Hey, Look Who's Buried on the Amazon Sales List

While Sarah Palin has for weeks enjoyed the top spot at Amazon it must be a devastating blow for one oversized ego to see himself mired so deep on the bestseller list.

Amazon.com Sales Rank: #117 in Books

Heh.

What I find rather curious is how "reviews" of these books are placed. If you look at Palin's page, the three reviews shown are incredibly nasty, including one from someone identified as "Leslie Goodman-Malamuth", who appears to have an obsession with all things Palin. Imagine my shock to find out she's an Obama supporter. Not surprisingly, she's picks up the Trig Obsession baton from the deranged Andrew Sullivan.

Apart from Linda Kellen Biegel, who has done yeoman work investigating the source and veracity of Palin's multiple ethics violations, one of the only bloggers she names by name is Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic. When Palin admitted that she'd considered suing Sullivan, the only MSM journalist to remain consistently and publicly skeptical that Palin ever gave birth to her "youngest child," or grandson, Trig, Sullivan noted dryly that Palin evidently is unfamiliar with the process of discovery. Since Trig's birth certificate has never been released, nor has the doctor who reportedly delivered him gone on the record to provide a date and a place, we "Trig Truthers" are waiting for the other home-pregnancy stick to drop, as eventually it must.

Is this review helpful?

Uh, no.

Pretty much the rest of them are nonstop Palin-bashing, to no surprise.

Now as for the low-ranked Gore, let's have a look at the top "review" for his book, authored by L. John Doerr.

Our Choice is wonderfully accessible and pragmatic. Its eighteen chapters are a lavishly illustrated menu of choices which is at once expansive and credible. Our Choice clearly conveys the scope of solutions to the climate crisis, solutions which are promising, practical and potent. The solutions taken together meet the challenge, with speed and at scale.

It is the perfect sequel to An Inconvenient Truth.

I'm particularly struck by Gore's tone in Our Choice: he is sober and thoughtful and opinionated but not pedantic. This is not a superficial, how-to "101 Ways to Go Green," or an encyclopedic compendium of mind-numbing minutiae.

Rather, Our Choice is a survey at just the right level of detail. It covers our sources of energy, how we use it, and the obstacles we must overcome. An important highlight is the discussion of living systems, our forests, soil, and population, which is missing in most writing about climate crisis.

Gore's work comes at a crucial moment in time. The U.S. is vigorously debating climate legislation. Policy makers and parents, students and teachers, entrepreneurs and scientists are all energized. For example, fully one-third of the faculty at MIT wants to work on clean energy technologies. Our Choice will tempt and magnify those passions. It is a manual and manifesto for change, a good guide with a clear view of both the forest and the trees. It comes on the road to Copenhagen, but its best use is the path beyond.

OK, I'll admit (with pride) I'm a huge fan of Al Gore's. But not withstanding our friendship, this remarkable work IS the real thing. It is the product of countless hours of research and interviews, reading and listening, writing and rewriting, debate and critical thinking.

A really objective look there. At least someone exposes Doerr.

Michael Brochstein says:
While everything Mr. Doerr writes about Al Gore's new book may be true (I haven't read the book yet myself but I hope to sooner than later), I think Mr. Doerr should have also written a little more about his own direct relationship to Mr. Gore in his review. A fuller disclosure of the Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers connection would have been appropriate IMHO.

So who is L. John Doerr?

Today, Doerr remains one of Silicon Valley's most influential figures. Forbes magazine estimates his net worth to be well over $1 billion. Doerr is a high profile supporter of the Democratic Party in Silicon Valley. Through the TechNet (lobbying organization) he helped found, he has devoted much time and money towards impacting legislation beneficial to the technology and venture capital industries.

Doerr has also invested heavily in "carbon trading" and is a big advocate of its use.

Now in a stunning coincidence, Doerr just happens to have a partner named -- wait for it -- Al Gore!

Passionate believer in clean energy recently named as member of President Obama's Economic Recovery Advisory Board; told lawmakers investing green technology can help drive economic recovery. Brought on former Vice President Al Gore as a partner 2007.

No, no conflict of interest there.