll be insolvent and they will put rules in place that it is a defense fund not an offence fund. I think Steyn should apply for funds from them – he is the one in defense – he might be able to get a judgement to that effect, depending on how the charter is written up.
Nothing will happen re: Steyn vs. “The Stick” until after The Paris 2015 (December) freak show.
If it went forward before that, it would rain on their parade. The DC Circuit has been quietly given the “wink and nod” to wait on this. There is no other explanation as even by their standards, this has gone one too bizarrely long….
I think you’ve put your finger on the clog in the septic tank.
(I’d go wash that finger now if I were you)
He may have stopped several dozen others from speaking out. And that is the entire point of strategic lawsuits against public participation (SLAPPs).
After looking at Climate Science Legal Defense Fund financials http://www.lcatrust.org/wp-content/uploads/LCAT-2010-990-EZ.pdf at $16,158.23 income for 2010 and expenses of $15,160.68 for printing, publications, postage and shipping, the organisation appears to be genuinely ineffective or a front for some below the radar activity. I suspect though that Mr Mann my need to dip into his own pocket in future.
Cheers
Roger
http://www.rogerfromnewzealand.wordpress.com
The point, as Mark Steyn puts it, is that the process IS the punishment. The defendants get to spend all kinds of money on lawyers while Dr. Fraudpants (might as well stay in Steyn mode) hasn’t a worry in the world.
Too bad theres no chance of Dr. Fraudpants getting slapped with his targets lawyer fees, like the couple who filed a frivolous lawsuit against gun and ammo manufacturers. Love to see the Legal Defense Fund choke down that horse…in almost 4 years we’re talking millions I would suspect.
What would be great would be to see some of the other defamers sued.
====
Would this be like fining the banks?….where the shareholders are the ones that pay
Mann has said construably libellous things about most of them. For example what Judith Curry said about Mann was a restrained and responsible response compared to the very nasty things that Mann first said about her. Most of those people would promptly countersue and would have a very good case to win. The only reason they haven’t all sued him for libel already is because sensible people try to stay out of the US courts. It is that whole ‘choked cesspit’ thing.
Mann suing for libel is a joke. He is the biggest sinner in climate science in that regard.
If Mann is such “a true hero” to Sou, why didn’t she file an amicus brief in his behalf, or persuade a real climate scientist to do so?
Because there are no real climate scientists on her side.
The real ones are a little bit more skeptic…
I preordered and recieved the book Tuesday. Interesting so far.
The title of that second book of warm-mongering is a tad confusing: “Climatology versus Pseudoscience: Exposing the Failed Predictions of Global Warming Skeptics”.
‘Global warming’ ‘sceptics’ for the most part seem to eschew prediction – excepting the reasonable one that the warm-mongers predictions won’t pan out. Based on the latter’s failure rate it would seem they’re the ones indulging in pseudoscience.
Sometimes I think people of this ilk should be sent to environmental reeducation camp and made to build roads for the oil companies on the north slope of Alaska. See how friendly and endangered they think the polar bears are then.
Polar bears are polar had doing well.
If you mean, should WUWT focus on and post comments timely as they have become little more than a USA today blog of snippets- you’ve got a solid point. Stupid is as….
John,
You’re not making sense.
John,
Do wot?
Apologies John but can you please clarify what you are saying? It seems a little disordered.
Thank you.
I would interpret that as “Polar bears are polar and doing well”. The second part is much more cryptic, with a variety of potential interpretations.
I’ve always said people who are over concerned about the plight of polar bears/lions/grizzlies and other such large predators might benefit from a real up-close and personal look at one in hunting mode.
Dear Miriam O’Brien ,
It appears to me that Steyn is an eloquent judge of your blogging demeanor and personal character.
But, I have a question. Why do you (Miriam) scream that there is a broad con$piracy against Michael E. Mann (Penn State Univ) by all the many scientists who have been writing things that are significantly and severely critical of virtually all of his work product?
My answer to that question is that I think you (Miriam) scream con$piracy by scientific critics of Michael E. Mann because emotionally you have irrational impulses to do professional harm to people who do not accept your climate religion belief in Michael E. Mann.
John
We can only wish Steyn the very best, as Mann deserves everything he gets. As a supposed scientist he is a joke, as a serial litigator he shows us exactly what he is, namely a sad deceitful individual desperate to hide the facts from scrutiny by a sceptical world.
My order for the book is going in now.
I’m hoping the court rules as it should and Steyn is held to account for his poorly worded comments.
So you’re saying “poorly worded comments” justifies the wrath of a crooked DC judiciary?
Funny how Mann thought he was going to come out of this the winner and the public gets a dose of the truth instead.
Maybe he’d like a little sweet relish on that hockey stick. That’s how I’m enjoying it.
We will see who has the relish on their stick……
With some very hot chilli.