Misattributed Book Review

Here’s a widely applicable book review: The covers of this book are too far apart. It’s attributed to Ambrose Bierce, although it’s unlikely he actually came up with it. This is part of a complete episode.

Transcript of “Misattributed Book Review”

Grant, we talked recently about mean book reviews and how we didn’t like them.

But I found one that I’m afraid I really like. Oh, it goes, the covers of this book are too far apart.

Isn’t that awful? I’ve heard that one before. Who is that? Who said that about whom? Well, I’m glad you asked because it was attributed to Ambrose Bierce, but like so many quotes, they get attributed to people.

If you go to Garson O’Toole’s site, Quote Investigator, he traces it back even farther.

Doubtful that Bierce came up. Nobody famous said it, but somebody did.

Right.

The covers of this book are too far apart. That’s mean, but it’s clever.

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