Recently in a bookstore I was thumbing through a handsome book about something about 48 rules of power or something, 48 compulsions habits of powerful people or I don’t know what. It was the German translation, but I found a link to the English original (?) at Amazon. Save your money, although I only glanced at like one chapter and the table of contents, it’s clearly a bullshit book. The rules could all be boiled down to “don’t get caught being a sneaky, venal weasel” and if that was all there is to gaining power I’d be president. If that was all there is to it, then why is the author of that book writing – let’s face it – self-help books for unethical bastards instead of, you know, having power lunches with someone famous?

In fact, if you have time and need a laugh, it might be worthwhile to click on that amazon link. I suppose the content of that page is dynamic, but today, it includes a “Better Together” tip (save money by buying this book together with “Get Anyone to Do Anything”); as well as a nice list of People who Bought This Book Also Bought (The Art of Seduction, Never be Lied to Again: How to Get the Truth in Any Conversation or Situation in Five Minutes or Less, Get Anyone to Do Anything and Never Feel Powerless Again…).

Come to think of it, it might be fun to attend a reading of one of these books, just to check out the audience. One says, in the readers’ reviews, “This book is based on historical research going back 3000 years!” In a way, every book is. And this very blog post is “based on a writing system five thousand years in the making.”