Wild Animus

Crossing the road on the way to the shops for lunch today, there were a couple of young ladies opening big cardboard boxes and handing out smaller packages to passers by. Never one to pass up anything free I positioned myself in the crowd to grab one as I was walking by. From a distance the package looked like the kind of box you'd get a video game in and looked far more interesting than the huge cans of disgustingly flavoured energy drink that usually gets passed out. When I had the chance to glance at my prize however I still couldn't figure out what it was. There box said there were CD's and a book inside, and passing by the middle aged gentleman holding placards reminding us of Jesus I started to wonder whether it wasn't some Christian promotional material or scientology stuff. But the reality was somewhat weirder. I opened the box over lunch and all of my colleagues were left to scratch their heads and guess at what it might be. How could someone affort to give away a book for free, and 3 CD's for that matter? The production of everything looked high quality, with vaguely fantasy or Native American themes with the design. I still haven't read any of the book or decided whether I should, but the little note within promises a lot With the music you have before you, Wild Animus is complete Unfortunately the reviews on Amazon seem to say it doesn't live up to the promise.. This is easily one of the worst books I have ever read. It's difficult to believe that a publisher can have read this manuscript and thought it was publishable. Why, wait a minute! The publishing house, Too Far, was founded by this book's author, Richard Shapero! Well, that explains the lack of serious editing or promotion. Very short wiki on the author. He seems to have published the whole thing from his own pocket. This link provides some nice background to this. It seems like this book has been handed out free over the past few years at various universities, and I happen to work right next to one in Sydney. Handing out this book also seems to have caused a bomb scare at Yale university.