There’s a gynormous post on Pinker coming up shortly, and I hope to post it today. Many of you, who have sent me the Official Call for Demonization, know what this is about, but you’ll have to be a bit patient.
In the meantime, I just received notice that Faith versus Fact has finally appeared in Polish (Title: Wiara vs Fakty; this is the eighth translation into non-English languages), and although I haven’t seen it in paper, I have just received not only a photo of the cover, but also a nice review by my surrogate father and friend, Andrzej Koraszewski at the website run by him and Malgorzata, Listy z naszego sadu (“Letters from our orchard”.)
The book was translated from English by another mutual friend, Monika Stogowska, a professional translator who lives in Warsaw; according to Malgorzata, the translation is so good that it sounds as if the book were written in Polish rather than English. The screenshot below goes to the Polish review (Google will translate it to English if you wish), and also shows the cover. I love the chessboard with religion playing against reason and science:
Because there are several friends involved in this, the review could not possibly be completely objective, and Andrzej admits this at the outset (translations of his review by Malgorzata):
“I’ve just got a book written by my friend, translated into Polish by my friend and published in Polish by another friend, and dedicated to my wife, me and to our cat, Hili. For obvious reasons this will not be a critical review. . . .”
Yes, I did dedicate the book to Andrzej, Malgorzata, and Hili, as well as to my undergraduate mentor Bruce Grant. I did a lot of reading and note-taking when I stayed in Dobrzyn for a few weeks.
Andrzej ends his review this way:
“The book was partly written in Dobrzyń nad Wisłą so I enclose a picture of the Author who in the process of writing the book was catching facts by their tail”.
And the photo: Hili and I communing! This is the best way to write:
Congrats!
Mr Coyne – you are a gem!
Congratulations on the continued success of the book!
Gratuluję!
I’m sure a Polish reviewer removed from this circle of friends will find the book just as great read. Congratulations. Did you say it had been translated to Arabic as well? That’s the corner of the world it will do a special degree of service.
Félicitations!
This is great news!
Congratulations!
Awesome cover design, and congrats!
Wonderful news and I imagine Hili is impressed and pleased about it as well.
Great news.
Intriguing cover art – I wonder though, while the fact player pieces will make moves equal to their genuine chess piece rules, the faith player pieces have no such guarantee, I expect a sorcerer’s apprentice scenario, teleportation, disguise, … and then, look out! KABOOM- the deepity!
“This is the best way to write” – it certainly looks good, though I’m not entirely convinced about how conducive it is to getting work done. (But then, the book is out now so what do I know?!)
That is a really sophisticated cover picture. Congratulations!
You have also dedicated the book to Hili – cool. What could her answer be?
Perhaps: “Why did the other three also have to be mentioned?”
Brilliant. Best wishes for your new Polish readership.
This is good news, and a timely addition to the canon of Polish rationalist literature.
Most excellent, Congratulations!
BTW, I love the cover design…very imaginative.
Congratulations!
As a chess player, I appreciate the detail of the cover design. Little things like having a white square in the lower right-hand corner, and the proper a-h and 1-8 labeling of the board, count for a lot. You’d be surprised how often books/movies/TV fail in this regard. A pet peeve of mine.
At first, I wondered about the female symbol being used for the Black pawns. Or maybe it was an ankh… but then I thought, what better symbolism is there, for women have been pawns in the game of religion for millennia.