num_pages: 271
description: What are our favorite authors favorite words? Which bestselling writer uses the most clichs? How can we judge a book by its cover? Data meet literature in this playful and informative look at our favorite authors and their masterpieces. Theres a famous piece of writing adviceoffered by Ernest Hemingway Stephen King and myriad writers in betweennot to use -ly adverbs like quickly or fitfully. It sounds like solid advice but can we actually test it? If we were to count all the -ly adverbs these authors used in their careers do they follow their own advice compared to other celebrated authors? Whats more do great books in generalthe classics and the bestsellersshare this trait?In Nabokovs Favorite Word Is Mauve statistician and journalist Ben Blatt brings big data to the literary canon exploring the wealth of fun findings that remain hidden in the works of the worlds greatest writers. He assembles a database of thousands of books and hundreds of millions of words and starts asking the questions that have intrigued curious word nerds and book lovers for generations: What are our favorite authors favorite words? Do men and women write differently? Are bestsellers getting dumber over time? Which bestselling writer uses the most clichs? What makes a great opening sentence? How can we judge a book by its cover? And which writerly advice is worth following or ignoring?
language: English
title: Nabokov's Favorite Word Is Mauve: What the Numbers Reveal About the Classics, Bestsellers, and Our Own Writing
publisher: Simon & Schuster