The most popular book to be ignored by the mainstream media (both liberal and conservative), with virtually no reviews, continues to attract interest. This week my book The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades) is once again on the New York Times bestseller list.
For the week of December 11, it checks in at #26 on Times paperback nonfiction list. This is its fifteenth week on the list.
It would be politically incorrect to notice this book.
The media must be praying that the "damn thing" (ie: the book being on the best-seller's list) would just go away... it is an affront to both their dignity and their journalistic integrity.
Nay... with their high moral standards, they are far above being tempted to stooping down to pass comment on that (ie: "the book") which is in the gutter... because everyone knows that Islam is all about world peace.
Why... at the very moment that President Bush was watching the planes crash into the WTC, he contemplated the true meaning of Islam, and he watched the WTC exploding in flame, he uttered the words, "It (ie: Islam) is all about peace, it is all about world peace."
Virtually no, errr, Pundit reviews? Would that be a good choice of words?
There are 167 reader reviews at the link you provided... and many of them give you five stars (but I am still reading thru them). Most of those who disagree with you toss off idiocies- I'd like to post one of them here but am uncertain about the legality of copying from Amazon... however do check out Mr. Patrick Lawson's screed, and others like him.
Still reading...
Maybe Robert will beat out the Left Behind series, another bunch of books that made the NY Times bestseller list and were totally ignored by the mainstream media.
http://www.leftbehind.com/
Robert:
I just emailed oreilly@foxnews.com to make them aware of this situation. I would encourage others do do the same.
I'd like to advise everyone to click on the link to Mr. Spencer's book and read all the reviews. Some of them are quite massive and mostly in his favor- as well they should be!
GFB:
I think Mr. Spencer is too "spinless" even for the No Spin Zone.
Everybody should buy a couple copies and give them out to our friends for Christmas. (Err... I mean the Happy Holiday. Oh, whatever...)
Keep this book on the best seller list so the dorks at the NY Times have to keep staring at it week after week. ;-)
BTW, did I mention the fact that I love it that it the acronym is PIG. That's gotta really sting!
Robert,
I'd be somewhat dismayed that your book is apparently not on the selected reading list of FrontPageMag:
https://www.donationreport.com/init/controller/ProcessEntryCmd?key=C1P3Y2N7P9
I think it's because you're too negative on Islam for them: incompatibility with democracy and all that. Yet they still host some of your articles. Nice of them.
l believe the very conservative "Human Events" regularly promotes Robert Spencer's books, and his articles.
l have emailed, most of the major conservative talk shows hosts.. throw them a dare you to even the book! one radio host, a book writer himself..from Detroit WJR l have emailed again.. l think we need to keep up the pressure. l will be sending some out for Christmass gifts.. one of which a very lib. school teacher..my most leftist brother
HK --
Quite a find, that quote from Lev Nikolayevitch. One more example of someone who could not possibly have emerged from the world of Islam.
The reviews on Amazon are eye opening. The one by A. Burris on Nov. 19, 2005, listed as a five star, doesn't even mention one thing about this book except that it convinced him to get a koran from a moderate website ~ CAIR. HAH! All of the one star reviews obviously didn't read the book, they are by muslims doing their pen and mouth jihad. This guy, though, is good. He makes it seem like a good review when it actually isn't a review of this book at ALL but an endorsement for CAIR and a moral equivalency example. The normal muslim chant.
Most of the negative reviews are by people who say not one thing about what is in the book. I wonder if they have ever even touched it.
More words from Tolstoy:
Books of this sort on Islam do have one weakness. It is that Islam is simple enough to understand that a book length treatment isn’t really necessary. All the reader has to do is accept the obvious conclusions of the first few chapters and there is no need to read on.
For those many people already familiar with Christianity, the main difference between Islam and Christianity is the nature of the prophet. Muhammad was a more aggressive personality than Jesus, and unlike Jesus, he came to power. And so there are, at the core of Islam, a whole series of warlike statements related to Muhammad by Allah. As a result, Islamic fundamentalists tend to be more warlike and inclined to violence than their Christian equivalent. The easy and ongoing demonstration of this is how frequently and easily the followers of Islam become terrorists.
That the book is not widely reviewed by either liberals or conservatives is hardly surprising. It doesn’t go to either agenda. Conservatives currently want to support the war in Iraq and the president who started it. While one might continue to support the war because we have already engaged the enemy, a proper understanding of Islam reasonably calls into question the judgment of President Bush in the creation of our war policy. Our current problems in Iraq were entirely predictable and we will be lucky if this war turns out well.
Meanwhile he more intellectually inclined liberal leftists---not the more common handout oriented liberals---use social division as a means of insinuating themselves to power. As a result, anything that creates social union works to their disadvantage. And so they are reluctant to face up to the real threat of Islam, which makes books of this sort unpopular with them as well.
The net result is that this book doesn’t get reviewed much. And, unfortunately, the real underlying problems with Islam and our Iraqi war effort never get exposed.
"Most of the negative reviews are by people who say not one thing about what is in the book. I wonder if they have ever even touched it."
Borg, the same is true of the reviews on Amazon UK. If you look at the review from tamagotchi_king from London (most of my sprogs contemporaries grow out of tamagotchi around age 10, but they are bright youngsters - naturally) he calls the author David!!!!!! Spencer, which shows how much notice he took.
http://www.amazon.co.uk/exec/obidos/tg/stores/detail/-/books/0895260131/customer-reviews/qid%3D1133602926/sr%3D1-1/ref%3Dsr%5F1%5F10%5F1/202-7769174-6499061
Week #15. That's okay Robert. Laugh all the way to the bank.
Mr. Spencer:
Your book is featured front and center under "Books" at The Truth Project. Furthermore, it's circulating well in the Fairfax County Public Library System, but materials donated by CAIR and CIE are sitting idly on the shelves.
Now, while the book is on the NYT Bestseller List, is the time to donate copies to libraries, schools, univerities--and to give this gem of an eye-opener as a Christmas present.
Below is the latest from the Fairfax County Public Library web site. The book is not sitting idly on the shelves!
The politically incorrect guide to Islam (and the Crusades)
Spencer, Robert, 1962-
Publisher: Regnery Pub. ;
Pub date: c2005.
Pages: xvi, 270 p. ;
ISBN: 0895260131
Copy info: No copies currently available. Place Hold .
12 copies total in all locations.
A Look Inside:
Holdings
CENTREVILLE REGIONAL Copies Material Location
297 S 2005 1 Book Checked out
CHANTILLY REGIONAL Copies Material Location
297 S 2005 1 Book Checked out
FAIRFAX CITY REGIONAL Copies Material Location
297 S 2005 1 Book On hold
GEORGE MASON REGIONAL Copies Material Location
297 S 2005 1 Book On hold
KINGS PARK Copies Material Location
297 S 2005 1 Book In transit
PATRICK HENRY Copies Material Location
297 S 2005 1 Book On hold
POHICK REGIONAL Copies Material Location
297 S 2005 1 Book Checked out
RESTON REGIONAL Copies Material Location
297 S 2005 1 Book Checked out
SHERWOOD REGIONAL Copies Material Location
297 S 2005 1 Book Checked out
TYSONS-PIMMIT REGIONAL Copies Material Location
297 S 2005 3 Book Checked out
The politically incorrect guide to Islam (and the Crusades)
Spencer, Robert, 1962-
key: 06014403
LCCN: 2005017128
ISBN: 0895260131
Local Dewey call num: 297 S 2005
Local call number: 128 rush
Personal Author: Spencer, Robert, 1962-
Title: The politically incorrect guide to Islam (and the Crusades) / Robert Spencer.
Publication info: Washington, DC : Regnery Pub. ; Lanham, MD : Distributed to the book trade by National Book Network, c2005.
Physical descrip: xvi, 270 p. ; 23 cm.
Contents: Pt. I. Islam -- Muhammad : prophet of war -- The Qur'an : book of war -- Islam : religion of war -- Islam : religion of intolerance -- Islam oppresses women -- Islamic law : lie, steal, and kill -- How Allah killed science -- The lure of Islamic paradise -- Islam--spread by the sword? you bet -- Pt. II. The Crusades -- Why the Crusades were called -- The Crusades : myth and reality -- What the Crusades accomplished--and what they didn't -- What if the Crusades had never happened? -- Islam and Christianity : equivalent traditions? -- Pt. III. Today's jihad -- The jihad continues -- "Islamophobia" and today's ideological jihad -- Criticizing Islam may be hazardous to your health -- The Cusade we must fight today.
Subject term: Islam--Controversial literature.
Subject term: Jihad.
Subject term: Crusades.
892: dc
I'm heading out in a few minutes to donate to the library The Myth of Islamic Tolerance. I see that FCPL still doesn't have a copy of that particular volume.
Granny ~ yeah, I saw one of them also. The UK site only has ten reviews? The only good thing I noticed was the negative reviews don't get many hits on the was this helpful side.
WatchfulEye~ That is encouraging news. That the library is even carrying such a book in an area like that. Fairfax County Virigina? I was on LGF about the LAX story and there is a "find a local mosque" site. I entered a zip for that county and, wow, there pages of mosques there and in DC. Are these people who checked out the books and are reading them or who aren't returning them so others can't read it? You should ask. I know someone who lives in that county and was dating a muslim. It concerns me that it's called northern virginiastan.
"Know the truth, and the truth shall make you free".
Congrats again, Mr. Spencer. You have encouraged many of us to realize that a voice can be heard even if it is not noticed by the self-appointed information gatekeepers.
Mentat: Speaking as an Evangelical Christian, our host's work is far more important than the _Left Behind_ series, which reflects a half-baked interpretation of Scripture which even a ten-year-old can see through after reading Revelation (NOT Revelations) for himself (one of my sons did this after _LB_ was read to his class in the Christian school he attended).
Keep up the good work, Mr. Spencer.