The Populist Delusion.

I find it more than a little irritating when I see the phrase ‘best-selling author’ being trotted out to persuade the gullible that here is a fount of high quality literature. Where, for example, does Dan Brown – a best-selling author – stand in comparison with Franz Kafka who hardly sold anything during his lifetime? Since when has popularity ever been any guarantee of quality in any field? On which note, the same applies to ‘Academy Award-winning.’