[MD] Money and the Art of Losing Control

[Jan Anders Andersson]

Hi Dan

I am very happy that you liked the book. I hope you tell other people that too. I don't want to offend Mr Pirsig by talking too much about it on this forum that is dedicated to his work. I can just say that it would have been impossible to write it without ZMM and Lila.

There is no reason in shouting in the desert. I think that one is obliged to tell about his find if he think he have found something that is useful for more than himself. ZMM was refused 121 times, regarded as having 'No commercial potential'. Times are different today. Anyone can publish a book, but it will be refused directly by the readers, thousands of times, every day. But I think it is more fair if everyone can decide for himself what to read and not to read. If you got the possibility to decide. If you don't know there is a choice, then you are censored in some way.

Facebook is interesting when I see what kind of people are responding to my ad. I often think that it would be impossible to get in contact with THAT person else. My ad is rolling in all english speaking countries and I am a bit surprised of the massive response from India and Pakistan, it is hard for them to buy it because Amazon and Apple is not very succesful in these countries and they don't seem to accept payment in foreign currencies. Could be a 112-issue too. Too sad for the people in these countries in that case. I put in some small excerpts from the book on the page now and then. But if they really want to read it they will get in some way. I am well aware of what modern piracy can do.

We have a problem with humanity that I tried to show in the book. The problems with overconsumtion and environment hazards by oil and industrial pollution and so on. These problems is not going to be solved with a bomb or two if you think, because the Cause behind this human behavior comes from that the majority of the humans THINK in a way that causes these problems. Most people think that it is right to throw plastics and chemicals into the living nature. They think that it is OK to live in this way. They will not change their thinking just because some stupid person is blasting some bombs now and then, because it is very hard to READ a bomb. What you read is the news about the bomb and as long as the terrorists can't decide what to be written about their actions their odds for success is low. I wrote in the book that it would be more dangerous if the terrorists began to dress like Lady Gaga and went up on the charts.

I think there is a need for the people in societies like "Pleasantville" for information and pedagogical efforts. A democracy can't work properly with voters that prefer to be normal instead of themselves, mostly because everyones picture of what's normal will be a subjective matter. I know that everyone is free to be as stupid as he like but that can cost us a lot.

The understanding of Quality and reason is the beginning of the new age. I think we have a serious mission and a long walk, ladies and gentlemen.

Boom!

Jan Anders

17 jul 2012 kl. 06:29 skrev Dan Glover <daneglover at gmail.com>:

> Hello everyone
> 
> On Thu, Jul 12, 2012 at 4:14 AM, Jan Anders Andersson
> <jananderses at telia.com> wrote:
>> Hi all
>> 
>> My book, which is a rather long comment on the MOQ, has now over 1000 likes on facebook.
>> For those of you that doesn't got a copy yet I am presenting a short excerpt every day here:
>> http://www.facebook.com/MoneyandtheArtofLosingControl
>> Sometimes there are pictures too.
> 
> Hello Jan Anders
> 
> I liked your book too. :)
> 
> I am curious how facebook is working out for you so far as sales of
> your book. I've never tried promoting my books on facebook to any
> extent but I have found a bit of success with Twitter. I do quite a
> lot of cross promotion with other authors on Twitter. If you are at
> all interested you can follow me by visiting my website or here on
> Twitter @DanGlover1 I promise to follow back. :)
> 
> I discussed this very briefly with Ant a little while ago... using
> social media to drive more people to our websites. I got the
> impression that he felt promoting one's works goes against the grain
> of Quality, so to speak. Though he didn't say so in so many words he
> seemed to say his site was devoted to educational purposes and not to
> building a platform dedicated to sales. He seemed to insinuate that
> something as crass as self-promotion takes away from the spirit of his
> work. Perhaps I misunderstood him but that is the gist of what I
> gathered from our brief discussion.
> 
> You are not giving your book away so I take it you would like to sell
> more copies. Does promoting your book take away from the Quality of
> it, in your opinion? I know in my case I do not write to sell books
> but at the same time selling books is a kind of affirmation of my
> work. What would have happened if ZMM had been a bomb instead of a
> bestseller?
> 
> Anyway, I think it is wonderful that you are an author now. Are you
> working on anything new?
> 
> Thank you,
> 
> Dan
> 
> http://www.danglover.com
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